Earth and Space News: Near Side Hevelius Crater Honors Polish Astronomer Johannes Hevelius

Summary: Lunar near side Hevelius Crater honors Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius, whose accomplishments included comet discoveries and lunar topography.

Craters Cavalerius, Helvetius, Lohrmann (not labeled) and Grimaldi occupy the lunar near side's western hemisphere in varying proximity, according to optical libration of longitude, to the lunar disc's western, or following, limb; Feb. 25, 2021, Celestron C8, f/10, ASI224MC(0,004 x 1000 frames+ mineral postprocessing): Selinous (Aldo Ferruggia, GAWH Gruppo Astrofili William Herschel), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Lunar near side Hevelius Crater honors Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius, whose achievements included comet discoveries, new constellation descriptions, lunar topography and star studies.

Hevelius Crater occupies the lunar near side's northwestern quadrant. From the perspective of Earth's northern hemisphere, the upper right quadrant represents the near side's northwest quadrant. Lunar longitude is the opposite of the direction of the Earth-sky horizon, with east longitude on the west, or right, side of the moon and west longitude on the east, or left, side, for northern hemisphere viewers, as explained by American amateur astronomer David Alan Oesper in "The Lunar Equator," posted May 18, 2020, on his blog, Cosmic Reflections.

Hevelius Crater is centered at 2.20 decimal degrees north latitude, minus 67.46 west longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The northern hemisphere crater records northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 4.07 decimal degrees north and 0.32 decimal degrees north, respectively. The western hemisphere crater registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes of minus 65.58 west and minus 69.34 west, respectively. Lunar near side crater Hevelius has a diameter of 113.87 kilometers.

The low-rimmed crater exhibits a lava-flooded floor. "The floor is slightly convex, and includes a triangular central mountain, on which there is a small crater," noted British selenographer Thomas Gwyn Empy Elger (Oct. 27, 1836-Jan. 9, 1897) in his Victorian era lunar guide, The Moon: A Full Description and Map of Its Principal Physical Features, published in 1895 (page 88).

Elger also noted that ". . . half of the interior is crossed by four clefts." The fissures, termed rilles (German: "channel"), sequence as ". . . a series of narrow rectilinear lines," according to the June 4, 2020, Facebook post by Orion Telescopes & Binoculars.

The rilles received the official name of Rimae Hevelius from the International Astronomical Union in 1964. The rimae (Latin: rima, "cleft, fissure"; plural: rimae) are centered at 0.81 decimal degrees north latitude, minus 66.38 decimal degrees west longitude. The quartet achieves northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 2.96 decimal degrees north and minus 1.28 decimal degrees south, respectively. The Hevelius clefts obtain easternmost and westernmost longitudes of minus 63.58 decimal degrees west and minus 67.85 decimal degrees west, respectively. The diameter of Rimae Hevelius spans 180.00 kilometers.

Hevelius Crater lies on the southwestern shore of Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms"). The moon's largest mare (Latin: mare, "sea") dominates the near side's western hemisphere.

Oceanus Procellarum is centered at 20.67 decimal degrees north latitude, minus 56.68 decimal degrees west longitude. Its vastness elicits northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 57.43 decimal degrees north and minus 16.27 decimal degrees south, respectively. Its immensity encompasses easternmost and westernmost longitudes of minus 26.85 decimal degrees west and minus 81.08 decimal degrees west, respectively. Oceanus Procellarum's extensive diameter measures 2,592.24 kilometers.

Cavalerius Crater nudges Hevelius Crater's northern rim. The terraced impact crater is centered at 5.10 decimal degrees north latitude, minus 66.93 decimal degrees west longitude. Hevelius Crater's high-rimmed northern neighbor presents northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 6.08 decimal degrees north and 4.12 decimal degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes occur at minus 65.95 decimal degrees west and minus 67.91 decimal degrees west, respectively. Cavalerius Crater has a diameter of 59.35 kilometers.

