Several short lists of lunar nomenclature, by a variety of selenographers

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Several short lists of lunar nomenclature on the moon's near side, by a variety of selenographers

Additional explorations and investigations by Jim Mosher and Danny Caes (Ewen A. Whitaker's book Mapping and Naming the Moon)
Alphabetic list compiled by Danny Caes

Allard (page 92)

- Cassini
- Descartes (already used by Van Langren, probably as Cartesii, on a different location)
- Neperus (Neper?) (already used by Van Langren, probably as Neperi, on a different location)

  • According to Whitaker (p. 92), the name Cassini was introduced on a map by Allard from 1700, but it was used for a crater other than the present one. The present crater was named J.D. Cassini by Schröter (Whitaker, p. 218). The "J.D." part seems to have been dropped by later observers and was never part of the IAU nomenclature.


Antoniadi (page 171)

- Deslandres

  • According to Whitaker (p. 171), the name Deslandres was suggested by E. Antoniadi in 1942 and was the only name approved at the 1948 General Assembly of the IAU. Prior to this, the region was primarily known by the informal name of Hell Plain, after the named crater (Hell) within it. However, Fauth used the name Hörbiger, honoring Hanns Horbiger, an Austrian cosmologist who fathered a weird theory of an ice-covered Moon, much favored by the Nazis. Perhaps Antoniadi's proposal was intended to supress further use of that name. Surprisingly Wilkins and Moore use the name Hörbiger even though their book was published well after the IAU resolution. Perhaps Wilkins' map, on which the book is based, had been prepared earlier.


Arthur (and Whitaker) (Appendix T, page 234)

- Aston, Baade, Balboa, Balmer, Banachiewicz, Barnard, Belkovich, Bohr, Boltzmann, Boole, Boss, Brianchon, Byrd, Cannon, Cremona, Dalton, Desargues, De Sitter, Dubiago, Fermi, Gibbs, Gilbert, Gill, Goddard, Hale, Hartwig, Hayn, Hermite, Hubble, Jansky, Jeans, Kapteyn, Krasnov, Lamarck, Lamé, Langley, Liapunov, Markov, Moseley, Pascal, Planck, Poncelet, Rayleigh, Riemann, Rontgen, Schluter, Shaler, Stefan, Stokes, Sylvester

Blagg (Appendix Q, page 229)

- Spitzbergen (Montes Spitzbergen)


Cassini (page 87)

- Insula Sinus Medii (Van Langren's Sinus Medius, Hevelius's Mare Adriaticum, Riccioli's Sinus Aestuum, Bode's Sinus Medii)
- Promontorium Acutum (Van Langren's Promontorium Methonis, Hevelius's Promontorium Heracleum)
- Promontorium Somnii (Riccioli's Palus Somni, with one 'i' only)

Collins (not included in Whitaker's book)

- Shannen Ridge (from Eudoxus to Williams)

  • This unofficial name is included on page 30 and Chart 9 of the 21st Century Atlas of the Moon by C.A.Wood and M.J.S.Collins.


Elger (Appendix Q, page 229, notes)

- Alpine Valley
- Straight Wall

  • Note by E.A.Whitaker: these two names have been attributed to Elger, but Neison (1874) lists the name Alpine Valley, and Birt has the name Straight Wall on his general map (1870s).

Disallowed names from Elger (not included in Whitaker's book)

- Humboldt mountains (a mountainous region near Humboldt).

Fontana/ Montalbani (page 50)

- Terra Fortitudinis (between Mare Humorum and Mare Nubium)

Gassendi (page 33)

- Caspia (Mare Crisium)
- Anticaspia (Mare Humorum)
- Homuncio/ Thersite (Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Nectaris, Mare Fecunditatis)
- Umbilicus Lunaris (Tycho and its ray system)
- Carthusia (Copernicus)
- Hecates Penetralia (Mare Vaporum?)
- Eoum Mare (Oceanus Procellarum)
- Boreum Mare (Mare Frigoris)
- Riphaeus (Montes Apenninus)
- Vallis Umbrosa (?)
- Rupes Nivea (?)
- Salinae (?)
- Amara Mons (?)
- Lacuna (?)

