Apollo 8 Imaged Lomonosov Crater During December 1968 Lunar Orbits

Summary: Apollo 8 imaged Lomonosov Crater during December 1968 lunar orbits conducted by the first crewed spaceflight mission to visit another astronomical body.

Apollo 8 photograph of lunar far side shows dark-floored Lomonosov Crater (lower right) below bright-rayed Giordano Bruno Crater; NASA ID AS08-18-2883; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): NASA, Public Domain, via Internet Archive

Apollo 8 imaged Lomonosov Crater during December 1968 lunar orbits conducted by the first crewed spaceflight mission to travel to and orbit another astronomical body, Earth’s moon.

Lomonosov Crater lies to the northeast of irregularly shaped Mare Marginis (Sea of the Edge) on the lunar far side. As viewed from the moon, Lomonosov occupies the far side’s northwestern quadrant, near the western limb. Lomonosov closely neighbors the east-northeastern rim of Joliot Crater.

Lomonosov presents a dark, lava-flooded interior floor. Craterlets puncture the floor’s level surface. Bright material that streak across the floor originated as ejecta from Giordano Bruno Crater, distanced approximately 300 kilometers to the northeast.

In their paper at the XXVIII (28th) Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held in Houston, Texas, in March 1997, lunar geologists Jeffrey J. Gillis, Paul D. Spudis and D. Ben J. Bussey noted the prolonged volcanism in the areas of Mare Marginis and the lunar mare’s southern neighbor, Mare Smythii (Sea of Smyth). Over time, the eruptions decreased in volume and spewed only in Mare Smythii and Lomonosov.

Lomonosov is centered at 27.35 degrees north latitude, 98.28 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The northern hemisphere crater stretches to 28.85 degrees north and 25.85 degrees north for its northernmost and southernmost latitudes, respectively. The lunar impact crater marks easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 99.96 degrees east and 96.59 degrees east, respectively. Lomonosov’s diameter spans 90.69 kilometers.

Crater Lomonosov honors 18th century Russian poet, scientist and grammarian Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov (Nov. 19, 1711-April 15, 1765). The Russian polymath is credited with hypothesizing the existence of a Venusian atmosphere after observing the transit of Venus his observatory in Saint Petersburg in Saturday, June 6, 1761. Lomonosov Crater received official approval during the IAU’s Eleventh General Assembly, held in Berkeley, California, from Tuesday, Aug. 15, to Thursday, Aug. 24, 1961.

The European Space Agency’s Science & Technology website identifies Crater Lomonosov as the southernmost of a trio of overlying craters. Lomonosov overlaps Maxwell Crater’s southern rim. Maxwell overlies Richardson Crater’s southwestern rim and extends almost to its host’s center.

Maxwell is centered at 29.9 degrees north latitude, 98.53 degrees east longitude. The lunar impact crater registers northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 31.71 degrees north and 28.1 degrees north, respectively. Maxwell’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes stretch to 100.6 degrees east and 96.45 degrees east, respectively. Its diameter spans 109.24 kilometers.

Crater Maxwell’s namesake is James Clerk Maxwell (June 13, 1831-Nov. 5, 1879). The Scottish mathematical physicist is credited with the unification of electricity, light and magnetism in his A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field, which he presented Thursday, Dec. 8, 1864, at the Royal Society in London. The crater’s name became official in August 1961 during the IAU’s Eleventh General Assembly.

Edison Crater adjoins Lomonosov’s southeastern outer rim. Edison is centered at 24.88 degrees north latitude, 99.27 degrees east longitude. The lunar impact crater marks northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 25.91 degrees north and 23.85 degrees north, respectively. Easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach to 100.41 degrees east and 98.13 degrees east, respectively. Edison’s diameter measures 62.72 kilometers.

Crater Edison honors Thomas Alva Edison (Feb. 11, 1847-Oct. 18, 1931). The American polymathic inventor’s plethora of interests included finding evidence of radio waves from the sun. The IAU officially approved the crater’s name in 1961 during the organization’s Eleventh General Assembly.

Apollo 8, the first human-crewed, lunar orbiting mission, began with liftoff Saturday, Dec. 21, 1968, and finished with splashdown Friday, Dec. 27. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 8 Mission Report, released February 1969, tallied the mission’s photographic output. “During the mission, seven 70-mm film magazines were exposed and yielded more than 150 photographs of the earth and more than 700 photographs of the moon. Five 16-mm color magazines were also exposed” (4-1).

The takeaway for Apollo 8’s image of Lomonosov Crater during the mission’s December 1968 lunar orbits is that the dark-floored crater in the lunar far side’s northwestern quadrant is streaked with bright material ejected from a distance of over 300 kilometers by bright-rayed crater Giordano Bruno.

Detail of Lunar Aeronautical Chart (LAC) 46 shows Lomonosov Crater (upper left), with attached primary craters Maxwell (above) and Edison (below); scale 1:1,000,000; Mercator Projection: United States Air Force (USAF) Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC) via USGS/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:

Apollo 8 photograph of lunar far side shows dark-floored Lomonosov Crater (lower right) below bright-rayed Giordano Bruno Crater; NASA ID AS08-18-2883; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): NASA, Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/AS08-18-2883;
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-as08-18-2883.html;
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/as08-18-2883-apollo-8-apollo-8-mission-image-moon-354b3b

Detail of Lunar Aeronautical Chart (LAC) 46 shows Lomonosov Crater (upper left), with attached primary craters Maxwell (above) and Edison (below); scale 1:1,000,000; Mercator Projection: United States Air Force (USAF) Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC) via USGS/Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac_46_wac.pdf

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