LE CRATÈRE PLATON PAR JAMES NASMYTH

 

JAMES NASMYTH  (1808-1890)
Le cratère Platon (2000m)
La Lune, Système solaire

In Plato Crater Moon, photographie retouchée sur appareil Nasmyth, 1855

Le relief
Platon (2000m de profondeur) est un cratère d'impact lunaire situé sur la face visible de la Lune. Il se trouve au nord-est de la Mare Imbrium et des Montes Teneriffe, à l'extrémité orientale des Montes Jura et à l'extrémité occidentale des Montes Alpes d'où partent des crevasses lunaires dénommées Rimae Platon. Au nord s'étend la Mare Frigoris. Le contour circulaire possède de nombreux pics qui donnent des ombres à l'intérieur du cratère. L'intérieur du cratère a un albédo, apparaissant lisse sans présence aucune d'impacts quelconques. Le cratère Platon est connu pour être un lieu de phénomène lunaire transitoire (PLT) consistant dans l'apparition d'une lumière ou d'une modification d'aspect de sa surface lunaire pendant une courte durée. 

L'artiste
James Nasmyth est un mécanicien et astronome écossais, au talent artistique certain,. Fils du peintre Alexander Nasmyth, il montra de bonne heure de grandes aptitudes pour les mathématiques et la mécanique, travailla de 1829 à 1831 chez le constructeur Henry Maudslay, puis fonda à Particroft, près de Manchester, un important établissement qui prospéra rapidement sous le nom de fonderie Bridgewater et qu'il pourvut d'un outillage perfectionné.
Parmi ses nombreuses inventions, il faut surtout citer le marteau-pilon, dont il paraît avoir eu l'idée en même temps que le Français François Bourdon. On lui doit également une cuiller de sûreté pour les fondeurs, un ventilateur pour les mines, un laminoir, une machine marine, etc.  Il s'était retiré en 1837 à Penshurst (comté de Kent), s'occupant avec passion d'astronomie et prenant, avec des appareils de sa construction, des photographies du Soleil et de la Lune, qui comptent parmi les plus remarquables qu'on ait jamais obtenues. Il a également inventé le télescope Nasmyth, une variante du Cassegrain.

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2024- Gravir les montagnes en peinture

Un blog de Francis Rousseau 

 

LUNAR CRATER COPERNICUS SKETCHED BY JAMES NASMYTH

JAMES NASMYTH (1808-1890)
Copernicus Crater (- 3800m / - 12467ft)
The Moon (Solar System)

In Drawing of the Copernicus crater on the surface of the Moon, between May 1856 and May 1890, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge Nasmyth

The artist
Jamesall Nasmyth (sometimes spelled Naesmyth, Nasmith, or Nesmyth) was a Scottish engineer, artist and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company manufacturers of machine tools. He retired at the age of 48, and moved to Penshurst, Kent where he developed his hobbies of astronomy and photography.
Nasmyth retired from business in 1856 as he said "I have now enough of this world's goods: let younger men have their chance". He renamed his retirement home "Hammerfield" and happily pursued his various hobbies. He built his own 20-inch reflecting telescope, in the process inventing the Nasmyth focus, and made detailed observations of the Moon. He co-wrote The Moon : Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite with James Carpenter (1840–1899). This book contains an interesting series of "lunar" photographs: because photography was not yet advanced enough to take actual pictures of the Moon, Nasmyth built plaster models based on his visual observations of the Moon and then photographed the models. A crater on the Moon is named after him. In memory of his renowned contribution to the discipline of mechanical engineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering building at Heriot-Watt University, in his birthplace of Edinburgh, is called the James Nasmyth Building.

The site
Copernicus (- 3800m / - 12467ft) is a lunar impact crater located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum. It was named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). It typifies craters that formed during the Copernican period in that it has a prominent ray system. It may have been created by debris from the breakup of the parent body of asteroid 495 Eulalia 800 million years ago.  Copernicus crater is visible using binoculars, and is located slightly northwest of the center of the Moon's Earth-facing hemisphere. South of the crater is the Mare Insularum, and to the south-south west is the crater Reinhold. North of Copernicus are the Montes Carpatus, which lie at the south edge of Mare Imbrium. West of Copernicus is a group of dispersed lunar hills. Due to its relative youth, the crater has remained in a relatively pristine shape since it formed.
The circular rim has a discernible hexagonal form, with a terraced inner wall and a 30 km wide, sloping rampart that descends nearly a kilometer to the surrounding mare. There are three distinct terraces visible, and arc-shaped landslides due to slumping of the inner wall as the crater debris subsided.
Most likely due to its recent formation, the crater floor has not been flooded by lava. The terrain along the bottom is hilly in the southern half while the north is relatively smooth. The central peaks consist of three isolated mountainous rises climbing as high as 1.2 km above the floor. These peaks are separated from each other by valleys, and they form a rough line along an east–west axis. Infrared observations of these peaks during the 1980s determined that they were primarily composed of the mafic form of olivine.
Copernicus H, a typical "dark-halo" crater, was a target of observation by Lunar Orbiter 5 in 1967. Dark-halo craters were once believed to be volcanic in origin rather than the result of impacts. The Orbiter image showed that the crater had blocks of ejecta like other craters of similar size, indicating an impact origin. The halo results from excavation of darker material (mare basalt) at depth. 