Gaudibert (page 150)

- Carpenter
- Flammarion
- Freres Henry
- Montes Cordillera (?)(see also at Lohrmann's names)
- Mouchez
- Nasmyth
- Rutherfurd

Gilbert (page 15)

- Brittannia (Mare Crisium)
- Cape Bicke (south of Mare Crisium)
- Cape Longum (south of Mare Nectaris)
- Continens Meridionalis (Mare Nubium and environs)
- Insula Borealis (Mare Frigoris, part of)
- Insula Longa (Oceanus Procellarum, part of)
- Insula Medilunaria (Sinus Medii)
- Mare Medilunarium (south of Mare Imbrium)
- Promontorium Borealis (north of Mare Imbrium)
- Regio Magna Occidentalis (Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Fecunditatis, Mare Nectaris)
- Regio Magna Orientalis (Mare Imbrium)
- Sinus Magnus (between Mare Fecunditatis and Mare Nectaris)
- Sinus Orientalis (probably north of Mare Humorum)

Gruithuisen (pages 112 and 114)

- Cometicus (the comet-like "tail" of the Messier twins in Mare Fecunditatis)
- Herschel (the IAU's Hedin)
- Schroeterus (Schroter, Gruithuisen's so-called Lunar City)

  • According to T.W.Webb, the so-called Lunar City which was discovered by Gruithuisen, would have been known as Schroeterus (thus named by Gruithuisen himself), but, that name was transferred by Beer and Madler, who have given it to the crater which is nowadays officially known as Schroter. Source: T.W.Webb's Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, Volume 1; The Solar System, page 119.

- Sinus Medius (Sinus Medii)(originally by Van Langren). Gruithuisen didn't know what to do with the region called Sinus Medii, because it went through a series of nomenclatural changes: Insula Medilunaria, Sinus Medius, Mare Adriaticum, Sinus Aestuum, Insula Sinus Medii, Sinus Medii, Sinus Medius...

  • Page 114: according one source, Gruithuisen also applied the following names to features, but these need to be checked:

- Cascade
- Eisenhard (Eysenhard?)
- Keill
- Moenum

  • Keill is possibly John Keill, a Scottish/ English popularizer of science and astronomy (see also Keill's lunar map on page 89 of Whitaker's book).
  • On page 106 in T.W.Webb's book Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, Volume 1: The Solar System, the name Eysenhard is mentioned (was Eysenhard the same as Gruithuisen's Eisenhard?). According to T.W.Webb, Eysenhard must have been a lunar observer and pupil of Lambert.


Hell (page 93)

(see also page Names of Father Maximilian Hell, which contains research on the individual names)
- Flamsteedius (Flamsteed) (originally by Keill, see page 94)
- Halleyius (Halley)
- Malebranchius
- Regnaultius S.J. (Regnault)
- Rostius (Rost)
- Scharpius (Sharp)
- Schmelzerus S.J.
- Schottus S.J.
- Tacquettus S.J. (Tacquet)
- Volsius S.J.
- Wolffius Freiherr (Wolff)

Herring (not included in Whitaker's book)

- Valentine Dome (Linné Alpha)

  • The so-called Valentine Dome in Mare Serenitatis, described by Hawaiian moon observer Alika Herring in the Sky and Telescope magazine.


Hevelius (page 54)

The preliminary list of Hevelius:
- Desertum Linnemanni
- Fretum Eichstadianum
- Insula Scheineriana
- Lacus Galilaei
- Mare Kepplerianum
- Mons Mersenni
- Oceanus Coperniceus
- Oceanus Tychonicus
- Palus Maestlini
- Peninsula Gassendi
- Promontorium Crugerianum
- Sinus Wendelini
- Vallis Bullialdi
  • Of these 13 preliminary names, the first one (Linnemanni) didn't survive the modern days of selenography. On Riccioli's map this name was used as Linemannus (Flamsteed Kappa, etc...). Linnemanni and Linemannus were probably Albertus Linemannus (1603-1653), German mathematician and astronomer, see German Wikipedia page Albrecht Linemann.


IAU Commission 17 (Appendix Q, page 229)

- Brown
- Proctor

Keill (page 92)

- Flamstedius (Flamsteed, with one 'e')

  • The location of Flamstedius on Keill's map (page 89, Fig 57) is slightly eastward of the present location of the IAU's Flamsteed.

- Goris (near the southeastern part of the moon's limb)

  • The origin of the mysterious name Goris is Grimaldi's map with Riccioli's nomenclature on it, in which the name Terra Vigoris was chop'd up into three separate "names": Terra, Vi, and Goris.


