#VIRTUAL MOON ATLAS ERRORS UPDATE#

Kramarov is placed between Lentz and Lentz J, and Couder is between Maunder and Maunder A. Neither of these craters is large enough to deserve a name (rather than a letter) and they violate good nomenclature practice. The crater Maunder Z is now Couder, and Lens K is now changed to Kramarov (and Lens is correctly spelled: Lentz). Finally, there are two new names on this map, compared to the same area mapped in the Clementine Atlas of the Moon by Bussey and Spudis. But there is no good and homogeneous base map or image map of the Moon. And the color makes black & white prints hard to read. The use of the USGS shaded relief map (with topo color overlay) also creates problems because it does not accurately depict the lunar surface and especially the visibility of different craters. I don’t have proper fonts to make type visible against dark and light backgrounds but this example demonstrates that a legible map could be made. I have shown above how larger type sizes could make the charts legible at normal screen and paper sizes. That means that the entire chart is not legible either on a computer screen (of normal size) or when printed out on a 8.5″ by 11″ piece of paper. Unfortunately, the type on the original map is so small that it can only be read when the map is enlarged to a 30″ by 27″ size. Here is one of the charts, showing the northwest area of the Orientale Basin. So far, much of the farside of the Moon has been mapped and is now online at the US Geological Survey Astrogeology website. Now the USGS is making a herculean effort to create a new standardized (and as correct as possible) IAU nomenclatural atlas of the Moon in a digital format that can be updated as new names are given. But there are still areas of confusion in limb regions, poor nomenclature decisions in the 1970s caused chaos, and many farside names were given based on limited and poor images. Since the early 1900s there have been multiple efforts to collate and standardize nomenclature. Lunar nomenclature has been a mess, on and off, for 350 years. In addition, information about the current Moon phase and libration are provided.Map modified from USGS Digital Atlas of the Moon by Chuck Wood Over 1800 named features are included as well as 26 spacecraft that reached the surface of the Moon. The Moon globe can be shown with north or south at the top or inverted to suit different telescope views.

#VIRTUAL MOON ATLAS ERRORS UPDATE#

There is also a realtime mode that will update to the current time. The phase can be switched off and the far side is shown in a slightly darker shade of grey.ĭate, time and location can be changed. The feature database is searchable and can move the globe to a searched feature. You can switch to a 'Globe' mode that allows you to spin the Moon around to see far side features. Moon Atlas displays the phase and libration of the Moon from your chosen location and renders these on the globe.

You can double tap on the labels to get more information about a particular feature. As you zoom in more labels appear as finer detail comes into view. This is a rendered sphere and not a static map image. Moon Atlas is an astronomy application that lets you use the mouse or pinch and finger gestures to manipulate a 3D globe of the Moon.

Virtual moon atlas errors