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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Your Name on The Moon

When I was a kid I had a map of the bright side of the moon with the names of all the craters on it. Not only was one named 'Sabine' but there was also a 'Stefan'*. So, I just looked up whether today there is a moon-atlas online, and indeed -you can browse all the craters at USGS, where you also find an interactive map.

The crater Sabine is at 1.4N/20.1E, has a diameter of 30 km and is named after Sir Edward Sabine.

The crater Stefan is at 46.0N/108.3W, has a diameter of 125 km, and is named after Josef Stefan. (Yes, this is the Stefan from the Stefan-Boltzmann law. No, Stefan was not Boltzmann's first name.)

There are also craters called D'Alembert, Einstein, Euler, Helmholtz, Hilbert, Lagrange, Maxwell, Plato, Schwarzschild - you see, we are in good company :-)

Is your name also on the moon?

Update: Here's what I love about blogging. I just got an email from Paolo sending me a link to a site where you can send your wishes to the moon with Selene

Thanks Paolo!

Footnote: Stefan is not only my husband, but also one of my brothers, one of my ex-boyfriends, as well as my current office mate, and several other friends, colleagues and relatives. My mother uses 'Stefan' as a synonym for the-men-in-my-daugther's-life.


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7 comments:

  1. QUASAR911:42 AM, February 04, 2007

    Wilhelm 53.4S 20.4W 106km
    Wilhelm IV, Landsgrave of Hesse-kassel (1532-1592)
    German nobleman, astronomer and patron of the Sciences.

    But Bee, you can just call me "Yon"
    (Jon) my second (first) name - lol!

    As you can see I didn't quite make as large an impact as Stefan ...
    but maybe next time I'll hit the moon harder and create a Q crater.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sabine Hossenfelder11:50 AM, February 04, 2007

    ah, Quasar - it's not the size that matters ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:56 AM, February 04, 2007

    I'd like to see (for myself) the bright side of the moon at new moon sometime, guess no one ever did with his own eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:30 PM, February 04, 2007

    I share a name with a Nobel Laureate(In fact, even our fathers' names are the same.), who has a crater named after him.

    But our names are not written the same way, though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous2:54 PM, February 05, 2007

    Darn, no Dorigo craters...
    However a friend of mine, Donati, has his own. And it's a last name, so it counts more.

    Speaking of the moon, I was looking at it just yesterday night, on a break after a great session with Saturn (seeing in Venice can be quite good - I could push my 16" dob to 800x and see the Encke division!). The moon is a real jewel to stare at! I use to forget it and then every time I look back, it's a rediscovered love.

    Cheers,
    T.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous2:56 PM, February 05, 2007

    ... And, Bee, sorry to object, but size does matter!

    Of course I am speaking of telescopes! :)

    T.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Paolo Amoroso10:36 AM, February 12, 2007

    For all lunar fans I suggest the site Lunar Photo of the Day by planetary scientist Chuck Wood. It's similar to the well known Astronomy Picture of the Day, but with a focus on the Moon.

    ReplyDelete

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