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| La Luna |
There is something very
human about gazing up at the moon. For thousands
of years we have looked up in wonder and watched as it silently spins in a locked orbit with us,
some 384,000 km above.
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| Le voyage dans la lune 1902 French Silent Film George Méliès |
An upcoming full moon on Friday has sent us to the vaults
once more to share another printed treasure. Moon
Maps by Dr Hugh Percy Wilkins is a detailed map of the moon in form suitable for
use at the telescope.
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| Moon Maps by H P Wilkins |
Dr Wilkins 300 inch Moon Map is considered by some as the culmination of the art of selenography prior to the space age, and was purchased by NASA prior to their launch. He founded the International Lunar Society and was its first president.
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| Map of the Moon by Johannes Hevelius(1647) |
Selenography is
the study of the surface and physical features of the moon. Historically, the
principal concern of selenographists (or moon mappers) was the mapping and
naming of the lunar maria, craters,
mountain ranges, and other features.
The task of selenography was
largely finished once high resolution photographs were obtained. We can now
easily research images of the moon (Google moon show satellite photographs of
the moon) yet this has not made selenography redundant – these maps are still used for reference by scholars and observatories.
Wilkins beautiful book contains every named formation arranged
in alphabetical order with the map section within which it will be found. The
maps, as well as the text are bound on separate ring. As a result, any map and
any page of the text can be placed flat next to each other and read together at
the same time, as though on the same page. This creates a most useful book for
use even in the observatory, in dim light, or in the library.
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| Moon Maps by H P Wilkins |
The drawn detail in the charts is immense - covering nearly the
entire surface of the moon - and it is a wondrous map. Altogether, these charts contain over 85,000
objects with many fine details culled from the photographs taken at the
Pic-Du-Midi observatory. Obtaining accurate positional measurements for all of
these objects was beyond even the unbounded enthusiasm of a dedicated Wilkins!
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| Neil Armstrong and Dr H P Wilkins 300 inch Moon Map at the Royal Geographical Society, London |
Whilst we acknowledge that he remained an amateur
throughout his observational career, and he was not a trained cartographer, the
contribution Dr H.P Wilkins made throughout his life to our knowledge of the
lunar surface is tremendous. According to his daughter, the moon was
his "whole life". Fittingly, in 1935 a somewhat inconspicuous 38 mile wide crater in the
lunar southeast uplands was named in his honour.
Published by London’s Faber and Faber this title will appeal
to lovers of astronomy, illustration, and history as well as anyone wanting to
be inspired by the moon or the man who loved mapping it.
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| Dr Hugh Percy Wilkins |
Being such a rare book, it is not for loan but can be viewed
by request - just phone 4974 5340, or drop into the Information & Research
Centre on the First Floor at Newcastle Library.
“It is not likely that any one of us will again know a man
who dared to map the whole Moon primarily on the basis of his personal observations”
Walter. H. Haas
