Lunar Crater Amundsen Honors Norwegian Polar Explorer Roald Amundsen

Summary: Lunar Crater Amundsen honors Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, who led the first expeditions to Earth’s South and North Poles.

Lunar Aeronautical Chart (LAC) 144 shows Amundsen Crater (center right), in proximity to the moon’s south pole, about midway between south pole and lunar limb; scale 1:1,000,000 Polar Stereographic Projection: Courtesy NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center)/ASU (Arizona State University), via IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Lunar Crater Amundsen honors Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, who led the first expeditions to reach Earth’s geographic poles in Antarctica and the Arctic.

Amundsen Crater occupies the lunar near side’s southeastern quadrant. The large impact crater lies along the moon’s southern leading limb. Amundsen’s location near the lunar south pole appropriately honors Earth’s polar explorer. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved the crater’s name in 1964, during the organization’s XIIth (12th) General Assembly, held Tuesday, Aug. 25, to Thursday, Sept. 3, in Hamburg, Germany.

The moon’s Amundsen crater is centered at minus 84.44 degrees south latitude, 83.07 degrees east longitude, according to the IAU’s Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The near side southern hemisphere crater obtains northernmost and southernmost latitudes of minus 82.85 degrees south and minus 86.26 degrees south, respectively. Amundsen’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to 104.12 degrees east and 67.6 degrees east, respectively. The south polar lunar crater’s diameter spans 103.39 kilometers.

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (July 16, 1872-June 18, 1928) was born in Borge, southeastern Norway, to captain and shipowner Jens Ingebregt Amundsen (Dec. 27, 1820-Aug. 15, 1886) and his wife, Hanna Henrikke Gustava Sahlquist Amundsen (Feb. 12, 1837-Sept. 9, 1893). As the youngest of the couple’s four sons, Roald was preceded by Jens Ole Antonius (1866-1922), Gustav Zahlquist (June 7, 1868) and Leon Henry Benham (Sept. 4, 1870-Dec. 11, 1934).

In his 1927 autobiography, Mitt liv som polarforsker, translated into English as My Life as an Explorer, Roald recalled that, at age 15, he was captivated by the expeditionary writings of “the great British explorer” (page 2), Sir John Franklin (April 16, 1786-June 11, 1847). Teen-aged Roald determined to become an Arctic explorer and began training to endure nature’s hardships.

Norwegian explorer, oceanographer and zoologist Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (Oct. 10, 1861-May 13, 1930) also inspired teen-aged Roald. On Wednesday, Oct. 3, 1888, Nansen and five companions successfully completed the first crossing of Greenland’s interior.

His mother’s ambition was for him to become a doctor. He entered the university at age 18 to study medicine. He described himself as “a worse than indifferent student” (page 4) and left the program, at age 21, after his mother’s death.

On Tuesday, June 16, 1903, Roald and six companions launched their expedition to navigate the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The expedition’s sighting of American whaling vessel Charles Hansson on Saturday, Aug. 26, 1905, approaching from the west, told the explorers that Gjøa, their 45-ton sloop, had successfully navigated the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and now reached open waters. On Tuesday, Dec. 5, 1905, Roald arrived at Fort Egbert, the U.S. Army’s northernmost post, to telegraph the expedition’s victory to the world.

Roald’s followed his Northwest Passage navigation with polar attainments. He reached the South Pole by dogsled Dec. 14, 1911. On May 12, 1926, Roald and 15 companions made the first overflight of the North Pole. The expedition flew the Norge, a semi-rigid airship designed by expedition pilot Umberto Nobile (Jan. 21, 1885-July 30, 1978).

Roald disappeared 25 months after his North Pole overflight. On Monday, June 18, 1928, he boarded French twin-engine flying boat Latham 47 for a search-and-rescue mission for Umberto Nobile’s downed airship Italia in the Arctic north of Spitsbergen. The Italia had crashed on pack ice Friday, May 25. Roald’s mission comprised Norwegian aviation pioneer Leif Ragnar Dietrichson (Sept. 1, 1890)-June 18, 1928), French military aviator René Cyprien Guilbaud (Oct. 8, 1890-June 18, 1928), French Naval Aviation maître (petty officer) and mechanic Gilbert George Paul Brazy (Feb. 15, 1902-June 18, 1928), French Navy officer and aviator Albert Madeleine Ludovic Alphonse Cavelier de Cuverville (Nov. 2, 1892-June 18, 1928), and French Navy second maître (leading seaman) and radio operator Émile Valette aimed to fly to the Arctic north of Spitsbergen to search for Umberto Nobile’s airship Italia. The Italia had crashed on pack ice Friday, May 25.

Roald’s and his companions’ bodies have never been found. The Latham 47’s torn-off port float was found off the coast of northern Norway’s Troms County Friday, Aug. 31, two and one-half months after takeoff. On Saturday, Oct. 13, the aircraft’s fuel tank was found at Haltenbanken, the part of the Norwegian continental shelf off Central Norway’s Trøndelag County.

The takeaway for lunar Crater Amundsen is that the crater’s location near the lunar south pole honors Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen’s accomplishment as leader of the first expedition to reach Earth’s South Pole.

Lunar south pole mosaic comprises about 40 images taken between December 2005 and March 2006 by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA’s (European Space Agency) SMART-1; depicted area measures about 500 by 150 kilometers; image mosaic by M. Ellouzi/B. Foing; mosaic released Dec. 3, 2008: ESA/SMART-1/Space-X (Space Exploration Institute), CC BY SA 3.0 IGO Intergovernmental Organization, via The European Space Agency

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Lunar Aeronautical Chart (LAC) 144 shows Amundsen Crater (center right), in proximity to the moon’s south pole, about midway between south pole and lunar limb; scale 1:1,000,000 Polar Stereographic Projection: Courtesy NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center)/ASU (Arizona State University), via IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac_144_wac.pdf

