Valentine Dome
Contents
Valentine Dome
(informal name added by Alika Herring; former IAU name: Linné Alpha)
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Lat: 30.5 N, Long: 10.1 E, Diameter: 30 km, Rükl: 13 | |
Right: Apollo 15 Hasselblad image AS15-91-12372 (click for high resolution) The low dome-like feature was assigned the name Linné Alpha on LAC-42, and the small shadow-casting peak to its right was named Linné Beta.
Images
LPOD Photo Gallery images Lunar Orbiter Images
Maps
Description
Additional Information
- Listed as "V1" in the GLR Consolidated Dome Catalog.
- The rille which is running through the Valentine Dome is a perfect test-object for observers with common and large telescopes!
Nomenclature
- This feature was not named in the orginal IAU nomenclature of Named Lunar Formations.
- It was described in some detail in an article entitled "Plateau near Linné" by (then host of the Observing the Moon feature) Alika Herring in the April, 1962 issue of Sky and Telescope. No name was suggested for it at that time.
- The broad but low elevation now known as the Valentine Dome was assigned the name Linné Alpha on LAC-42. Although this name does not appear on the maps of the System of Lunar Craters, both were adopted as official IAU nomenclature in the early 1960's.
- According to Harold Hill (on p. 16 of his book), Herring published additional observations made on June 25, 1966 with the Catalina Observatory 61" reflector in Vol. 15, No. 2 the the BAA's publication The Moon, and in that article the famed columnist, lunar artist, and telescope maker suggested the name Valentine Dome, which has been used by most observers since. At the time of these latter observations, Herring was able to detect the rille that crosses the dome, and some short tributaries to it on the east.
- Presumably the name is meant to be inspired by the feature's heart-like shape (and perhaps the rille crossing it like an arrow?), although in both Herring's and Hill's south-up drawings it looks much more like a strawberry. - JimMosher
- Valentine Dome rille (an unofficial name from a daily explorer of the lunar surface for the rille which is running through Valentine Dome).
LPOD Articles
Lunar 100
L89: Volcanic dome.
Bibliography
- Herring, Alika. 1962. Plateau near Linné. Sky and Telescope Vol. 23, p. 212 (April issue).
- Hill, Harold. 1991. A Portfolio of Lunar Drawings, pages 16, 17. (available in the Google Books preview)