Lohrmann Crater nestles closely as Hevelius Crater's southern neighbor. The nearly circular impact crater is centered at minus 0.44 decimal degrees south latitude, minus 67.38 west longitude. The primarily southern equatorial occupant finds its northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 0.08 decimal degrees north and minus 0.96 decimal degrees south, respectively. It establishes easternmost and westernmost longitudes of minus 66.87 decimal degrees west and minus 67.90 decimal degrees west, respectively. Lohrmann Crater's diameter measures 31.25 kilometers.

Lohrmann Crater intermediates between its southern neighbor, Grimaldi, and its northern neighbor, Hevelius. Grimaldi Crater marks the southern extent of the linear chain of four craters anchored most northerly by Cavalerius Crater. Grimaldi Crater is centered at minus 5.38 decimal degrees south latitude, minus 68.36 decimal degrees west longitude. The southern equatorial crater's northernmost and southernmost latitudes extend to minus 2.51 decimal degrees south and minus 8.24 decimal degrees south, respectively. The partially broken- and partially unbroken-rimmed crater's easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach minus 65.49 decimal degrees west and minus 71.23 decimal degrees west, respectively. The easily locatable, dark-floored crater's diameter spans 235.00 kilometers.

The far western location of the linear chain traced by Cavalerius, Hevelius, Lohrmann and Grimaldi craters places the neighborly quarter near the lunar near side's western, or following, limb. Lunar libration (Latin: lībrātiō, “a hurling, swinging”) affects the quartet's proximity to the limb for Earth-based lunar viewers. Accordingly, the optical libration of longitude allows the quartet to appear nearer to or farther from the edge of the lunar disc as a respective consequence of less or more visibility of the moon's western, or left, far side.

Hevelius Crater hosts seven satellites, of which three (Hevelius A, B, E) reside with their parent. Hevelius D is sited, to its parent's east, on Oceanus Procellarum. Hevelius J, K and L are located to the west of their parent.

Four near side equatorial western hemisphere craters (Cavalerius, Helvetius, Lohrmann, Grimaldi) array themselves in a linear chain along southwestern Oceanus Procellarum; detail of U.S. Geological Survey 1:10 million-scale Shaded Relief and Color-coded Topography Map: Андрей Щербаков, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Lunar near side Hevelius Crater honors Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (Polish: Jan Heweliusz; Jan. 28, 1611-Jan. 28, 1687). The International Astronomical Union approved the crater's name in 1935, during the organization's Vth (5th) General Assembly, held in Paris, France, from Wednesday, July 10, to Wednesday, July 17.

Johannes Hevelius is known for his extensive contributions to astronomy and for his astronomy partnership with his second wife, Polish astronomer Elisabeth Catherina Koopmann Hevelius (Polish: Elżbieta Koopman Heweliusz; Jan. 17, 1647–Dec. 22, 1693). A microcosm of his achievements in astronomy includes comet discoveries, new constellation descriptions, lunar topography and star studies.

Hevelius is credited with discovering four comets. On Dec. 20, 1652, he discovered his first comet, which he spotted near Rigel (Beta Orionis; abbreviated, Beta Ori; β Orionis; abbreviated, β Ori), according to English astronomer William Thynne Lynn (Aug. 9, 1835-Dec. 11, 1911) in "Hevelius and His Comets," published in the June 1905 issue of The Observatory (pages 253-254). The blue supergiant marks the left foot of Orion the Hunter constellation. On Feb. 3, 1661, he recorded his second new comet, which he associated with Corvus the Crow constellation. On March 2, 1672, he discovered his third comet, which he espied near the right foot of Pegasus the Winged Horse constellation. He noted his fourth discovered comet on April 27, 1677. He included observational data for the comets of 1652 and 1661 in his cometary treatise, Cometographia, Totam Naturam Cometarum, printed in 1668.

