June 13, 2009

Half a Golden Quarter

map by Joseph Klepesta and Ladislav Lukes from International Planetary Cartography Database

One of the most attractive lunar maps ever published appeared in Prague in 1959. It consists of first and last quarters in a beautiful golden hue against a rich black background. I have an English language version with a 40 page booklet that was published in 1960 as Map of the Moon by Josef Klepesta and Ladislav Lukes; the Russian version at the International Planetary Cartography Database website was a year earlier - interestingly the pull out maps in my copy are dated 1961. I think Sky & Telescope also sold these maps in the 1960s. Josef Klepesta (1896-1976) was a famous Czech astrophotographer and space artist who wrote books with Antonin Rükl. The International Planetary Cartography Database is an online resource I was unaware of until recently - it has a large collection of planetary maps, including 43 of the Moon. There are images of most of the maps, and many are unknown or little known ones from eastern Europe and Asia. I thank Jim Mosher for the recent Moon-Wiki writeup of the IPCD.

Chuck Wood

Yesterday's LPOD: Butterfly Wings & Railway Tracks

Tomorrow's LPOD: Neison Reborn

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