Lunar south pole mosaic comprises about 40 images taken between December 2005 and March 2006 by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA’s (European Space Agency) SMART-1; depicted area measures about 500 by 150 kilometers; image mosaic by M. Ellouzi/B. Foing; mosaic released Dec. 3, 2008: ESA/SMART-1/Space-X (Space Exploration Institute), CC BY SA 3.0 IGO Intergovernmental Organization, via European Space Agency @ http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2008/03/Lunar_south_pole_mosaic_-_annotated

For further information:

Amundsen, Roald. My Life as an Explorer. Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1927.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/roaldamundsenmyl00amun_0/

Amundsen, Roald. The North West Passage: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship “Gjöa” 1903-1907 by Roald Amundsen With a Supplement by First Lieutenant Hansen Vice-Commander of the Expedition. With About One Hundred and Thirty-Nine Illustrations and Three Maps. Vol. I. London UK: Archibald Constable and Company Limited, 1908.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/northwestpassage01amun/

Amundsen, Roald. The North West Passage: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship “Gjöa” 1903-1907 by Roald Amundsen With a Supplement by First Lieutenant Hansen Vice-Commander of the Expedition. With About One Hundred and Thirty-Nine Illustrations and Three Maps. Vol. II. London UK: Archibald Constable and Company Limited, 1908.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/northwestpassage02amun/

Amundsen, Roald. The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the Fram, 1910-1912. In two volumes. Translated from the Norwegian by A.G. Chater. London UK: John Murray, 1912.
Volume I: Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/southpoleaccount01/
Volume II: Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/southpoleaccount02/

Bown, Stephen R. The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen. A Merloyd Lawrence Book. Boston MA: Da Capo Press, 2012.

Byron, B.D.; K. (Kurt) D. Retherford; T.K. Greathouse; K.E. Mandt; A.R. Hendrix; M.J. Poston; Y. Liu; J. (Joshua) T. Cahill; and E. (Erwan) Mazarico. “Effects of Space Weathering and Porosity on the Far-UV Reflectance of Amundsen Crater. AGU 100, vol. 124, issue 3 (March 2019): 823-836.
Available via Wiley Online @ https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2018JE005908

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Eubanks, Thomas Marshall. “Amundsen Crater: Access to Lunar Volatiles and Sunlit Areas on a Level Plain.” NASA Ames Research Center Lunar Science for Landed Missions Workshop, Jan. 10-12, 2018.
Available @ https://lunar-landing.arc.nasa.gov/program

International Astronomical Union. “Amundsen.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/247

International Astronomical Union. “Amundsen C.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/7236

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Amundsen Satellite A Now Honors Hungarian Geophysicist Péter Hédervári.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 25, 2014. Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/06/amundsen-satellite-now-honors-hungarian.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Stickney Crater Honors Phobos Discoverer Asaph Hall’s First Wife." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 3, 2013.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/07/stickney-crater-honors-phobos.html

Moore, Patrick, Sir. Philip’s Atlas of the Universe. Revised edition. London UK: Philip’s, 2005.

Pecker, J.-C. (Jean-Claude), ed. XIIth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. XII B and XII C Proceedings of the 12th General Assembly Hamburg, Germany, August 25-September 3, 1964. Oxford UK: Blackwell Scientific Publications, Jan. 1, 1966.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Swopes, Bryan R. “18 June 2018.” This Day in Aviation. June 18, 2019.
Available @ https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/18-june-1928/

U.S. Geological Survey. Color-Coded Topography and Shaded Relief Map of the Lunar Near Side and Far Side Hemispheres. U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2769. Page last modified Nov. 30, 2016. Flagstaff AZ: U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center, 2003.
Available via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2769/

Greenland Sleeper Shark Natural History Illustrations and Photographs

Summary: Icelanders and Greenland sleeper shark natural history illustrations respectively know all about kæstur hákarl and little of live specimens' life cycles.

(center left) "Fig. 5 The eye of the Greenland Shark." (lower left) "Fig. 3. Greenland Shark, 12 1/2 Feet in Length." (lower right) "Fig. 4 Underside View of the Greenland Shark." (lower center) "Scale, 3/8ths of an Inch to a Foot." (bottom left) "Drawn by W. Scoresby Jun." (bottom right) "W. & D. Lizars Sculpt."
Illustrations of the Greenland sleeper shark, under synonym Squalus borealis, by British Anglican clergyman, Arctic explorer, scientist and whaler William Scoresby (Oct. 5, 1789-March 21, 1857) include parasitic copepod Ommatokoita elongata attached to the Greenland shark's eye; W. Scoresby, An Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the northern Whale-Fishery (1820), vol. II, Plate XV: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Greenland sleeper shark natural history illustrations and photographs act as artistic analyses of behavioral patterns, distribution ranges, life cycles and physical appearances of sea fishes that Icelanders appreciate as fermented shark meat.

Greenland sleeper sharks, preferentially of all sleeper shark species, become kæstur hákarl ("fermented shark" meat) through a violent beating away of bodily fluids and temporary burial. They carry as common names gray, ground and gurry sharks for body color, feeding niches and scavenging preferences and sleeper sharks for slow, sluggish swimming styles. The scientific name Somniosus microcephalus describes the Squaliformes shark order member's "sleepy, little head," due to docile deportment around parasitic copepods, potential prey and predatory fishers.

Scientific explanations by Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723-Aug. 6, 1799) and Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider (Jan. 18, 1750-Jan. 12, 1822) encourage Greenland sleeper shark natural history illustrations.

Greenland sleeper shark natural history illustrations since 1801, photographs since 1995 and videos since 2003 furnish few and far-between facts concerning frequenters of cold, remote depths.

Bloch and Schneider gave the general distribution ranges of their Greenland sleeper shark specimen of undescribed provenance as Habitat in mari glaciali ("Habitat in glacial seas"). Distribution maps in the 21st century have Greenland sleeper sharks in the Arctic Ocean off northeastern Canada, northeastern and northwestern Greenland, northeastern Norway and northwestern Russia. They include the North Atlantic ocean off eastern Canada, the eastern United States through Massachusetts, eastern Iceland, Ireland, United Kingdom and Europe from France through Norway.