Ten new constellations emerged in the northern sky, as scrutinized by Hevelius. Of his 10 constellatory creations, seven have found acceptance: Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs, Lacerta the Lizard, Leo Minor the Smaller Lyon, Lynx the Cat, Sextans the SeXtant, Scutum the Shield and Vulpecula the Fox. Three constellations have become obsolete: Cerberus the Three-Headed Serpent, Mons Maenalus the Grecian Mountain and Triangulum Minus the Smaller Triangle.

Selenographic observations yielded Selenographia, sive Lunae descriptio (Selenography, or A Description of The Moon), printed in 1647. The treatise included his detailed lunar topography.

After Johannes Hevelius's death on his birthday in 1687, Elisabeth Koopman Hevelius completed the catalog of 1,564 stars, Catalogus Stellarum Fixarum, that the husband-and-wife astronomers had been compiling. In 1690, she published Prodromus Astronomiae, under the posthumous authorship of Johannes Hevelius, as a three-book magnum opus comprising astronomical observations, the star catalogue and a star atlas, Firmamentum Sobiescianum.

Portret Jana Heweliusza ("Portrait of Johannes Hevelius"), 1677 oil on canvas portrait by Polish Baroque era painter Daniel Schultz (Polish: Jerzy Daniel Schultz; 1615–1683); Library of Polish Academy of Sciences, Gdańsk: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Elger, Thomas Gwyn. “HEVEL.--A great walled-plain, 71 miles in diameter, adjoining Lohrmann on the N., with a broad eastern rampart, rising at one peak to a height above the interior of nearly 6,000 feet, and presenting a steep bright face to the Oceanus Procellarum. There are three prominent craters near its crest, and one or two breaks in its continuity. It is not so lofty and is more broken on the W., where three conspicuous craters stand on its inner slope. The floor is slightly convex, and includes a triangular central mountain, on which there is a small crater. The S. half of the interior is crossed by four clefts: (l) running from a little crater N. of the central mountain, on the E. side of it, to a hill at the foot of the S.E. wall; (2) originating near the most southerly of the three craters on the inner slope of the W. wall, and crossing 1, terminates at the foot of the E. wall; (3) has the same origin as 2, crosses 1, and, passing over a craterlet E. of the central mountain, also runs up to the E. wall at a point considerably N. of that where 2 joins the latter; (4) runs from the craterlet just mentioned to the E. end of 2.” Page 88. The Moon: A Full Description and Map of Its Principal Physical Features: Second Quadrant East Longitude 60° to 90°, pages 87-91. London [England]: George Philip & Son, 1895.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/moonfulldescript00elgerich/page/88/mode/1up

Hevelii, Johannis. Cometographia, Totam Naturam Cometarum. Gedani [Gdansk]: Simon Reininger, M DC LXVIII [1668].
Available via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbctos.2017gen14228/

Hevelii, Johannis. Selenographia sive lunae descriptio. Gedani [Gdansk]: Typis Hünefeldianis, 1647.
Available via ETH-Bibliothek e-rara @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/content/titleinfo/160230

Hevelius, Monsieur. "Monsieur Hevelius's Letter Written to the Publisher, Containing His Observations of the Late Comet, Seen by Him the 27, 29, and 30 April, and the First of May, 1677. (St. Nov.) in Dantzick." Philosophical Transactions, vol. 12, no. 135 (May 26, 1677): 869-870.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/i206877

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Cavalerius.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/1083

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Grimaldi.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Sep. 23, 2022.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2252

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Hevelius.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2493

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Lohrmann.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3452

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Oceanus Procellarum.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/4395

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Rimae Hevelius.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5113

Kidger, Mark R. "153P/Ikeya-Zhang and the Comet of Hevelius." Mark Kidger's Comet and Asteroid Observing Home Page > All Comets / Todos los cometas > 153P / Ikeya-Zhang > Analysis.
Available @ http://www.observadores-cometas.com/cometas/153p/Analysis/MACE_153P_proceeding.htm

