Pawsey Crater Honors Australian Radio Astronomer Joseph Lade Pawsey

Summary: Pawsey Crater honors Australian radio astronomer Joseph Lade Pawsey, a pioneer in the 20th century’s new discipline of radio astronomy.

Detail of Lunar Astronautical Charts (LAC) 31 shows Pawsey Crater with nearest named neighbors, Bridgman E (west; left), Campbell (east; right) and Wiener (south; below); 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

Pawsey Crater honors Australian radio astronomer Joseph Lade Pawsey, whose pioneer involvement in radio astronomy established Australia’s CSIRO (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Radiophysics Laboratory as a world-famous center.

Pawsey is a middle-latitude, lunar impact crater in the far side’s northwestern quadrant. A small crater encroaches the western rim. A cup-shaped crater resides on the western interior floor, to the northeast of the western rim’s crater. A cup-shaped crater lies along Pawsey’s northeastern edge.

Pawsey Crater is centered at 44.24 degrees north latitude, 145.29 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The eastern hemisphere crater’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes occur at 45.23 degrees north and 43.25 degrees north, respectively. The northern hemisphere crater obtains easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 146.67 degrees east and 143.91 degrees east, respectively. Pawsey Crater has a diameter of 59.98 kilometers.

Pawsey Crater claims three close, named neighbors. Campbell Crater lies to the east of Pawsey.. Pawsey’s southwestern edge nudges Wiener Crater’s outer northern ramparts. The Bridgman Crater system’s satellite E resides to the west of Pawsey.

Pawsey’s eastern neighbor, Campbell, is an impact-worn lunar impact crater. The large crater is pimpled with craters on its rim, inner wall and interior floor.

Campbell Crater is centered at 45.57 degrees north latitude, 152.91 degrees east longitude. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes stretch to 49.26 degrees north and 41.92 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 158.26 degrees east and 147.81 degrees east, respectively. Campbell Crater’s diameter spans 222.48 kilometers.

Pawsey’s south-southeastern neighbor, Wiener, presents contrasts of irregularity and smoothness. Its relatively level interior floor bears a central peak structure, formed by a cluster of small ridges, near the crater’s midpoint. Its fairly well-formed northwestern rim shelters a slumped and terraced inner wall. The northern rim protrudes as an outward association with Wiener’s northwestern neighbor, Pawsey.

Wiener Crater is centered at 40.9 degrees north latitude, 146.51 degrees east longitude. It posts northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 42.77 degrees north and 39.03 degrees north, respectively. It finds easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 148.99 degrees east and 144.04 degrees east, respectively. Wiener Crater’s diameter spans 113.39 kilometers.

Pawsey’s western neighbor, Bridgman E, occupies the most easterly position in the Bridgman Crater system. It lies between its parent and Pawsey Crater.

Bridgman E is centered at 44.08 degrees north latitude, 141.84 degrees east longitude. It records northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 44.54 degrees north and 43.63 degrees north, respectively. It registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 142.47 degrees east and 141.2 degrees east, respectively. Bridgman E has a diameter of 27.55 kilometers.

Pawsey Crater honors Australian radio astronomer Joseph Lade Pawsey (May 14, 1908-Nov. 30, 1962). The International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved Pawsey as the crater’s official name in 1970, during the organization’s XIV (14th) General Assembly, held in Brighton, United Kingdom, from Sunday, Aug. 18, to Tuesday, Aug. 27. Prior to its official naming, Pawsey Crater was known as Crater 55.

Pawsey’s association with CSIRO (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Radiophysics Laboratory began on Feb. 2, 1940, according to English physicist and radio astronomer Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell (Aug. 31, 1913-Aug. 6, 2012) in his biography of Pawsey for the Nov. 30, 1984, issue of the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of The Royal Society. The laboratory, which was established toward the end of 1939 in Sydney, New South Wales, southeastern Australia, was charged with conducting radar research for the Australian Armed Services.

Pawsey was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society (FRS) on March 18, 1954. Pawsey’s election certificate, which was read to the Society on Nov. 6, 1952, included an acknowledgment of the significance of his leadership in securing recognition of Australia’s CSIRO Radiophysics Laboratory as a “leading centre of radio-astronomy.”

Pawsey co-authored Radio Astronomy with Ronald Newbold Bracewell (July 22, 1921-Aug. 12, 2007) as the new science’s first standard work. Radio Astronomy was published by Oxford University Press in 1955. Sir Alfred recognized the textbook as “. . . Pawsey’s major contribution to the general literature” (page 239) of radio astronomy.

The takeaways for Pawsey Crater, which honors Australian radio astronomer Joseph Lade Pawsey, are that the lunar crater resides as an eastern hemisphere crater in the far side’s northwestern quadrant and that the crater’s namesake is recognized as a pioneer in the 20th century’s new science of radio astronomy.

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows Pawsey Crater’s (center) neighborhood in the far side’s portion of the moon’s eastern hemisphere: 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 Charts (LAC) 31 shows Pawsey Crater with nearest named neighbors, Bridgman E (west; left), Campbell (east; right) and Wiener (south; below); 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/lac_31_wac.pdf

Detail of Shaded Relief and Color-Coded Topography Map shows Pawsey Crater’s (center) neighborhood in the far side’s portion of the moon’s eastern hemisphere: 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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