Luke Jerram's MUSEUM OF THE MOON

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Luke Jerram's MUSEUM OF THE MOON

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Description

Seen by many as an impressive object of art, this 7-meter diameter replica of the entire moon's surface is much, MUCH more!
It is the world's most detailed photographic globe-shaped lunar atlas ever made.
A hundred years ago, watching a gigantic globe-shaped lunar atlas such as this one would have been very much like a sudden confrontation with a huge cornucopia of answered questions asked by all the selenologists and selenographers all over the world.
We could only wonder if today's astronomers and scientists show the same amount of interest when they see that globe, or is it just seen as... art?
Do most of those astronomers and scientists only see it as some sort of "fait divers"? (something to evoke "Halloween"-ish feelings to amuse their kids and friends, and nothing more?).
Although the Golden Age of Moon-Observing is far away in the past, we could ask the question if Earth's Moon is still Hot Topic thanks to the High-Resolution photographs made by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera.- DannyCaes Jan 30, 2018

Additional Information


Questions
Is there only one Jerram-moonglobe, or is the one we always see just an example of a series? If this is so, how much of those are there? Does Luke Jerram and his team have test-sections of the globe too? (slightly mis-printed parts, still interesting to look at, not something to throw away). - DannyCaes Feb 1, 2018

Images

A tiny section of the Oberhausen moon balloon (it must have been a dream to stitch all the sections together) (or a nightmare?).
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Credit: Oberhausen Gasometer.

Nomenclature

None, which is a bit frustrating, because most visitors are looking at it without really knowing what they see. This nameless globe can't ignite the interest for the history of selenography and the nomenclature of the moon's surface formations. On the other hand, without "disturbing" nomenclature it shows the mysterious look of Earth's natural satellite very well !!! (craters, basins, mountains, and much more craters, basins, and mountains...).

Exploring Luke Jerram's MUSEUM OF THE MOON
I was standing under the globe on Tuesday the 30th of January '18 (the day before the start of the Ghent Light Festival). I came from work (evening shift), and the first thing I did was... straight to the site of Luke Jerram's moonglobe!!! (near the centre of Ghent). Once there, my mouth was wide open while staring upward, and the few people who were walking by saw me standing there: me on my bicycle anchored to the ground (what must have been the thoughts of those people, one might ask...).
That evening it (the globe) radiated a soft greyish lightblue glow. The shadows of the craters were not black (rather some sort of soft grey, which made it less "dramatic" compared with the usual pitch-black looking shadows from the LROC's photographs).
All-in-all a wonderful half-hour of "urban moon watching" after the eight hours of harsh labour at the industrial port...
And... I detected my own mountain near the southeastern craters Helmholtz, Boussingault, Hagecius, and Pontecoulant (Mons Caes). I wanted to scream it out, just to let the other people know, but it would not be a very wise thing to do... (nocturnal turmoil, and my odd behaviour as a funny movie on YouTube).
- DannyCaes Jan 30, 2018
(perhaps interesting to create a list of movies or documentaries in which a "crazy man" is telling the truth, but nobody's really listening because of his freaky behaviour) (related: Gustav Holst's URANUS, from Opus 32: The Planets) (the piece URANUS has it all: the madman who want to tell the truth).

Our hobby, "airborne" above the heads of lots of unknown people
Well that's a strange sensation, to know that our daily pastime (the exploration of the moon's photographed surface) is "airborne" above a (sometimes crowded) outdoor public place! - DannyCaes Feb 3, 2018

Exploring the two possible landingsites of Chandrayaan-2 on the earth-faced section of the lunar southpole region
Because the lunar southpole and the regions around it are the best part of Luke Jerram's moon to explore, the two possible landingsites of Chandrayaan-2 are almost within reach of the upward looking visitors! See: Chandrayaan-2

We can't see Plato
A globe such as Luke Jerram's MUSEUM OF THE MOON should hang somewhere in an indoor hall from an university's building. This globe needs to be explored from several locations above it too, not only from below. The northern (or upper) one-third of the globe is mostly unseen. Formations such as the dark Plato or Mare Humboldtianum stay unknown.

Is the globe upside-down when it's in Australia, South Africa, and South America?
When Luke Jerram's moonglobe is somewhere in Australia, South Africa, and South America, are the globe's northpole regions downward and almost within reach of the upward looking visitors? (unseen southpole regions).

LPOD Articles

The Biggest Moon on Earth (the Oberhausen moon balloon)

LROC Articles

The more than 999 posts in the Images section of the LROC site (explore!).
To find your way into these (more than) 999 posts, please visit the LROC Notebook pages (Parts 1 and 2).

Bibliography

The 19 feet diameter globe of the moon made by Dickert in Bonn (1850):
Mapping and Naming the Moon, a history of lunar cartography and nomenclature (Ewen A. Whitaker, 1999).
Drawing of the Dickert globe on page 145.

Appendix to the last part of the section Nomenclature (see above)
The search for movies or documentaries in which a so-called "crazy man" is telling the truth, or is trying to tell the truth, while nobody (or almost nobody) is really listening, or is just "enjoying" his weird behaviour:
- Sundance Channel: Joseph Westley Newman (inventor, 1936 - 2015).