Lynn, W.T. (William Thynne). "Hevelius and his comets." The Observatory, vol. XXVIII, no. 358 (June 1905): 253-254.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ https://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1905Obs....28..253L
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1905Obs....28..253L

Marriner, Derdriu. "Einstein Crater Parents Three Satellites On Near Side’s Western Limb." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 13, 2013.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/03/einstein-crater-lies-as-young-crater-in.html?m=0

Marriner, Derdriu. "Venusian Crater Corpman Honors Astronomer Elisabeth Koopman Hevelius." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/01/venusian-crater-corpman-honors.html

The Moon Wiki. “Cavalerius.” The Moon > Lunar Features Alphabetically > C Nomenclature.
Available @ http://the-moon.us/wiki/Cavalerius

The Moon Wiki. “Hevelius.” The Moon > Lunar Features Alphabetically > H Nomenclature.
Available @ http://the-moon.us/wiki/Hevelius

The Moon Wiki. “Lohrmann.” The Moon > Lunar Features Alphabetically > L Nomenclature.
Available @ http://the-moon.us/wiki/Lohrmann

The Moon Wiki. “Rimae Hevelius.” The Moon > Lunar Features Alphabetically > H Nomenclature.
Available @ http://the-moon.us/wiki/Rimae_Hevelius

Moore, Patrick. "A guide to the Moon's Grimaldi Crater." BBC Sky at Night Magazine > Astrophotography > The Moon. Aug. 4, 2021.
Available @ https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/moon/grimaldi-crater/

Muller, Andreas; and Alan B. Binder. "Linear Crater Chains -- Indication of a Volcanic Origin." The Moon and the Planets, vol. 28, issue 1 (February 1983): 87-107.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1983M%26P....28...87M/abstract
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1983M%26P....28...87M
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1983M%26P....28...87M

Nuno, Raquel. "A rille to rover over near Rimae Hevelius." Lunar Networks. Tuesday, July 8, 2014.
Available @ http://lunarnetworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-rille-to-rover-over-near-rimae.html

Oesper, David. "The Lunar Equator." Cosmic Reflections. May 18, 2020.
Available @ https://cosmicreflections.skythisweek.info/tag/rimae-hevelius/

Orion Telescopes & Binocular @oriontelescopes. "In the Sky the Evening of Thursday, June 4. The Moon is 13.45 days old and receding at 99.5% illumination. Tomorrow is full Moon. Use your 10X Binoculars to find (G) Grimaldi, then (1) Crater Hevelius, a large flat floored 64 mile diameter formation with a small central mountain. To its south is (2) Crater Lohrmann, a 50mm target 19 miles in diameter with low walls and slopes, lava filled floor and small central mountain. Just above Lohrmann using 100mm see (3) Hevelius 1, a volcanic dome inside the south rim of Hevelius. With 300mm (4) Rimae Hevelius is a series of four narrow rectilinear rilles. Skill Level: Beginner Suggested Gear: Orion 10x50 Binocular Stargazing Kit II, Orion SkyQuest XT12i IntelliScope Dobsonian Telescope Tomorrow Evening: Full Moon." Facebook. June 4, 2020.
Available via Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/oriontelescopes/posts/10158236899569666
Available via Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/oriontelescopes/photos/10158236899569666

Ridpath, Ian. "The Star Catalogue and Atlas of Johannes Hevelius." Ian Ridpath > Star Tales > Chapter One > Page 4.
Available @ http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/startales1d.html

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Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Yingst, R.A. (R. Aileen); and T.K.P. (Tracy K.P.) Gregg. "Lunar Geologic Mapping: A Preliminary Map of a Portion of the Marius Quadrangle." 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held March 23-27, 2009, in The Woodlands, Texas: 1319.
Available via LPI-USRA (Lunar and Planetary Institute -- Universities Space Research Association) @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2009/pdf/1319.pdf

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Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Near Side Hevelius Crater Honors Polish Astronomer Johannes Hevelius

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