Greenland sleeper shark natural history illustrations and photographs sometimes jumble food chains into the Somniosidae family members' journeys between continental shelves and slopes and inshore zones.

distribution map for Greenland sleeper shark (Somniosus microcephalus): Chris_huh, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Greenland sleeper shark distribution ranges keep closer to brackish and shallow ocean water surfaces during winter's decreasing temperatures and to ocean floors during summer's rising temperatures.

Their life cycles lead Greenland sleeper sharks to depths 7,217.85 feet (2,200 meters) below the surface and to temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). Greenland sleeper sharks mix deep-water, low-profile, summertime and fall movements between July and September and fall, wintertime and springtime high-profile, near-surface movements between October and May. They need amphipods, brittle stars, capelins, chars, crabs, eels, haddock, halibuts, herring, jellyfishes, lumpfishes, narwhals, redfishes, salmon, sculpins, seabirds, seals, skate, snails, squid, urchins and wolfishes.

Greenland sleeper shark natural history illustrations and photographs offer blue-, brown-, purple-gray 11- to 21-foot- (3.35- to 6.40-meter-) long, 1,543.24- to 2,248.72-pound (700- to 1,020-kilogram) bodies.

Physically and sexually mature females, possibly 150 years old or more, produce generally, maximally or minimally 10 live-birthed 14- to 17-inch- (3.56- to 43.18-centimeter-) long embryos.

Blunt-snouted, cone-headed, suctoral-mouthed, torpedo-bodied adults queue up 48- to 53-cusped lower jaws, paddle-like pectoral fins, ridged tail fins, small gill slits and two spineless dorsal fins. Breeding and birthing behaviors and months remain as mysterious as navigation and predation, despite cornea-attached, cornea-damaging, vision-destructive Ommatokoita elongata parasites, through olfactory openings and sound detection. Annual 0.19- to 0.39-inch (0.5- to 1-centimeter) growth rates and radiocarbon-dated eye lens crystals suggest 272- to 512-year-old Greenland specimens as the world's longest-lived, second-largest shark.

Photographs and publications, not Greenland sleeper shark natural history illustrations, respectively treat transformations into kæstur hákarl and buoyancy and deep-water tolerances through trimethylamine N-oxide and urea.

"1600 lb. Greenland Shark in Workshop. Mounted by F.B. Webster and assistants," Plate 16, in Frank Blake Webster, ed., Results in Taxidermy, Illustrated by 140 Half-Tone Reproductions from Photographs of Specimens Mounted 1867 to 1905 (Published by Sarah Shaw Webster; Boston, MA: The Marsh Press, 1905; Plate 16). George Edwin Browne (Nov. 23, 1846-Jan. 15, 1908) and Walter Reaves Zappey (May 6, 1878-Feb. 20, 1914) assisted American ornithological publisher, taxidermist and naturalists' supply dealer Frank Blake Webster (June 16, 1850–Nov. 6, 1922) in the Frank Blake Webster Company's workshop, which was established in 1888; "Practically all Work Represented Executed by George E. Browne, 44 years’ experience; Frank B. Webster, 38 years’ experience; Walter R. Zappey, 9 years’ experience. Exceptions credited under plates," according to note by F.B. Webster on the second page of "Index to Plates" (https://archive.org/details/resultsintaxider00webs/page/n8/mode/1up). : The Library of Congress, The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

(center left) "Fig. 5 The eye of the Greenland Shark." (lower left) "Fig. 3. Greenland Shark, 12 1/2 Feet in Length." (lower right) "Fig. 4 Underside View of the Greenland Shark." (lower center) "Scale, 3/8ths of an Inch to a Foot." (bottom left) "Drawn by W. Scoresby Jun." (bottom right) "W. & D. Lizars Sculpt."
Illustrations of the Greenland sleeper shark, under synonym Squalus borealis, by British Anglican clergyman, Arctic explorer, scientist and whaler William Scoresby (Oct. 5, 1789-March 21, 1857) include parasitic copepod Ommatokoita elongata attached to the Greenland shark's eye; W. Scoresby, An Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the northern Whale-Fishery (1820), vol. II, Plate XV: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9722230;
Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/accountofarcticr02scor/page/n608/mode/1up;
"Somniosus microcephalus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)," via Shark References @ https://shark-references.com/species/view/Somniosus-microcephalus;
"Squalus borealis Scoresby, 1820," via GBIF @ https://www.gbif.org/species/5216450

distribution map for Greenland sleeper shark (Somniosus microcephalus): Chris_huh, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Somniosus_microcephalus_distmap.png

"1600 lb. Greenland Shark in Workshop. Mounted by F.B. Webster and assistants," Plate 16, in Frank Blake Webster, ed., Results in Taxidermy, Illustrated by 140 Half-Tone Reproductions from Photographs of Specimens Mounted 1867 to 1905 (Published by Sarah Shaw Webster; Boston, MA: The Marsh Press, 1905; Plate 16). George Edwin Browne (Nov. 23, 1846-Jan. 15, 1908) and Walter Reaves Zappey (May 6, 1878-Feb. 20, 1914) assisted American ornithological publisher, taxidermist and naturalists' supply dealer Frank Blake Webster (June 16, 1850–Nov. 6, 1922) in the Frank Blake Webster Company's workshop, which was established in 1888; "Practically all Work Represented Executed by George E. Browne, 44 years’ experience; Frank B. Webster, 38 years’ experience; Walter R. Zappey, 9 years’ experience. Exceptions credited under plates," according to note by F.B. Webster on the second page of "Index to Plates" (https://archive.org/details/resultsintaxider00webs/page/n8/mode/1up). : The Library of Congress, The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/resultsintaxider00webs/page/n24/mode/1up;
The Library of Congress, The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57994996;
Library of Congress, The books in this collection are in the public domain and are free to use and reuse, via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.resultsintaxider00webs/?sp=25;
Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taxidermied_Greenland_shark.jpg

For further information:

Benz, George W. "Greenland Shark Somniosus microcephalus." In: Michael Hutchins, Dennis A. Thoney, Paul V. Loiselle and Neil Schlager, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 4, Fishes I: 156-157. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Blochii, M.E.; Jo. Gottlob Schneider. 1801. "29. [Squalus] microcephalus." Systema Ichthyologiae Iconibus ex Illustratum. Post Obitum Auctoris Opus Inchoatum Absolvit, Correxit, Interpolavit: 135. Berolini [Berlin, Germany]: Sumtibus Auctoris Impressum et Bibliopolio Sanderiano Commissum.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5475232
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/meblochiidoctori00bloc#page/135/mode/1up

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 July 2014. "Greenland Sleeper Shark Natural History Illustrations and Photographs." Earth and Space News. Friday. https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/07/greenland-sleeper-shark-natural-history.html

Eastern Subterranean Termites Dominate the Eastern United States

Summary: Eastern subterranean termites get distribution ranges from the Atlantic and Gulf coastal United States north and west into Canada and the Great Plains.

Eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes) worker floats in hand sanitizer; Beltsville, Maryland; Oct. 17, 2012: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab (Sam Droege), Public Domain, via Flickr

Eastern subterranean termites are active around July 4th in any area within their American distribution ranges where they associate, under adverse colony conditions and appropriate moisture and temperatures, with Formosan subterranean termites.

Eastern subterranean termites bear their common name because of biogeographies in the eastern United States and colonies in moist soils between frost lines and water tables. They carry the scientific name Reticulitermes flavipes (from the Latin rēticulum, "net"; tarmes, "woodworm"; flāvus, "yellow"; and pēs, "foot") for yellowish limbs and net-like wing membranes. Their taxonomy according to Carl Linnaeus's (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) system derives from scientific descriptions in 1837 by Vincenz Kollar (Jan. 15, 1797-May 30, 1860).

Eastern subterranean termites exist east of the Mississippi River and west from Louisiana and Arkansas through New Mexico, Missouri through Utah, Iowa through Nebraska, and Minnesota.

December or January through April, May or November function as swarming months for reproductive alates (from the Latin ālātus, "winged") in eastern subterranean termite life cycles.

Monogamous, permanent kings and queens generate 5,000 to 10,000 eggs a day for three-caste colonies of up to 5 million workers within five to 10 years. Black or black-brown, 0.375- to 0.5-inch- (9.525- to 12.7-millimeter-) long kings and queens have two straight antennae; four equal-sized, front-veined, hairless, translucent wings; and straight-waisted thoraxes. Their workers incubate the bean-shaped, cream- to yellow-white, single-laid, transparent-shelled 0.0313-inch- (0.7938-millimeter-) long eggs at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21.11 degrees Celsius) for 30 to 90 days.

Eastern subterranean termites journey through immature, multi-molting, nymph stages into blind, sterile, wingless workers; long-winged primary, short-winged secondary and wingless tertiary reproductives; and sterile, wingless soldiers.

The Rhinotermitidae (from the Greek ῥῑνός, rhīnós, "nose" and Latin tarmes, "woodworm") subterranean termite family member keeps one off-white, soft-bodied look until the third nymphal stage.

Cream- to gray-white, eyeless, round-headed, soft-bodied, 0.12-inch- (3-millimeter-) long eastern subterranean termite workers look after eggs and colonists; food and water; and mud-gallery and shelter-tube repairs. Soldiers maintain black, pincher-tipped mandibles curved at 70 to 90 degrees; fontanelle, latex-releasing frontal gland pores; pronotum first thoracic segments narrower than armored, brown-orange-yellow rectangular-shaped heads. The 0.0313-inch- (0.7938-millimeter-) wide, 0.25-plus-inch- (6.35-plus-millimeter-) long soldiers and 0.375-inch- (9.525-millimeter-) long primary, secondary and tertiary reproductives need worker-ingested, worker-regurgitated wood and wood fibers for nourishment.

Queenship offers winged primaries maximally 0.16 inches (4 millimeters) wide, wing-budded secondaries and wingless tertiaries respectively maximum 0.57-inch- (14.5-millimeter-), 0.47-inch- (12-millimeter-) and 0.28-inch- (7-millimeter-) long bodies.

Black to black-brown, sun-tolerant two-plus-year-old primary reproductives possess wings for 150-foot- (45.72-meter-) long new colony-pursuing flights that flightlessness precludes sun-intolerant secondaries and tertiaries from participating in.

Humidity at 70 to 100 percent and temperatures between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit (26.66 and 32.22 degrees Celsius) queue up sustainable eastern subterranean termite colonies. Eastern subterranean termites require timber, wood products and woody plants within 150 feet (45.72 meters) of colonies in moist soils or, if aerial, near moisture sources. They survive ambient temperatures down to minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 30 degrees Celsius) in United States Department of Agriculture cold hardiness zones 4b through 11a.

Eastern subterranean termites typically thrive more on loblolly and slash pines, sugar maples and western larches than on bald cypresses, black cherry, Douglas firs and ponderosa pines.

Eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes) soldiers; USDA ARS image number K8085-6: Scott Bauer, Public Domain, via USDA ARS (United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service)

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes) worker floats in hand sanitizer; Beltsville, Maryland; Oct. 17, 2012: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab (Sam Droege), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/8097751159/

Eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes) soldiers; USDA ARS image number K8085-6: Scott Bauer, Public Domain, via USDA ARS (United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service) @ https://www.ars.usda.gov/oc/images/photos/formosan/k8085-6/

For further information:

Harris, Samuel Y. 2001. Building Pathology: Deterioration, Diagnostics, and Intervention. New York NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Kofoid, Charles A.; S.F. [Sol Felty] Light; A.C. Horner; Merle Randall; W.B. [William Brodbeck] Herms; Earl E. Bowe. 1946. Termites and Termite Control. Second Edition, Revised. Berkeley CA: University of California Press; and London, England: Cambridge University Press.
Available @ krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/bitstream/1/2024464/1/36968.pdfa

Köllar, Vincent. 1840. A Treatise on Insects Injurious to Gardeners, Foresters, & Farmers. Translated From the German, and Illustrated by Engravings, by J. [Jane] and M. [Mary] Loudon. London, England: William Smith, MDCCCXL.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/84492

