Lunar Mountain Mons Huygens Honors Dutch Astronomer Christiaan Huygens

Summary: Lunar mountain Mons Huygens honors Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, also memorialized by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

Late 18th-century German astronomer Johann Hieronymus Schröter depicted the mountain mass that he named Huygens after Dutch Golden Age astronomer Christiaan Huygens in his study of lunar topography, Selenotopographische Fragmente (Selenographic Fragments), published in 1791: Public Domain, via e-rara.ch ETH Bibliothek Zürich

J. Herschel Crater parents five outlying satellites on Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold) as a north polar crater system of 10 satellites in the lunar near side’s northwest quadrant.

Lunar mountain Mons Huygens honors Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, also memorialized by the Cassini-Huygens space-research mission launched collaboratively Oct. 15, 1997, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

Mons Huygens is centered at 19.92 degrees north latitude, minus 2.86 degrees west longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The lunar mountain records northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 20.58 degrees north and 19.2 degrees north, respectively. It registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes of minus 2.44 degrees west and minus 3.32 degrees west, respectively. Mons Huygens spans 41.97 kilometers.

The lunar mountain lies along the southeastern Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) in the lunar near side’s northwest quadrant. A ghost crater appears in the dark basaltic lava plain, “offshore” to the west of Mons Huygens. Mark Tillotson and Jim Mosher’s online The Moon-Wiki describes the ghost crater as having a diameter of 26 kilometers. Rim remnants of volcanic deposit-buried craters that extrude mare surfaces in circular wrinkle ridge-like patterns are known as ghost craters.

Victorian British selenographer Thomas Gwyn Elger (Oct. 27, 1836-Jan. 9, 1897) described Mount Huygens as a “. . . mountain mass projecting from the escarpment of the Apennines . . .” (page 157) in his lunar survey, The Moon: A Full Description and Map of Its Principal Physical Features, published in 1895. He also noted “. . . one peak rising to 18,000 feet above the Mare Imbrium.”

The north-south mountain mass rises as the tallest peak in Montes Apenninus. Montes Apenninus winds east-northeasterly, defining the southeastern border of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) and ending at the western edge of Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity). The rugged lunar mountain range is centered at 19.87 degrees north latitude, 0.03 degrees east longitude. The range’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes extend to 28.47 degrees north and 14.63 degrees north, respectively. The range’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 7.34 degrees east and minus 10.21 degrees west, respectively. Montes Apenninus stretches 599.67 kilometers in length.

In his 1999-published lunar compendium, Mapping and Naming the Moon, British-born astronomer Ewen Adair Whitaker (June 22, 1922-Oct. 11, 2016) credited German astronomer Johann Hieronymus Schröter (Aug. 30, 1745-Aug. 29, 1816) with introducing the crater’s name (page 218). In his Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche (Selenographic Fragments for a More Detailed Knowledge of the Lunar Surface), published in 1791, Schröter stated that he was giving the name of Huygens to mountains in Montes Apenninus designated as M, N and P (“. . . die Gebirge M, N, P durch den Nahmen Huygens . . .” [section 170, page 244]).

Schröter included 43 plates of lunar features in his study of lunar topography. Huygens appears in two plates. Schröter marked Huygens’ placement in “Mont. Apennin.” along “Maris Imbrium” in Figure 2 (Mont. Apennin. Pars, Maris Imbrium Pars) and Figure 3 (Mont. Apennin. Pars) of Plate XIV (page 751). Spelled as Huyghens, the mountain appears in Figure 5 (Montes Reliqui) of Selenotopographische Fragmente’s last plate, Plate XLIII, Altitudo Montium Lunae (page 809).

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially approved Mons Huygens as the name of Montes Apenninus’ tallest mountain in 1961, during the organization’s XIth (11th) General Assembly, held Tuesday, Aug. 15, to Thursday, Aug. 24, in Berkeley, California. Mons Huygens honors 17th-century Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens (April 14, 1629-July 8, 1695). The Dutch Golden Age polymath’s groundbreaking contributions to invention and science include discovery of Saturnian moon Titan on March 25, 1655; invention of the pendulum clock in 1656; and discovery of Martian volcanic plain Syrtis Major and producing the first-known sketch of the Orion Nebula in 1659.

The IAU's Vth (5th) General Assembly approved Montes Apenninus as the name for Mons Huygens’ resident mountain range. Montes Apenninus namesakes peninsular Italy’s Apennine Mountains.

