Geological Atlas of the Moon

I don't know much of anything about the moon.  But I do know a great looking map (Warning: these are maps of the entire moon, there are a lot of them, and if you like maps you will be engrossed for days and days.  Don't blame me.  That's why I'm giving this warning.  I am not responsible for whatever trouble they may cause you.) of the moon when I see one.

These come from the Department of the Interior United States Geological Society.  Here's a brief (and semi-accurate) version of how this all came about.
So in in the 1960s (they probably started long before the 60s but the maps were not published until the 60s) some people (USAF-ACIC, USGS, Dr. G.P. Kuiper and his collaborators, D.W.G. Arthur and E.A. Whitaker, J. Franz and S.A. Saunder (selenographic control), Z. Kopal and G. Fielder (Shadow Progression Technique), Blagg and Muller (I.A.U. lettered formations criterion), and lots of other wonderful people from the Lick, McDonald, Pic Du Midi, Mount Wilson, and Yerkes Observatories) went about making some moon maps.  It went something like this: "laser altimeters carried by orbiting Apollo spacecraft measured absolute elevations and delineated many topographic features of the area."  "X-ray flourescence and gamma-ray spectrometers were carried in orbit on Apollo missions... to extend goeochemical findings from the small spots sampled or analyzed by Surveyor, Apollo, and Luna missions to larger areas of the Moon, the X-ray results..." and so forth.  Here's a peek at the results.

I-1162 South Side of the Moon

This is one of the full maps.  Can't see anything in this tiny picture can you?
Three detail images from three different maps below.

 

I-1047 Central Far Side of the Moon

I-465 Aristarchus

I-714 Colombo

I hope you have enjoyed today's session on moon maps.  Please use the link above and again right here to look at these amazing maps in more detail.


Do you want to now how to order these maps?  Of course you do.  Go here to learn how.