Klein (not included in Whitaker's book)

- Hyginus Nova (Hyginus N)

  • Mentioned in several moonbooks, such as Op Ontdekking in het Maanland by A.J.M.Wanders, and Epic Moon by W.P.Sheehan and T.A.Dobbins.


Konig (Appendix N, page 226)

- Krieger

Kopal (not included in Whitaker's book)

- Nechville (the IAU's Coulomb)

Kuiper (page 174)

- Mare Exploratum (lunar sea photographed by Ranger 7, rejected name)
- Mare Cognitum (official IAU name)

Lecouturier (page 150)

- Le Verrier (?) (see also Names of Schmidt)

Le Monnier (pages 92, 93; Fig. 59)

- Mons Carmaniae (near the southpole) (was this name originally from Hevelius?)

Lichtenberg (page 94)

- Heraclides Falsus (the IAU's Promontorium Laplace)
- Mercurius Falsus (the IAU's Gauss)

Lohrmann (page 119)

- Bode
- Delambre
- Dollond
- Promontorium Fresnel
- Herschel
- Lalande
- Le Monnier
- Maskelyne
- Montes Cordillera (?)(see also at Gaudibert's names)
- Triesnecker

Melchior a Briga (pages 90, 91, 92)

- Nic Parthenius (immediately east of Mare Crisium, perhaps Condorcet?)
- Tres S.S. Reges Magi (the three wise men; three bright spots in the highlands west-northwest of Mare Nectaris, probably three young high-albedo craters)

  • Both names are detectable on a rare Full Moon map made in 1747. This map is reproduced on pages 90-91 (Fig.58) in Whitaker's book. The location of Nic Parthenius is indicated by the capital sign omega "to the right" of Mare Crisium. The location of Tres S.S. Reges Magi is indicated by the sign psi "to the left" of Mare Nectaris.
  • The name Nic Parthenius is probably not-at-all related to the name Mons Parthenius of Hevelius, which was the early name of the formation officially known as Fra Mauro Zeta.


Muller (Appendix Q, page 229)

- Andel
- Debes
- Fauth
- Franz (?)(see also: Names of Krieger and Konig)
- Konig
- Lamech
- Saunder
- Wilkins

Peucker (Appendix Q, page 229)

- da Vinci

Pickering (Appendix Q, page 229)

- Vallis Schroteri (Schroter's Valley)

Steavenson (not included in Whitaker's book)

- Cobra Head (the "source" of Vallis Schroteri)
  • This nickname is mentioned in several moonbooks.


Webb (page 150)

- Mons Argaeus
  • Mary Blagg's Collated List (1913) indicates it had been known as Vitruvius alpha to Beer and Mädler, and as Cape Chamisso to J.F.J. Schmidt. Neison used Mons Argaeus which was the form adopted into the original IAU nomenclature of Named Lunar Formations (1935). According to Whitaker (p. 150), the name Mons Argaeus had been introduced by Webb in the 1860's.


Westfall (not included in Whitaker's book)

- Luna Incognita (the unphotographed region near the moon's southpole) (read: unphotographed before the birth of lunar spaceflight)

Wilkins's official names (Appendix Q, page 229)

(for Wilkins's almost 100 unofficial names, see this page)
- Mee
- Goodacre

Wood (not included in Whitaker's book)

(nicknames and unofficial names of Charles A. Wood)(some of these names are mentioned in the 21st Century Atlas of the Moon, by C.A.Wood and M.J.S.Collins)
- Aestuum Pyroclastics (between Sinus Aestuum and Schroter)
- Andes mountains (southwestern rim of Mare Humboldtianum)
- Bode Pyroclastics (east of Sinus Aestuum)
- Bishop mountains (southwestern rim of Mare Humboldtianum)
- Dionysius Dark Rays (the system, or halo, of low-albedo rays around the bright crater Dionysius)
- Doppelmayer Pyroclastics (at the southwestern part of Mare Humorum)
- Gardner Megadome (south of Gardner)
- Headlights (the bright raycraters Furnerius A and Stevinus A)
- Lacus Risus Felis (west of Mare Marginis, see LPOD Beyond the Cat's Smile)
- Lassell Massif (northwest of Lassell, see LPOD More evidence)
- Lost Peninsula (northwest of Luther)
- Mount Sirsalis/ Sirsalis Beta (see LPOD Mount Sirsalis)
- Wasatch mountains (Hevelius' Montes Alani at the northern rim of Mare Crisium)