Schickard

Schickard

Lat: 44.3°S, Long: 55.3°W, Diam: 206 km, Depth: 3.08 km, Rükl: 62, pre-Nectarian

Left: LO-IV 160 H2 Just outside Schickard's north rim is the 53-km crater Lehmann. The south rim is broken by 32-km Schickard E. Many other lettered craters named after Schickard and its neighbors are also visible in this overhead view. Right: Oliver Pettenpaul An Earth-based view.

Images

LPOD Photo Gallery Lunar Orbiter Images

Maps

(LAC zone 110D3) LAC map Geologic map

Description

Description: Elger

(IAU Directions) SCHICKARD.--One of the largest wall-surrounded plains on the visible surface of the moon, extending about 134 miles from N. to S., and about the same from W. to E., enclosing a nearly level area, abounding in detail. Its border, to a great extent linear, is very irregular, and much broken by the interposition of small ring-plains and craters, and on the N. by cross-valleys. Its general height is about 4,000 feet, the loftiest peak on the E. wall rising to more than 9,000 feet above the floor. The inner slopes of this vast rampart are very complex, especially on the W., where many terraces and depressions may be seen under suitable illumination. There are three large ring-plains in the interior, all of them S. of the centre; and at least five smaller ones near the inner foot of the W. wall, which can only be well observed when libration is favourable. The two more westerly of the large ring-plains are connected by a cleft, and there are several short clefts and crater-rows associated with the smaller ring-plains. On the N. side of the area is a number of minute craters. The floor is diversified by two large dark markings--an oblong patch on the S.E. side, abutting on the wall, being the more remarkable; and a dusky area, occupying a great portion of the N. part of the floor, and extending up to the N. border. This is traversed by a light streak running from N. to S., which is the site of a row of minute craters.

Description: Wikipedia

Schickard

Additional Information

• Depth data from Kurt Fisher database
  • Westfall, 2000: 3.08 km
  • Cherrington, 1969: 2.89 km
• Satellite crater Schickard L is on the ALPO list of banded craters

• A Clair-Obscur effect : when the morning-terminator runs at 54° or 55° West there's an Equilateral triangle of 3 illuminated dots at the northeastern part of Schickard's nocturnal floor (observed by Danny Caes during the night of march the 30th, 2007, through the 23-cm Cooke/Steinheil refractor of Ghent-Belgium).

Transient Lunar Phenomena at Schickard

• "We may instance here Patrick Moore's observation of 2nd August 1939, when the internal detail of Schickard was obliterated by an extensive mist. On 31st August 1944 the floor of the great walled plain looked misty to H.P.Wilkins and some minor craters in it, which are normally well shadowed, stood out as white spots under a low sun". Source: V.A.Firsoff's The Old Moon and the New, 1969, Page 183.- DannyCaes May 19, 2012

Nomenclature

• Named for Wilhelm Schickard (April 22, 1592 – October 23, 1635), a German polymath who built the first computer in 1623, the "speeding clock". The Galileo Project credits him as primarily a cartographer; however, like many another Renaissance man, Schickard was skilled and brilliant in many fields. He was a Lutheran minister who taught biblical languages, such as Aramaic as well as Hebrew, at the University of Tübingen, and was later appointed professor of astronomy at the same university. According to his biography on the History of Mathematics site, "his research included astronomy, mathematics and surveying. Among his other skills, Schickard was renowned as an engraver both in wood and in copperplate. He invented many machines like one to calculate astronomical dates and one for Hebrew grammar. He also made significant advances in mapmaking, showing how to produce maps which were far more accurate than those which were currently available. Long before Pascal and Leibniz, Schickard invented a calculating machine in 1623 which was used by Kepler. He wrote to Kepler suggesting a mechanical means to calculate ephemerides. Schickard corresponded with many scientists including Boulliau, Gassendi and Kepler." Fragments from two of Schickard’s letters to Kepler can be seen on the History of Computing project's website (which copies the History of Math biography without credit). Concordia University Wisconsin's computer department supports the Wilhelm Schickard Museum of Computing History. - yrcamags Nov 30, 2007
• According to Whitaker (p. 214) this name was introduced by Riccioli with the spelling Schikardus. Exactly when, and by whom, it was changed to the modern form is not explained. - JimMosher

LPOD Articles

Deep Black and a Little White.
SMART-1 Crater not observed
A Modern Retro View
First Light

Lunar 100

L39: Crater floor with Orientale basin ejecta stripe.

Bibliography

Wood, C.A. April 2005. Basins of the Southwestern Limb. S&T 4/2005:70
  Wood, C.A. Aug. 2001. Wargentin and Schickard. S&T August 2001 v102 p118
  Wood, C.A. Feb. 2007. Hidden Maria and Dusty Debris. S&T 113(2):62
  Abineri, K., 1993. A photo-mosaic of the complete south-eastern dark floor area in the lunar crater Schickard based on the photomicrography of Orbiter IV HR160/2A microfilm frame. Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 103, 177-180.
 

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