Menzel Crater Honors American Theoretical Astrophysicist Donald Menzel

Summary: Menzel Crater honors American theoretical astrophysicist Donald Menzel, total solar eclipse observer and Harvard College Observatory’s sixth director.

Detail of Lunar Astronautical Chart (LAC) 61 shows Menzel Crater (center left) as a near side crater, with nearest named neighbor Maskelyne F, in southeastern Mare Tranquillitatis; courtesy NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) / GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) / ASU (Arizona State University): U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Menzel Crater honors American theoretical astrophysicist Donald Menzel, who served as Harvard College Observatory’s (HCO) sixth director and, over 55 years, between 1918 and 1973, observed 15 total solar eclipses.

Menzel Crater is a lunar impact crater in the near side’s northeastern quadrant. The tiny crater is circular and cup-shaped.

Menzel Crater is centered at 3.41 degrees north latitude, 36.94 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The northern hemisphere crater obtains northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 3.46 degrees north and 3.35 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes occur at 37 degrees east and 36.89 degrees east, respectively. Menzel Crater’s diameter measures 3.44 kilometers.

Menzel lies in southeastern Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility). The lunar mare is famously associated with the first crewed lunar landing, achieved by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 11 spaceflight on Sunday, July 20, 1969.

Mare Tranquillitatis is centered at 8.35 degrees north latitude, 30.83 degrees east longitude. It records northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 19.37 degrees north and minus 4.05 degrees south, respectively. The Sea of Tranquility registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 45.49 degrees east and 16.92 degrees east, respectively. Mare Tranquillitatis has a diameter of 875.75 kilometers.

Maskelyne F is Menzel Crater’s nearest named neighbor. Maskelyne F lies to the northwest of Menzel Crater.

Maskelyne F numbers among the 16 satellites in the Maskelyne Crater system. The system’s primary crater, Maskelyne, logs a center-to-center distance of 210 kilometers from Apollo 11’s Mare Tranquillitatis landing site, according to the Lunar and Planetary Institute’s webpage on the Apollo 11 Mission’s landing site.

Maskelyne F is centered at 4.18 degrees north latitude, 35.3 degrees east longitude. The satellite posts northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 4.52 degrees north and 3.83 degrees north, respectively. It marks easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 35.64 degrees east and 34.95 degrees east, respectively. Maskelyne F’s diameter spans 20.93 kilometers.

Menzel Crater honors American theoretical astrophysicist Donald Howard Menzel (April 11, 1901-Dec. 14, 1976). The International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved Menzel as the tiny crater’s official name in 1979, during the organization’s XVIIth (17th) General Assembly, held from Tuesday, Aug. 14, to Thursday, Aug. 23, in Montreal, Canada.

Menzel received his Ph.D. in astrophysics from Princeton University in 1924. His advisor, Henry Norris Russell (Oct. 25, 1877-Feb. 18, 1957), was the first practitioner of the new field of astrophysics in the United States, according to American astronomers Leopold “Leo” Goldberg (Jan. 26, 1913-Nov. 1, 1987) and Lawrence Hugh Aller (Sept. 24, 1913-March 16, 2003) in the National Academy of Sciences’ Biographical Memoir, published in 1991. Menzel’s dissertation, “A Study of Line Intensities in Stellar Spectra,” considered a temperature scale for stellar spectra.

In 1952, Menzel was appointed as acting director of Harvard College Observatory (HCO). In January 1954, he became the observatory’s sixth director, a position that he held until 1966. In 1955, Menzel shepherded a beneficial association with the Smithsonian Institution. The transfer of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) from Washington DC to Cambridge in 1955 culminated in the establishment of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in 1973.

Menzel’s interest in solar eclipses traced to his viewing of the total solar eclipse of June 8, 1918, as a Boy Scout over Evergreen, Colorado. Over the next 55 years, he enthusiastically added 14 more total solar eclipses to his solar eclipse portfolio. He traveled to western Mauritania to view the eclipse of June 30, 1973, as his last total solar eclipse.

Menzel’s retirement home in Costa Rica eased his observation of the annular eclipse of Dec. 24, 1973, as his last solar eclipse. Costa Rica qualified as one of the eclipse’s visibility regions.

In addition to his sophisticated astrophysics writings, Menzel published A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, Including the Moon, Satellites, Comets, and Other Features of the Universe as a popular astronomy best-seller in 1964. The guide helpfully grouped the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union into eight families as a memory aide for their locations.

The takeaways for Menzel Crater, which honors American theoretical astrophysicist Donald Howard Menzel, are that the tiny crater lies in southeastern Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) in the near side’s northeastern quadrant; that Menzel is circular and cup-shaped; and that Menzel Crater’s namesake studied at Princeton University with Henry Norris Russell, who pioneered astrophysics in the United States; that Donald Menzel pursued his interest in solar eclipses by observing 15 total solar eclipses over 55 years; and that his publishing output includes a popular astronomy best-seller, A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets (1964), which helpfully groups the modern 88 constellations into eight families.

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows Menzel Crater (center), northeast of Apollo 11 landing site (center left), in southeastern Mare Tranquillitatis, in the lunar near side’s northeastern quadrant: U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center / 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 of Lunar Astronautical Chart (LAC) 61 shows Menzel Crater (center left) as a near side crater, with nearest named neighbor Maskelyne F, in southeastern Mare Tranquillitatis; courtesy NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) / GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) / ASU (Arizona State University): U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac61_wac.pdf

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows Menzel Crater (center), northeast of Apollo 11 landing site (center left), in southeastern Mare Tranquillitatis, in the lunar near side’s northeastern quadrant: U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/moon_farside.pdf

For further information:

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