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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MONS PICO BY JAMES NASMYTH

JAMES NASMYTH  (1808-1890) 

Mons Pico (2,450m - 8,038ft)

The Moon 

1 In Pico as seen by a spectator in the moon, early photography, circa 1860 by James Nasmyth

2.  In Mons Pico (left) and Mons Pico Beta (right), Mare Imbrium, 1971, 

NASA APOLLO 15 MISSION (July, 26, 1971- August  7, 1971)

The mountain 

Mons Pico  (2,450m - 8,038ft)  is a solitary lunar mountain that lies in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin, to the south of the dark-floored crater Plato and on the southern rim of a ghost crater.  This peak forms part of the surviving inner ring of the Imbrium basin, continuing to the northwest and with the Montes Teneriffe and Montes Recti ranges, and probably to the southeast with the Montes Spitzbergen. This mountain feature was most likely named by Schröter for the Pico von Teneriffe (Teide). The selenographic coordinates of this peak are 45.7° N, 8.9° W. It forms an elongated feature with a length of 25 kilometers (oriented northwest-southeast) and a width of 15 km. The mountain itself is a very reflective and bright object. The exact elevation of the mountain was recently measured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on October 1, 2016.

Due to its isolated location on the lunar mare, however, this peak can form prominent shadows when illuminated by oblique sunlight. It is also known as a location of Transient Lunar Anomalies. A smaller peak to the southeast of Mons Pico is sometimes called Mons Pico β (Beta), although this does not appear to be recognized by the IAU. This region of the mare is notable for a number of wrinkle ridges.

The artist 

James Hall Nasmyth (sometimes spelled Naesmyth, Nasmith, or Nesmyth) was a Scottish engineer, artist and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company manufacturers of machine tools. He retired at the age of 48, and moved to Penshurst, Kent where he developed his hobbies of astronomy and photography.

Nasmyth retired from business in 1856  as he said "I have now enough of this world's goods: let younger men have their chance".  He renamed his retirement home "Hammerfield" and happily pursued his various hobbies. He built his own 20-inch reflecting telescope, in the process inventing the Nasmyth focus, and made detailed observations of the Moon. He co-wrote The Moon : Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite with James Carpenter (1840–1899). This book contains an interesting series of "lunar" photographs: because photography was not yet advanced enough to take actual pictures of the Moon, Nasmyth built plaster models based on his visual observations of the Moon and then photographed the models. A crater on the Moon is named after him. In memory of his renowned contribution to the discipline of mechanical engineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering building at Heriot-Watt University, in his birthplace of Edinburgh, is called the James Nasmyth Building.

The mission 

NASA APOLLO 15 MISSION (July, 26, 1971- August  7, 1971)

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the United States' Apollo program, the fourth to land on the Moon, and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed 

"J missions", long stays on the Moon, with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions. It was also the first mission on which the Lunar Roving Vehicle was used.

The mission began on July 26, 1971, and ended on August 7. At the time, NASA called it the most successful manned flight ever achieved.

Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin spent three days on the Moon, including 18Ѕ hours outside the spacecraft on lunar extra-vehicular activity (EVA). The mission landed near Hadley rille, in an area of the Mare Imbrium called Palus Putredinus (Marsh of Decay). The crew explored the area using the first lunar rover, which allowed them to travel much farther from the Lunar Module (LM) than had been possible on missions without the rover. They collected 77 kilograms (170 lb) of lunar surface material. At the same time, Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden orbited the Moon, using a Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) in the Service Module (SM) to study the lunar surface and environment in great detail with a panoramic camera, a gamma-ray spectrometer, a mapping camera, a laser altimeter, a mass spectrometer, and a lunar sub-satellite deployed at the end of Apollo 15's stay in lunar orbit (an Apollo program first).

The mission successfully accomplished its objectives. Ironically, this mission was one of very few that had been honored with the issue of a commemorative US stamp, with this first use of a lunar rover happening one decade after the first Mercury astronaut launch.