Hall Crater Honors American Astronomer Asaph Hall

Summary: Hall Crater honors American astronomer Asaph Hall, discoverer of the two natural satellites of Mars in August 1877.

Detail of image obtained in 1967 by Lunar 4 mission, shows lava-flooded Hall Crater, with the crescent shape of its northern rim, in southeastern Lacus Somniorum (Lake of Dreams); NASA ID 4079 H1: James Stuby (Jstuby), Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Hall Crater honors American astronomer Asaph Hall, who discovered Deimos and Phobos, the two natural satellites of Mars, in August 1877.

Hall Crater is a lunar impact crater in the near side’s northeastern quadrant. Layers of basaltic lava have flooded Hall Crater’s interior via a gap in the crater’s western rim. A crescent-shaped formation, which rises above the submerged interior, characterizes Hall’s northern rim.

Hall Crater is centered at 33.81 degrees north latitude, 36.75 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The northern hemisphere crater records northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 34.33 degrees north and 33.29 degrees north, respectively. It registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 37.38 degrees east and 36.12 degrees east, respectively. Hall Crater has a diameter of 31.77 kilometers.

Hall Crater resides in southeastern Lacus Somniorum (Lake of Dreams). The dark, irregularly-shaped basaltic plain obtains northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 41.5 degrees north and 33.22 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes occur at 39.15 degrees east and 22.04 degrees east, respectively. Lacus Somniorum’s length measures 424.76 kilometers.

G. Bond Crater and its northernmost satellite, G. Bond G, occur as Hall Crater’s southern neighbors. The G. Bond Crater system’s primary crater lies to the south-southwest of Hall Crater. G. Bond Crater lies to the west-southwest of its northernmost satellite. The G. Bond Crater system’s satellite G resides along Hall Crater’s southeastern rim.

G. Bond Crater is centered at 32.39 degrees north latitude, 36.32 degrees east longitude. It confines northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 32.7 degrees north and 32.07 degrees north, respectively. It posts easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 36.69 degrees east and 35.95 degrees east, respectively. G. Bond Crater’s diameter measures 19.05 kilometers.

G. Bond G is centered at 32.74 degrees north latitude, 37.25 degrees east longitude. It finds northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 33.19 degrees north and 32.29 degrees north, respectively. It marks easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 37.78 degrees east and 36.71 degrees east, respectively. G. Bond G has a diameter of 27.32 kilometers.

Hall Crater parents five satellites in Lacus Somniorum. Its satellites fan to the north of the crescent traced by their parent’s northern rim.

Hall Crater honors American astronomer Asaph Hall (Oct. 15, 1829-Nov. 22, 1917). The International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved Hall as the crater’s official name in 1935, during the organization’s XVth (5th) General Assembly, held in Paris, France, from Wednesday, July 10, to Wednesday, July 17. The IAU approved the letter designations of the Hall Crater system’s five satellites in 2006.

On Aug. 1, 1862, Asaph Hall began his association with the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington DC’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood. He was hired for one of the four new aid positions authorized by the U.S. Congress. On May 2, 1863, Hall was promoted to an observatory professorship that had opened with the resignation of Frederick Godfray Hesse (1825-Jan. 27, 1911), professor of mathematics, in spring 1863.

Hall’s discovery of two Martian moons occurred in August 1877. He made his discovery via the U.S. Naval Observatory’s 26-inch (66-centimeter) refractor telescope, which had been completed in 1873. American astronomer and science historian Steven J. Dick (born Oct. 24, 1949) noted the 26-inch telescope’s status as the world’s largest refracting telescope at that time.

Asaph Hall retired from the U.S. Naval Observatory on Oct. 15, 1891. On Jan. 13, 1896, he became a lecturer on celestial mechanics at Harvard University and continued in the position until 1901.

According to the biography published in 1909 in the National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs by American astronomer and celestial mechanics expert George William Hill (March 3, 1838-April 16, 1914), Hall’s last scientific paper concerned stellar parallax. Dated Sept. 20, 1906, “Note on Stellar Parallax” was published in the Nov. 10, 1906, issue of volume XXV (25) of the Astronomical Journal.

Hall’s stellar parallax paper numbered as the third of three scientific papers that he published in 1906. “Differential Equations of Disturbed Elliptic Motion” and “Note on μ Herculis” appeared in the May 10 and Sept. 29 issues, respectively, of the Astronomical Journal.

The takeaways for Hall Crater, which honors American astronomer Asaph Hall, are that the lunar crater resides in the near side’s northeastern quadrant; that Hall’s northern rim emerges as a crescent-shaped formation above the crater’s lava-flooded interior; that Hall Crater parents five satellites in Lacus Somniorum (Lake of Dreams); and that the crater’s namesake is credited with discovering Mars the Red Planet’s two moons in 1877.

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows Hall Crater (lower center), with neighbor G. Bond Crater, in lunar near side’s southeastern Lacus Somniorum (Lake of Dreams): 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 image obtained in 1967 by Lunar 4 mission, shows lava-flooded Hall Crater, with the crescent shape of its northern rim, in southeastern Lacus Somniorum (Lake of Dreams); NASA ID 4079 H1: James Stuby (Jstuby), Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hall_crater_4079_h1.jpg

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows Hall Crater (lower center), with neighbor G. Bond Crater, in lunar near side’s southeastern Lacus Somniorum (Lake of Dreams): U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/moon_nearside.pdf

For further information:

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Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/AJ.../0025//0000102.000.html

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Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/AJ.../0025//0000107.000.html

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