Kollar, Vincenz. 1837. Naturgeschichte der schädlichen Insecten in Beziehung auf Landwirthschaft und Forstcultur. Wien [Vienna, Austria]: Landwirthschafts-Gesellschaft.
Available via ZOBODAT (Zoologisch-Botanische Datenbank) @ http://www.zobodat.at/pdf/MON-E-DIV_0005_0001-0421.pdf

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 July 2014. "Formosan Subterranean Termites Thrive in the Southern United States." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/07/formosan-subterranean-termites-thrive.html

Myles, Timothy George. "Eastern Subterranean Termite: Reticulitermes flavipes." In: Michael Hutchins, Arthur V. Evans, Rosser W. Garrison and Neil Schlager (eds.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 3, Insects: 172-173. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Formosan Subterranean Termites Thrive in the Southern United States

Summary: Formosan subterranean termites realize heaviest distribution ranges in the United States from South Carolina through Texas and in California and Hawaii.

Soldiers account for about 10 percent of a Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus) colony; USDA ARS image number K8085-3: Scott Bauer, Public Domain, via USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Agricultural Research Service

Formosan subterranean termites achieve their easiest adaptations to distribution ranges, life cycles and physical appearances within the humid, moist-soiled, warm United States from South Carolina through Texas and in California and Hawaii.

Formosan subterranean termites bear their common name because of Taiwanese biogeographies of the first specimens brought into Carl Linneaus's (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) taxonomic systems. They carry the scientific name Coptotermes formosanus (from the Greek κόπτω, [front-headed, latex-secreting glandular pore] kóptō, "cut [open]," and the Latin tarmes, "woodworm" and fōrmōsānus, "Formosan"). Taxonomies defer to Tokuichi Shiraki's (March 9, 1882-Dec. 22, 1970) scientific descriptions in 1909 of Taiwanese specimens in Masamitsu Oshima's (June 21, 1884-June 26, 1965) collection.

Formosa, from the same-spelled Portuguese word for "beautiful," endures as a 16th- and 17th-century name for Taiwan and in namesake termites exiting on Taiwan from China.

April through June or July furnish Formosan subterranean termite life cycles with swarming months for their alates (from the Latin ālātus, "winged"), the colony's reproductive caste.

The permanent queen gets a three-caste colony of up to 10 million colonists within three to five years by generating up to 2,000 eggs each day. Eggs of kings and queens and their secondary reproductives hatch, at 68-plus degrees Fahrenheit (20-plus degrees Celsius), within two to four weeks into egg-sized, heavy-feeding larvae. Off-white to white, soft-bodied workers, identified scientifically as pseudergates (from the Greek ψεύδω, pseúdō, "deceive," and ἐργάτης, ergátēs, "workman") investigate cellulose and non-cellulose, immediate-area food sources.

Species-specific physical appearances of Formosan subterranean termites join 0.047 to 0.051-inch- (1.2- to 1.8-millimeter-) wide heads to narrower-thoraxed, 0.16- to 0.19-inch- (4- to 5-millimeter-) long bodies.

Formosan termite workers keep larvae ingesting worker-regurgitated wood and 0.09- to 0.39-inch (0.25- to 1.0-centimeter) aerial, secondary, subsidiary and subterranean nest galleries and shelter tubes functional.

Workers look like North American native counterparts even as worker-sized soldiers, with curved mandibles and flat, narrow, orange-brown bodies, look unlike Reticulitermes flavipes ("yellow-footed reticulated termites"). Oval-headed soldiers make up 10 to 15 percent, versus rectangle-headed natives' 1 to 2 percent, of colony populations and manifest maximum aggressiveness toward intruders and invaders. Colonies need workers for forages and repairs; soldiers for latex from oval-shaped fontanelle (from the Latin fontanella, "fountain") to neutralize outsiders; and reproductives for new colonies.

Formosan subterranean termites obtain in their three-caste colonies 0.47- to 0.59-inch- (12- to 15-millimeter-) long, yellow-brown reproductives with veined front, veinless hind, equal-sized, fine-haired, translucent wings.

Temporary-winged Formosan subterranean termite reproductives pursue colony-shopping, 20- to 50-yard- (18.29- to 45.72-meter-) long flights between dusk and midnight near lighted buildings after rainy warm days for new sites.

Three-plus-cubic-foot (0.085-cubic-meter) nesting areas between frost lines and water tables and 800-plus-foot (243.84-meter) foraging diameters qualify as colonizable if they queue up woody plants and products. Formosan subterranean termites ruin ash (Fraxinus), cedar (Chamaecyparis), citrus, cypress (Taxodium), eucalyptus, gum (Liquidamber), laurel (Cinnamomum), maple (Acer), oak, pine, spruce (Picea) and sugarcane (Saccharum) species. They serve as structural stressors to non-cellulose materials such as asphalt, copper, lead or plastic; dead and living shrubs, trees and vines; and timber industry products.

Formosan subterranean termites thrive, as non-native American species, between 32 degrees North and South latitudes and 62.6 to 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit (17 and 32 degrees Celsius).

Formosan subterranean soldiers and workers repair a hole in their nest; termites at about four times actual size; USDA ARS image number K8210-10; October 1998: Scott Bauer, Public Domain, via USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Agricultural Research Service

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Soldiers account for about 10 percent of a Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus) colony; USDA ARS image number K8085-3: Scott Bauer, Public Domain, via USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Agricultural Research Service @ https://www.ars.usda.gov/oc/images/photos/formosan/k8085-3/

Formosan subterranean soldiers and workers repair a hole in their nest; termites at about four times actual size; USDA ARS image number K8210-10; October 1998: Scott Bauer, Public Domain, via USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Agricultural Research Service @ https://www.ars.usda.gov/oc/images/photos/oct98/k8210-10

For further information:

Harris, Samuel Y. 2001. Building Pathology: Deterioration, Diagnostics, and Intervention. New York NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Li, Hou-Feng; Nan-Yao Su; and Wen-Jer Wu. 1 October 2010. "Solving the Hundred-Year Controversy of Coptotermes Taxonomy in Taiwan." American Entomologist, vol. 56, issue 4 (Winter 2010): 222-229.
Available via Oxford University Press (OUP) Academic @ https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/56/4/222/2389766

Myles, Timothy George. "Eastern Subterranean Termite: Reticulitermes flavipes." In: Michael Hutchins, Arthur V. Evans, Rosser W. Garrison and Neil Schlager (eds.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 3, Insects: 172-173. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Shiraki, T. (Tokyichi). 1909. "Honposan shiroari ni suite." [On the Termites of Japan.] Tokyo Nipp Sanshi Kw Ho [Transactions of the Entomological Society of Japan] 2: 229-242.