The takeaways for lunar mountain Mons Huygens, which honors Dutch Golden Age astronomer Christiaan Huygens, are that Mons Huygens lies on the southeastern edge of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) and that the north-south mountain mass rises as the tallest peak in rugged mountain range Montes Apenninus.

Detail shows Mons Huygens (center right) in Montes Apenninus along southeastern border of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) in lunar near side’s northwestern quadrant; ghost crater (center; left of Mons Huygens, right of Huxley Crater) is "offshore" in Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers): LAC (Lunar Aeonautical Chart) 41: NASA / GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) / ASU (Arizona State University), Public Domain, via U.S. Geological Survey / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Detail shows Mons Huygens (center right) in Montes Apenninus, along southeastern border of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) in lunar near side’s northwestern quadrant; ghost crater (center; left [west] of Mons Huygens, right [east] of Huxley Crater) is “offshore” in Mare Imbrium; LAC (Lunar Aeonautical Chart) 41: NASA / GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) / ASU (Arizona State University), Public Domain, via U.S. Geological Survey / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac_41_wac.pdf

Late 18th-century German astronomer Johann Hieronymus Schröter depicted the mountain mass that he named Huygens after Dutch Golden Age astronomer Christiaan Huygens in his study of lunar topography, Selenotopographische Fragmente (Selenographic Fragments), published in 1791: Public Domain, via e-rara.ch ETH Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ/page/n786

For further information:

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Elger, Thomas Gwyn. “Mount Huygens.” The Moon: A Full Description and Map of Its Principal Physical Features: 157. London UK: George Philip & Son, 1895.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/moonfulldescript00elgerich/page/157

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Mare Imbrium.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3678

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Mons Huygens.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3987

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Montes Apenninus.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Target: The Moon.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/MOON/target

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Marriner, Derdriu. “J. Herschel Crater Honors British Astronomer John Herschel.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 2, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/03/j-herschel-crater-honors-british_2.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “J. Herschel Crater Parents Five Outlying Satellites on Mare Frigoris.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 23, 2011.
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Sadler, D. (Donald) H., ed. XIth General Assembly Transactions of the IAU Vol. XI B Proceedings of the 11th General Assembly Berkeley CA, August 15-24, 1961. Oxford UK: Blackwell Scientific Publications, Jan. 1, 1962.
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Schroeter, Johann Hieronymus. “§ 170.” Page 243-244 of 816. Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche, Ihrer Erlittenen Veränderungen und Atmosphäare, Saamt den Dazu Gehörigen Specialcharten und Zeichnungen. Mit 43 Kupfertafeln. Göttingen [Germany]: Joh. Georg Rosenbusch, 1791.
Available via e-rara.ch ETH-Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ/page/n300
Available via Linda Hall Library Digital Collections @ http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/12429

Schroeter, Johann Hieronymus. “Altitudo Montium Lunae T.XLIII.” Page 809 of 816. Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche, Ihrer Erlittenen Veränderungen und Atmosphäre, Saamt den Dazu Gehörigen Specialcharten und Zeichnungen. Mit 43 Kupfertafeln. Göttingen [Germany]: Joh. Georg Rosenbusch, 1791.
Available via e-rara.ch ETH-Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ/page/n846
Available via Linda Hall Library Digital Collections @ http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/12429

Schroeter, Johann Hieronymus. Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche, Ihrer Erlittenen Veränderungen und Atmosphäre, Saamt den Dazu Gehörigen Specialcharten und Zeichnungen. Mit 43 Kupfertafeln. Göttingen [Germany]: Joh. Georg Rosenbusch, 1791.
Available via e-rara.ch ETH-Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ
Available via Linda Hall Library Digital Collections @ http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/12429

Schroeter, Johann Hieronymus. “TXIV.” Page 751 of 816. Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche, Ihrer Erlittenen Veränderungen und Atmosphäre, Saamt den Dazu Gehörigen Specialcharten und Zeichnungen. Mit 43 Kupfertafeln. Göttingen [Germany]: Joh. Georg Rosenbusch, 1791.
Available via e-rara.ch ETH-Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ/page/n786
Available via Linda Hall Library Digital Collections @ http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/12429

Stratton, F.J.M. (Frederick John Marrian), ed. Vth General Assembly Transactions of the IAU Vol. V B Proceedings of the 5th General Assembly Paris France, July 10-17, 1935. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, Jan. 1, 1936.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Whitaker, Ewen A. (Adair). “Schröter’s New Names.” Page 218. Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.