W. Bond Crater Honors American Astronomer William Cranch Bond

Summary: W. Bond Crater honors American astronomer William Cranch Bond, who served as the first director of Harvard College Observatory.

view of W. Bond Crater obtained by Lunar Orbiter 4: James Stuby (Jstuby), Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons

W. Bond Crater honors American astronomer William Cranch Bond, whose appointment in 1839 as Astronomical Observer to the University marked the founding of the Harvard College University (HCO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

W. Bond Crater occurs as a near-side crater in the north polar region. English amateur astronomer Edmund Neville Nevill (Aug. 27, 1849-Jan. 14, 1940), who wrote his 1876 lunar guide, The Moon and the Condition and Configuration of Its Surface, pseudonymously as Edmund Neison, noted W. Bond’s occupancy of both the eastern and western hemispheres. He described the crater as an “. . . extensive walled-plain traversed by the selenographical first meridian . . .” (page 237). Although most of the crater lies in the lunar eastern hemisphere, a portion of western W. Bond juts across the lunar prime meridian, zero degrees longitude.

W. Bond Crater is an irregularly shaped crater with a generally eroded rim. The crater’s interior floor displays relative flatness, although the floor roughens near the crater’s northern rim.

British selenographer Thomas Gwyn Empy Elger (Oct. 27, 1836-Jan. 9, 1897) described W. Bond, also known then as W.C. Bond, as a “great enclosed plain of rhomboidal shape” (page 66) in his Victorian-Age lunar guide, The Moon: A Full Description and Map of Its Principal Physical Features, published in 1895. Elger also observed: “The interior, which is covered with rows of hillocks, is very noteworthy at sunrise.

W. Bond Crater is centered at 65.41 degrees north latitude, 3.52 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The northern hemisphere crater’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes occur at 68.15 degrees north and 62.66 degrees north, respectively. The eastern-western straddler obtains easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 9.72 degrees east and minus 2.54 degrees west, respectively. W. Bond Crater’s diameter measures 170.53 kilometers.

Pentagon-shaped Timaeus Crater blends with southwestern W. Bond Crater. Timaeus is centered at 62.91 degrees north latitude, minus 0.55 degrees west longitude. It records northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 63.45 degrees north and 62.38 degrees north, respectively. Timaeus registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 0.57 degrees east and minus 1.67 degrees west, respectively. Timaeus Crater has a diameter of 32.81 kilometers.

W. Bond Crater parents six satellites. All of the W. Bond Crater system’s satellites are associated with their parent’s eastern portion.

W. Bond Crater lies near the northern edge of Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold). The elongated lunar mare is centered at 57.59 degrees north latitude, minus 0.01 degrees west longitude. Mare Frigoris stretches across lunar middle and polar latitudes, with northernmost and southernmost latitudes reaching 64.38 degrees north and 49.08 degrees north, respectively. Frigoris straddles the moon’s eastern and western hemispheres, with easternmost and westernmost longitudes tapping 38.03 degrees east and minus 43.14 degrees west, respectively. Mare Frigoris’ diameter spans 1,446.41 kilometers.

W. Bond Crater honors American astronomer William Cranch Bond (Sept. 9, 1789-Jan. 29, 1859). The International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved W. Bond as the crater’s official name in 1935, during the organization’s Vth (5th) General Assembly, which was held in Paris France, from Wednesday, July 10, to Wednesday, July 17. The letter designations of the W. Bond Crater system’s six satellites were adopted in 2006.

William Cranch Bond was trained in the family business of making clocks and chronometers. In addition to his skill with precise timepieces, he pursued an interest in observational astronomy. The avid amateur astronomer converted the parlor of his home at 158 East Cottage Street in Dorchester into an observatory and mounted an array of astronomical instruments in his yard.

He was appointed as "Astronomical Observer" for the founding of Harvard College Observatory (HCO) in 1839. His astronomical accomplishments at the observatory included the discovery of the eighth Saturnian moon, now known as Hyperion, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 1848. He made the discovery with his second son, George Phillips Bond (May 20, 1825-Feb. 17, 1865), who served as his father’s assistant. In his report of the Saturnian discovery for the Nov. 10, 1848, issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, William noted that the satellite was perceived as a “. . . point of light . . . in the plane of Saturn’s ring, between Titan and Japetus . . .” (page 1).

Approximately two years two months after their discovery of Hyperion, the father-son team made another Saturnian discovery. In November 1850, they discerned a new, dark ring (now known as C Ring) inward of Saturn’s B Ring. William reported that George made the first drawing of the new ring on Monday, Nov. 11. Father and son observed the new ring again on Friday, Nov. 15, and continued their observations to Tuesday, Jan. 7, 1851.

The takeaways for W. Bond Crater, which honors American astronomer William Cranch Bond, are that the irregularly shaped, generally eroded crater lies primarily in the lunar near side’s northeastern quadrant; that a portion of western W. Bond Crater juts into the western hemisphere; that the W. Bond Crater system parents six satellites; and that the W. Bond Crater system’s namesake directed Harvard College Observatory from its founding in 1839 until his death in 1859; and that his astronomical accomplishments as director included co-discovery of Saturn’s eighth moon, now known as Hyperion, and of Saturn’s C ring with his assistant and second son, George Phillips Bond.

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows W. Bond Crater (upper center) straddling the western and eastern hemisphere in the lunar far’s northwestern and northeastern quadrants: 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:

View of W. Bond Crater, obtained by Lunar Orbiter 4: James Stuby (Jstuby), Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W_Bond_crater_4116_h1_h2.jpg

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows W. Bond Crater (upper center) straddling the western and eastern hemisphere in the lunar far’s northwestern and northeastern quadrants: U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/moon_np.pdf

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