Invalid Names

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Ewen Whitaker's List of Invalid Names


Note: Danny Caes has located the LTO charts on which many of Whitaker's Invalid Names appeared, and in some cases the traditional feature name they attempted to replace. Danny's annotated and expanded version of this list (which everyone is free to edit) can be found at Invalid Names -- Annotated. On the present page, considerable care has been expended to ensure that this is an accurate transcription of an historic document, so please don't change it! - Jim Mosher



The following is a transcription of an undated handwritten list (click to view), with typewritten attachment (click to view), prepared and circulated by Ewen Whitaker. It lists non-IAU approved names that appeared on maps prepared for NASA by the DMA (and its predecessors). The names in square brackets appear in the on-line IAU Planetary Gazetteer, listed either as "dropped" or "never approved". Aside from the addition of the square brackets, the hyperlinking of some names, very minor changes in formatting and the signed parenthetical comments, Whitaker's list is reproduced here without alteration. - Jim Mosher



Unapproved names etc. on LTO charts


(excluding the 44 writers etc. specifically disallowed in 1976)

1. The generic terms "collis" and "fossa" were not approved for use on the Moon, following the recommendations of LPACC -- see Tr. IAU XVI B p. 300, 5(a) 1976

Collis Aristarchus
Fossa Apollonius
Fossa Archimedes
Fossa Bradley
Fossa Caruso
[Fossa Casals]
Fossa Chacornac
Fossa Maclear
Fossa Messier
Fossa Römer
Fossa Rudolf
Fossa Siegfried
Fossa Tetrazzini
Fossa Yangel'
[Fossa Cauchy]
Fossa Littrow
Fossae Fresnel
Fossae Goclenius
Fossae Gutenberg
Fossae Littrow
Fossae Menelaeus
Fossae Parry
Fossae Plinius
Fossae Pavlova
Fossae Secchi
Fossae Sulpicius Gallus
Fossae Taruntius

The following names from this list were never approved either:--
Caruso
Casals
Pavolva
Tetrazinni



2. The following names for rima or rimae were never approved:--

Beethoven
Brahms
Chopin
Gluck
Mozart
Handel
Rimsky-Korsakov
Sibelius
Telemann
Verdi



3. The following crater names were never approved:--

Kovalevskij -- erroneous spelling for name already on farside
Noether -- name already on farside
Al-Tusi, Rupes Al-Tusi, Mons Al-Tusi: Al-Tusi = Nasireddin a nearside name since 1834
Ibn Hayyan - never in name bank



Other errors on LTO charts

Moved from their traditional locations. WGPSN (197x <-- last digit illegible - Jim Mosher) did not approve, on reccomendation of LPAC via TGLN. Thus LTO ID's incorrect:

  • Franz
  • Lyell
  • Hypatia


Also moved to new features. Approved (en masse) 1973, but above ruling invalidates this. All other maps show these in traditional locations. In particular, all Apollo 15 literature shows Hadley as the "Mons":

  • Da Vinci
  • Hadley


Numbering system dropped in 1976. see above ref. (Tr. IAU XVI B) p. 351, no. 9:

  • Rima Aristarchus VI
  • Rima Aristarchus VII
  • Rima Aristarchus VII


[Rima Schröter] -- should be Vallis Schröteri

[Fossa Casals] -- this is Rupes Cauchy!

Siegfried -- much too large a crater for first-name designation

Dorsa Ramsay -- not approved since Ramsay is a farside (since 1970) crater. Also, Ramsay not a geophysicist.

Dorsa Lambert -- "dorsa" cannot be named after nearby craters (note: name on LTO-40B4 is Dorsum Lambert) - Jim Mosher Nov 30, 2007

Ah, Jb, Xe, Zf, Ut, Väisälä Mz, Cleopatra (crater)

(Rupes Boris -- .....) (could not read note of 8-10 words following Rupes Boris -- photocopy too faint - Jim Mosher)



(Attached to the above handwritten page is a small piece of paper with the following list of names. At the bottom of paper is the following recently handwritten explanation: - Jim Mosher)

the 44 disallowed writers etc., plus Hadley



(Some of names are preceded with an older handwritten H or V with the explanation: - Jim Mosher)

H = on (Mercury symbol)
V = on (Venus symbol)



[Abduh]
H [Ariosto]
H [Austen]
H [Balzac]
[Baudelaire]
H [Bernini]
H [Camoens]
H [Cellini]
H [Cervantes]
H Chekhov (note: the name that appears on LTO-81B4 is "Shekhov", and the discontinued name listed in the IAU Planetary Gazetteer is [Chekov] - Jim Mosher)
[Chenier]
[Corneille]
H [Dario]
[Defoe]
[Doyle]
[Dumas]
[El Greco]
[Firdausi]
[Grimm]
[Hadley]
H [Heine]
H [Homer]
H [Hugo]
[Hussein]
[James]
[Johnson]
H [Li Po]
[Longfellow]
[Lorca]
[Mann]
H [Milton]
[Montaigne]
[Montesquieu]
[Novalis]
[Pirandello]
[Pope]
[Racine]
V [Sappho]
H [Sophocles]
[Tasso]
H [Tolstoy]
Undset -- "Undest is correct spelling" (<-- this is an old handwritten note. The name that actually appears on LTO-40B4 is "Mons Undest" - Jim Mosher)
[Vergil]
[Voltaire]
H [Zola]

also one entry of: Dubrovol'skiy

(end of typewritten attachment - Jim Mosher Nov 30, 2007)