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. 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.

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

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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.

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  5. 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.

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

    Of course I am speaking of telescopes! :)

    T.

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  7. 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.

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