Wasmann, E. (Erich). 1896. "Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e Regione Vicine. LXXII. Neue Termitophilen und Termiten aus Indien. I-III." Annali del Museo Cívico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2, XVI (XXXVI): 613-630. Genova [Genoa], Italy: R. Istituto Sordo-Muti.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7698233

Curious George Co-Creator Hans Rey Drew Keystone as Head of Hercules

Summary: Curious George co-creator Hans Rey drew the Keystone as the head of Hercules, not as the Hero’s torso depicted in traditional visualizations.

Curious George co-creator H.A. Rey’s redrawn Hercules the Hero constellation: AugPi at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Curious George co-creator Hans Rey drew the Keystone as the head of Hercules rather than as the Hero’s torso favored by traditional visualizations.

German-born American author and illustrator Hans Augusto “H.A.” Rey (Sept. 16, 1898-Aug. 26, 1977) co-created the Curious George series with his wife, Margret (May 16, 1906-Dec. 21, 1996). The husband-and-wife team published the popular children’s picture book series between 1941 and 1966.

Hans Rey’s interest in nature extended beyond Earth, to the stars. As a stargazer, he experienced difficulties in matching figures in constellation guides with configurations in the nighttime sky. His creativity inspired him to devise easily identifiable and meaningful alternatives to the allegorical figures and geometrical shapes presented in traditional constellation guides.

Rey published his alternatives, drawn as matchstick figures, in 1952 in The Stars: A New Way to See Them. He shared his new method of visualizing constellations again in 1954 with the publication of Find the Constellations.

Traditional visualizations orient constellation Hercules with the Hero’s head pointing southward toward Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer constellation. The upside-down, kneeling hero’s feet occupy the constellation’s northern reaches, where he eternally steps on and vanquishes Draco the Dragon. Draco represents Greek mythology’s Ladon, guardian of the golden apples in goddess Hera’s Garden of the Hesperides. Hercules killed Ladon in order to steal the golden apples as the 11th of his 12 penitential labours.

Rey’s revision flipped Hercules from upside down to a more upright position in the constellation. The Hero’s feet occupy the constellation’s southern reaches, north of Ophiuchus. His head now appears centrally in the constellation. The club in his upraised arm is placed between him and the constellation’s northern neighbor, Draco the Dragon.

Traditional visualizations represent the Hero’s head with Alpha Herculis (α Herculis; Alpha Her, α Her). The multiple star system shines as the fifth brightest star in constellation Hercules. The second magnitude star’s traditional name of Rasalgethi (Arabic: رأس الجاثي, ras al-djathi, “head of the kneeler”) reflects its imagined depiction of the Hero’s head. Rasalgethi lies northwest of Alpha Ophiuchi (α Ophiuchi; Alpha Oph, α Oph), the brightest star in constellation Ophiuchus.

In reversing the Hero’s head and feet, Rey imagined Rasalgethi (Alpha Herculis) as the foot of Hercules’ kneeling leg. Instead of being head to head with Ophiuchus, Hercules now stands with his foot over the Serpent Bearer’s head.

Rey topped the matchstick figure’s head with Eta Herculis (η Herculis; Eta Her, η Her). The fourth magnitude star marks the northwestern corner of the constellation’s Keystone asterism, or recognizable pattern of stars. The distinctive Keystone asterism comprises four stars, diagonally paired as third and fourth magnitudes. The asterism’s northeastern and southeastern corners, anchored respectively by Pi Herculis (π Herculis; Pi Her, π Her) and Epsilon Herculis (ε Herculis; Epsilon Her, ε Her), image the Hero’s shoulders.

Traditional visualizations imagine the constellation’s brightest star, Beta Herculis (β Herculis; Beta Her, β Her) as the shoulder of the Hero’s upraised, club-wielding arm. The third magnitude binary star’s traditional name of Kornephoros, derived from Greek for “club bearer” (Κορυνηφόρος), recognizes the importance of this shoulder’s arm as wielder of the Hero’s favorite weapon, a club.

Rey viewed Beta Herculis as an outstretched hand, tipped by Gamma Herculis (γ Herculis; Gamma Her, γ Her). Fourth magnitude binary star Gamma Herculis shines as ninth brightest in constellation Hercules. The hand stretches southeastward, toward Serpens Caput the Serpent Head constellation.

Rey’s transposition of the Keystone asterism, from traditionally imaged torso to alternatively imaged head, recognized the most distinctive feature of Hercules the Hero constellation. In The Stars: A New Way to See Them, Rey advised first tracing the Hero’s head as the “best way to spot him.”

The takeaway for Curious George co-creator Hans Rey’s drawing the Keystone as Hercules the Hero’s head is that the revision aimed to ease stargazing by highlighting the best ways to find and recognize constellations.

traditional visualization of Hercules the Hero constellation, as depicted by British cartographer and engraver Sidney Hall (1788-1831) in Urania’s Mirror (1825), a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards: U.S. Library of Congress, 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:

Curious George co-creator H.A. Rey’s redrawn Hercules the Hero constellation: AugPi at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hercules_constellation_map_visualization.PNG

traditional visualization of Hercules the Hero constellation, as depicted by British cartographer and engraver Sidney Hall (1788-1831) in Urania’s Mirror (1825), a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.: U.S. Library of Congress, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sidney_Hall_-_Urania's_Mirror_-_Hercules_and_Corona_Borealis.jpg; No known restrictions on publication in the United States, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002695504/

For further information:

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Gamma Her (Gamma Herculis).” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/gammaher.html

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Kornephoros (Beta Herculis).” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/kornephoros.html

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Rasalgethi (Alpha Herculis).” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/rasalgethi.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Curious George Co-Creator Hans Rey Drew Gemini as Hand Holding Twins." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/curious-george-co-creator-hans-rey-drew.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Curious George Co-Creator Hans Rey Redrew Virgo as a Reclining Woman.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 7, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/curious-george-co-creator-hans-rey.html

Rey, H.A. Find the Constellations. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1954.

