I can publish the map to more people by creating a web-deliverable app. ![]() A paper map with 6 large-scale insets? Or a digital multiscale version? The latter. But I also wanted it to provide a focus on the Apollo missions to tie it to the 50 th anniversary of Apollo 11. Well part of what I wanted to create was a single map that allowed people (anyone with a broad interest) to explore the moon and its landscape. What’s its purpose for existing? Paper or digital? Flat or round? Single or multiscale? Plenty of people have made maps of the whole of the moon, or parts of it throughout history, so what’s to be achieved by a new map? You can go and explore, and when you return we’ll dissect it (launch here if you want to see it in a separate window)Įvery mission needs a plan so the first thing to establish is what the map is going to do. These tips should stand you in good-stead.īut first, let’s take a look at the finished app. You may want to have a go at making one yourself, or build a map of a different planetary object (or space station?). All maps are compromises and I’ll share what I had to decide as I embarked upon my mission. In this blog I’ll share some of the decisions that I made in creating my map of the moon, and also outline some of the technical considerations that drove certain decisions. Any excuse to make a map right? But you’ve still got to make the right map, and make it right. Given that I also turned 50 this year (and so did Esri) it seemed a fitting convergence of events. And I wanted to make a map of it to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings, which took place on 20 th July 1969. Our moon is the fifth largest planetary satellite in our solar system and is the only astronomical body that orbits Earth. I began getting to know the biggest craters and the seas, which were familiar to my eye but I had never been able to name before.See what I did? Mashing up the title of a song by The Waterboys with the classic Police hit is a metaphor for the map mashup of the moon I recently created. My advice with your new map is to start big and go small. Make best use of your map by studying the moon during second and third quarters, when the shadows are long and the moon is well placed in the night sky.įocus on the terminator - the dividing line between 'night and day' on the moon - because the shadows are greatest of all here, and they'll let you pick out the smallest features. Once you have the big feature in your sights, it is much easier to use the map and 'hop' from crater to crater to the find your prize! In Summary To do this, I recommend finding a really big and obvious moon feature which you don't need the map for, but which is near the landmark you are hunting, such as Tyco, Copernicus, Mare Nectaris, etc. So, to use them well, you need to match what you see in the eyepiece to what's on the map. Your telescope, depending on its set up, will show the moon upside-down, mirror image or as per naked eye. ![]() Some maps are presented as you see the moon - for example the Philip's Moon Map - whilst others, like Sky & Telescope's Field Map of the Moon, present a mirror image version. It also helped me compile my guide to the Lunar 100, which you can see here.Ī map of the moon's surface is highly useful for discovering new features, but you need a technique or two to understand and correlate what you see on the map with what you see through your telescope. I plan to find a feature, look for it and get a buzz when I discover what I was looking for.īeing the owner of a moon crater map gives me that ability every time the moon is out - and you could be getting that buzz of discovery and recognition too! Through your telescope, I bet you're good for the bigger mountain ranges, like the Appenines and maybe even the craters which stand out at first and last quarters, like Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, Arzachel and Purbach.īut, if you're not already using a moon map ( this is the one that I use), then I'm willing to bet you don't know the (very) nearby Herschel, Alpetragius or Thebit craters?Īnd that's where the idea of a map of the moon with labels comes into play: for me, the joy of astronomy (aside from some stunning views) is the feeling of discovery. You can probably name many surface features of the moon with the naked eye - especially the bigger mare - and Tycho.
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