Lunar Crater Herschel Honors German-British Astronomer William Herschel

Summary: Lunar Crater Herschel honors German-British astronomer William Herschel, who discovered the planet Uranus on March 13, 1781.

Low oblique, southeast-looking view, taken Nov. 19, 1969, with Hasselblad camera by Apollo 12 spacecraft, shows near side’s southwestern lunar highlands, with Herschel Crater (center) and large Ptolemaeus Crater to the north (right) and Flammarion Crater to the southwest (left); NASA ID AS12-50-7431; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): Project Apollo Archive (Apollo Image Gallery), Public Domain, via Flickr

Lunar Crater Herschel honors German-British astronomer William Herschel, whose astronomical accomplishments included his March 13, 1781, discovery of the planet Uranus.

Herschel Crater occupies the central region of the lunar near side’s southern and western hemispheres. The small, well-defined crater lies in the lunar highlands to the south-southwest of Sinus Medii (Bay of the Center), the small lunar mare named for its location at the intersection of the lunar equator and prime meridian. Sinus Medii has a center latitude of 1.63 degrees north and a center longitude of 1.03 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Herschel Crater is sited to the southeast of Mare Insularum and to the northeast of Mare Cognitum (Sea That Has Become Known) and Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds). Mare Cognitum registers a center latitude of minus 10.53 degrees south and a center longitude of minus 22.31 degrees west. Mare Nubium has a center latitude of minus 20.59 degrees south and a center longitude of minus 17.29 degrees west.

British Victorian selenographer Thomas Gwyn Empy Elger (Oct. 27, 1836-Jan. 9, 1897) described Herschel Crater as having “. . . a lofty wall rising nearly 10,000 feet above a somewhat dusky floor, which includes a prominent central mountain” (page 92) in his descriptive lunar survey, The Moon: A Full Description and Map of Its Principal Physical Features, published in 1895. The central rise offsets the crater midpoint to the west.

The central rise actually comprises a complex of peaks, according to Peter T. Wlasuk, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS) and member of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS DPS) and of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), in his lunar guide, Observing the Moon, published in 2000. Wlasuk placed the complex at up to four peaks, with at least one possessing a central craterlet. He identified German selenographer Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt (Oct. 25, 1925-Feb. 7, 1884) as the discoverer of this feature (page 96).

Elger considered the well-defined lunar impact crater’s border: “Its bright border is clearly terraced both within and without . . .” (page 92). He observed the crater’s eastern wall’s inner slope terraces as “. . . being beautifully distinct even under a high light, and on the outer slope are some curious irregular depressions.”

The moon’s Herschel Crater is centered at minus 5.69 degrees south latitude and minus 2.09 degrees west longitude. The near side southern hemisphere crater obtains northernmost and southernmost latitudes of minus 5.04 degrees south and minus 6.33 degrees south, respectively. The near side western hemisphere crater’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to minus 1.33 degrees west and minus 2.73 degrees west, respectively. Herschel Crater’s diameter measures 39.09 kilometers.

Elger situated the “typical ring-plain . . . just outside the N. border of Ptolemaeus . . .” Perched at Herschel Crater’s south-southeastern border, Herschel satellite G intervenes between its parent and Ptolemaeus. Ptolemaeus registers its center latitude at minus 9.16 degrees south and its center longitude at minus 1.84 degrees east.

Herschel Crater’s namesake is German-British astronomer William Herschel (Nov. 15, 1738-Aug. 25, 1822). The IAU approved the crater’s name in 1935, during the organization’s Vth (5th) General Assembly, held Wednesday, July 10, to Wednesday, July 17, in Paris, France.

William Herschel was born as Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in the Electorate of Hanover’s capital of Hannover in the Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Lower Saxony state, northwestern Germany). He was one of 10 children born to Hanoverian Guard bandmaster and oboist Isaac Herschel (Jan. 14, 1707-March 22, 1767) and his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen Herschel (1710 or 1713-Nov. 19, 1789). Two brothers and two sisters did not survive childhood.

In 1757, Friedrich Wilhelm relocated to England, where his name was anglicized as Frederick William. In England, he continued his musical interests in composition and performance. He also pursued new interests in astronomy and telescope design and construction. On March 13, 1781, William Herschel’s fame was assured with his discovery of the planet Uranus as a new object in Gemini the Twins constellation. His astronomical accomplishments also include discovering 2,500 nebulae, over 800 double or multiple star systems, two Saturnian moons (Enceladus, Mimas), two Uranian moons (Oberon, Titania) and infrared radiation.

The takeaways for lunar Crater Herschel, which honors German-British astronomer William Herschel, are that the lunar impact crater occupies a central location, in the vicinity of the intersection of the lunar equator and prime meridian at Sinus Medii (Bay of the Center), on the lunar near side, and that its namesake’s astronomical accomplishments included designing and constructing telescopes and discovering the planet Uranus, double and multiple star systems, four planetary moons (Saturn’s Enceladus and Mimas; Uranus’ Oberon and Titania) and infrared radiation.

Apollo 12 photo taken Nov. 19, 1969, by Command Module Yankee Clipper Pilot (CMP) Richard R. Gordon Jr. shows Ptolemaeus Crater (foreground) and Herschel Crater (center right), with Lunar Module (LM) Intrepid (background) in lunar landing configuration; NASA ID AS12-51-7507; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): Project Apollo Archive (Apollo Image Gallery), Public Domain, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Low oblique, southeast-looking view, taken Nov. 19, 1969, with Hasselblad camera by Apollo 12 spacecraft, shows near side’s southwestern lunar highlands, with Herschel Crater (center) and large Ptolemaeus Crater to the north (right) and Flammarion Crater to the southwest (left); NASA ID AS12-50-7431; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): Project Apollo Archive (Apollo Image Gallery), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/21676573116/;
Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AS12-50-7431_(21676573116).jpg;
No known copyright restrictions, via NARA (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) & DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service) Public Domain Archive @ https://nara.getarchive.net/media/as12-50-7431-apollo-12-apollo-12-mission-image-view-of-crater-herschel-9f50c4;
Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as12-50-07431;
No copyright asserted, via NASA History Apollo Flight Journal -- Apollo 12 @ https://www.nasa.gov/history/afj/ap12fj/photos/50-q.html (gallery index URL); No copyright asserted, via NASA History Apollo Flight Journal -- Apollo 12 @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/images/print/AS12/50/7431.jpg (image URL);
NASA Johnson (NASA Johnson), CC BY NC 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/9605539393;

Apollo 12 photo taken Nov. 19, 1969, by Command Module Yankee Clipper Pilot (CMP) Richard R. Gordon Jr. shows Ptolemaeus Crater (foreground) and Herschel Crater (center right), with Lunar Module (LM) Intrepid (background) in lunar landing configuration; NASA ID AS12-51-7507; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): Project Apollo Archive (Apollo Image Gallery), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/21515062310;
No known copyright restrictions, via NARA (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) & DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service) Public Domain Archive @ https://nara.getarchive.net/media/as12-51-7507-apollo-12-apollo-12-mission-image-view-of-lm-craters-ptolemaeus-796d2c;
Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as12-51-7507

For further information:

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