Rey, H.A. The Stars: A New Way to See Them. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1952.

Michelangelo Quadrangle Is 12th of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface

Summary: Michelangelo Quadrangle is the 12th of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface and covers middle latitudes longitudinally from 90 to 180 degrees.

Map of Michelangelo Quadrangle covers the entirety of the midlatitude area, in accordance with complete photographic coverage by Mariner 10, and includes about 10 degrees of longitude of western adjacent H-13 (Neruda) Quadrange, with notation "Solitudo Persephones Albedo Province (H-13)" at 180 to about 190 degrees west and notation "area of darkness" at 190 to 195 degrees west; Geologic Map of the Michelangelo Quadrangle of Mercury (1984) by Paul D. Spudis and James G. Prosser, prepared on behalf of the Planetary Geology Program, Planetary Division, Office of Space Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration: via U.S. Geological Service's Publications Warehouse

Michelangelo Quadrangle is the 12th of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface, and its map covers the Swift Planet's middle latitudes of 21 degrees south to 66 degrees south latitude, from 90 to 180 degrees west longitude.

As the 12th of Mercury's 15 quadrangles, Michelangelo Quadrangle has the letter-number designation of H-12 or H12. H denotes Hermes, Greek mythology's equivalent of Roman mythology's Mercurius.

Discovery Quadrangle's provisional name, Solitudo Promethei, references a dark region on Mercury's surface. Greek French astronomer Eugène Michel Antoniadi (March 1, 1870-Feb. 10, 1944) placed Solitudo Promethei in the southern hemisphere's middle-to-polar latitudes, between 60 and 70 degrees south latitude, on the map of Mercury's albedo features in his guide, La Planète Mercure, published in 1934 and translated into English by English amateur astronomer Sir Patrick Moore (March 4, 1923-Dec. 9, 2012) in 1974 (figure 5, page 26). Solitudo Promethei ("Desert of Prometheus") references pre-Olympian, Titan god of fire Prometheus (Ancient Greek: Προμηθεύς), who incurs the wrath of Zeus, king of Olympian gods, by giving fire as a civilizing power to humans. Hermes acts as messenger of the gods by visiting Prometheus, chained to a rock as Zeus-ordered punishment.

The names of Mercury's quadrangles conventionally reflect prominent local features. Michelangelo Quadrangle's namesake is Michelangelo Crater. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has selected the theme of names of historically significant artists, authors, musicians and painters for Mercury's craters. The crater's name, approved in 1979, honors High Renaissance architect, painter and sculptor Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 6, 1475-Feb. 18, 1564).

Michelangelo Crater is centered at minus 44.92 degrees south latitude, 109.69 degrees west longitude, according to the IAU's U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center-maintained Gazetter of Planetary Nomenclature. The southern hemisphere crater registers northernmost and southernmost latitudes of minus 42.2 degrees south and minus 47.6 degrees south, respectively. It records easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 105.88 degrees west and 113.5 degrees west, respectively. Michelangelo Crater's diameter spans 230 kilometers.

Michelangelo Crater is located in eastern central Michelangelo Quadrangle. Its nearest named eastern neighbor, Sūr Dās Crater, is located to the east-southeast. The crater's name, approved in 1979, honors 16th-century Hindu poet and Krishna devotee Sūr Dās (Devanagiri: सूरदास).

Sūr Dās Crater is centered at minus 46.98 degrees south latitude, 93.57 degrees west longitude. The southern hemisphere crater establishes its northernmost and southernmost latitudes at minus 45.44 degrees south and minus 48.51 south, respectively. It posts easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 91.38 degrees west and 95.76 degrees west, respectively. Sūr Dās Crater has a diameter of 131 kilometers.

Michelangelo Quadrangle's southern neighbor, Hawthorne Crater, lies to the southwest. The crater's name, approved in 1979, honors American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804-May 19, 1864).

Hawthorne Crater is centered at minus 51.31 degrees south latitude, 115.34 degrees west longitude. The southern hemisphere crater obtains northernmost and southernmost latitudes of minus 49.90 degrees south and minus 52.71 degrees south, respectively. It marks its easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 113.09 degrees west and 117.59 degrees west, respectively. Hawthorne Crater's diameter measures 120 kilometers.

Michelangelo Crater's western neighbor, Giambologna Crater, lies to the west-northwest. The crater's name, approved Dec 16, 2013, honors Italy-based, Flemish late Renaissance sculptor Jean Boulogne (1529-Aug. 14, 1608), known as Giambologna. The California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) described Giambologna Crater as a ". . . lovely, fresh, complex crater with a crescent-shaped central peak . . ." in the NASA field center's online Photojournal post for Jan. 8, 2014, "Mercury in Bronze." A terraced western wall and an impact melt pond-covered eastern floor distinguish Giambologna Crater.

Giambologna Crater is centered at minus 42.58 degrees south latitude, 124.11 degrees west longitude. The southern hemisphere crater's northernmost and southernmost latitudes extend to minus 41.78 degrees south and minus 43.38 degrees south, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes touch 123.02 degrees west and 125.21 degrees west, respectively. Giambologna Crater has a diameter of 69 kilometers.

Michelangelo Crater's northern neighbor, Ives Crater, lies to the north-northwest. The crater's name, approved in 1979, honors American modernist composer Charles Edward Ives (Oct. 20, 1874-May 19, 1954).

