Copernicus (right) and Eratosthenes (left) craters on the Moon // OMC300
Click below to read about these craters (and a few others) as well as an annotated image!
Copernicus crater on the right is one of the larger craters on the Moon and is easily visible with some binoculars. This crater was named after none other than Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the Polish astronomer who came up with the Sun-centered model of the solar system, popularized after his death.
Eratosthenes crater on the left is another large crater. It is older than nearby Copernicus. This crater is named after the Greek astronomer Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276-194 BC) who is famous for calculating the circumference of the Earth to a very accurate degree!
Also here is Gay-Lussac crater, just below Copernicus. It is named after the French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) who discovered that water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.
Seen as a ghostly outline at the top is Stadius crater, an ancient crater that has been flooded with lava flows. It is named after the Flemish astronomer Johannes Stadius (c. 1527-1579) who published a table of planetary positions, called ephemerides.
Finally, these craters are bounded by the Mare Imbrium ("Sea of Showers") to the south and Sinus Aestuum ("Seething Bay") to the north.
Click below to read up on some of the many craters, maria, and montes in this image!
To the north in this image is Mare Imbrium ("Sea of Showers"). Three lunar missions have landed here: the Soviet Luna 17 in 1970, the American Apollo 15 in 1971, and the Chinese Chang'e 3 in 2013. To the south in this image is Mare Insularum ("Sea of Islands").
Separating the two seas is the mountain range Montes Carpatus, named after the Carpathian Mountains in central and southeastern Europe.
There are many craters in this image. The largest one in the center is Copernicus crater named after Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), a Prussian astronomer who's book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium revolutionized modern thinking, placing the Sun at the center of the universe rather than the Earth.
In no particular order, the other craters are:
Lansberg crater, named after Flemish astronomer Johan Philip Lansberge (1561-1632) who published tables predicting planetary positions.
Reinhold crater, named for German astronomer Erasmus Reinhold (1511-1553) who produced a catalog of stars.
Hortensius crater, named for Dutch astronomer Maarten van den Hove (1605-1639) who developed a method for measuring the diameters of the planets from telescopic observations.
Fauth crater, named for German astronomer Philipp Johann Heinrich Fauth (1867-1941) who created detailed maps of the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Gambart crater, named for Jean-Félix Adolphe Gambart (1800-1836) who recorded observations of Jupiter's moons and discovered 13 comets.
Stadius crater, named for Flemish astronomer Jan van Ostaeyen (1527-1579) who published tables of planetary positions.
Eratosthenes crater, named for the ancient Greek astronomer Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276 - 195 BC) who was the first to calculate the Earth's circumference.
Gay-Lussac crater, named for the French physicist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) who was the person who discovered that water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.
Draper crater, named for the American astronomer Henry Draper (1837-1882) who was a pioneer of astrophotography.
Wallace crater, named for the English explorer Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) who independently discovered the theory of evolution and explored the Amazon.
Pytheas crater, named for the Greek geographer Pytheas of Massalia (c. 350 - 306 BC) who explored northern Europe in 325 BC.
Craters Copernicus (left), Stadius (center), and Eratosthenes (upper right) // Jan Simons
Copernicus crater is named after the famed Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) who formulated the heliocentric (sun-centered) model of the solar system.
Stadius crater is named after the Flemish astronomer Johannes Stadius (1527-1579), a man who published ephemerides, tables to astronomical objects’ positions in the sky at a given time.
Eratosthenes crater is named after the Greek geographer Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276 BCE - 194 BCE), who calculated the circumference of the Earth to a remarkable degree of accuracy.