Ives Crater is centered at minus 32.87 degrees south latitude, 111.99 degrees west longitude. The southern hemisphere crater's northernmost and southernmost latitudes occur at minus 32.66 degrees south and minus 33.08 degrees south, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 111.74 degrees west and 112.24 degrees west, respectively. Ives Crater has a diameter of 18 kilometers.

Heavily-cratered Michelangelo Quadrangle shares borders with five neighbors. Beethoven (H-7) and Tolstoj (H-8) quadrangles touch Michelangelo Quadrangle's northern borders. Discovery Quadrangle (H-11) shares Michelangelo Quadrangle's eastern border. The southern polar region's Bach Quadrangle (H-15) neighbors along Michelangelo Quadrangle's southern border. Neruda Quadrangle (H-13) is contiguous with Michelangelo Quadrangle's western border.

The takeaways for Michelangelo Quadrangle as the 12th of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface are that the southern middle-latitude quadrangle's namesake, Michelangelo Crater, honors 16th-century High Renaissance architect, painter and sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti; that Michelangelo Crater occurs in the heavily-cratered quadrangle's eastern central region; and that the quadrangle's five neighbors are Beethoven and Tolstoj quadrangles to the north, Discovery Quadrangle to the east, Bach Quadrangle to the south and Neruda Quadrangle to the west.

Detail of Map of the H-12 (Michelangelo) Quadrangle of Mercury shows the quadrangle's namesake, Michelangelo Crater, with Ives, Sur Das, Hawthorne and Giambologna as nearest named northern, eastern, southern and western neighbors, respectively; credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/USGS: courtesy IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center's 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:

Map of Michelangelo Quadrangle covers the entirety of the midlatitude area, in accordance with complete photographic coverage by Mariner 10, and includes about 10 degrees of longitude of western adjacent H-13 (Neruda) Quadrange, with notation "Solitudo Persephones Albedo Province (H-13)" at 180 to about 190 degrees west and notation "area of darkness" at 190 to 195 degrees west; Geologic Map of the Michelangelo Quadrangle of Mercury (1984) by Paul D. Spudis and James G. Prosser, prepared on behalf of the Planetary Geology Program, Planetary Division, Office of Space Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration: via U.S. Geological Service's Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/i1659

Detail of Map of the H-12 (Michelangelo) Quadrangle of Mercury shows the quadrangle's namesake, Michelangelo Crater, with Ives, Sur Das, Hawthorne and Giambologna as nearest named northern, eastern, southern and western neighbors, respectively; credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/USGS: courtesy IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/H-12.pdf

For further information:

Antoniadi, E.M. (Eugène Michel). La Planète Mercure et la Rotation des Satellites. Paris, France: Gauthier-Villars, 1934.

Davies, Merton E.; Stephen E. Dwornik; Donald E. Gault; and Robert G. Strom. Atlas of Mercury. Special Publication SP-423. Prepared for the Office of Space Sciences. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-423/

Davies, Merton E.; Stephen E. Dwornik; Donald E. Gault; and Robert G. Strom. "H-12 Michelangelo Quadrangle." Atlas of Mercury: 108-115. Special Publication SP-423. Prepared for the Office of Space Sciences. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-423/h12.htm

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Categories (Themes) for Naming Features on Planets and Satellites.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Documentation > Surface Feature Categories.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/Categories

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Coordinate Systems for Planets and Satellites.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Documentation > Target Coordinate Systems.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/TargetCoordinates

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Descriptor Terms (Feature Types).” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Documentation > Descriptor Terms.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/DescriptorTerms

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Giambologna.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 11, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15191

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Hawthorne.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 11, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/1548

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Ives.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 11, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2761

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Michelangelo.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 11, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3881

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Sūr Dās.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 14, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5804

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Target: Mercury.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/MERCURY/target

Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "PIA17855: Mercury in Bronze." NASA JPL Photojournal. Image addition date 2014-01-08.
Available @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA17855

Lunar and Planetary Institute. "Mercury Map Catalog." Lunar and Planetary Institute > Resources.
Available @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mercury_maps/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Beethoven Quadrangle Is Seventh of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 5, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/03/beethoven-quadrangle-is-seventh-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Borealis Quadrangle Is First of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/borealis-quadrangle-is-first-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Derain Quadrangle Is Tenth of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 26, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/03/derain-quadrangle-is-tenth-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Discovery Quadrangle Is 11th of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, April 30, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/04/discovery-quadrangle-is-11th-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Eminescu Quadrangle Is Ninth of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 19, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/03/eminescu-quadrangle-is-ninth-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Hokusai Quadrangle Is Fifth of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/hokusai-quadrangle-is-fifth-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Kuiper Quadrangle Is Sixth of 15 Quadrangles of the Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/kuiper-quadrangle-is-sixth-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Raditladi Quadrangle Is Fourth of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/raditladi-quadrangle-is-fourth-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Shakespeare Quadrangle Is Third of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/shakespeare-quadrangle-is-third-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Tolstoj Quadrangle Is Eighth of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 12, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/03/tolstoj-quadrangle-is-eighth-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Victoria Quadrangle is Second of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/victoria-quadrangle-is-second-of-15.html

Spudis, Paul D.; and James G. Prosser. Geologic Map of the Michelangelo Quadrangle of Mercury. IMAP 1659 H-12. Atlas of Mercury 1:5,000,000 Geologic Series. Prepared on behalf of the Planetary Geology Program, Planetary Division, Office of Space Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reston VA: U.S. Geological Survey, 1984.
Available via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/i1659

U.S. Geological Survey. Shaded Relief Map of the Michelangelo Quadrangle of Mercury (Solitudo Lycaonis Albedo Province). IMAP 1029 H-7. Atlas of Mercury 1:5,000,000 Topographic Series. Prepared on behalf of the Planetology Programs Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reston VA: U.S. Geological Survey, 1977.
Available via USGS Astrogeology Science Center's Astropedia Web Portal @ https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/Mercury/Topography/Mercury-Shaded-Relief-Map-of-the-Michelangelo-Quadrangle