USGS Digital Atlas
Contents
IAU/USGS Digital Atlas of the Moon
(glossary entry)
Description
Jennifer Blue of the United States Geological Survey's Astrogeology Branch (and curator of the official IAU list of Planetary Names) has documented the locations of all IAU-named lunar features on spacecraft imagery, much as had been done for the Moon's nearside, in the 1970's, in NASA SP-241. The results, along with comparable maps for other solar system bodies, can be found on the USGS website. It is eventually to be replaced by a version with the feature locations plotted on
Additional Information
- There are three versions of the IAU/USGS Digital Atlas:
- Four hemispheric maps in shaded relief are annotated with primary IAU names only.
- One complete set of 144 LAC-zone sized map sheets illustrates the location of every IAU-approved name for the entire Moon on a topographically color-coded shaded relief backgound that is not quite correctly registered to proper lunar coordinates.
- A second preferred set uses selenodetically-controlled Lunar Orbiter background.
- A Preface explaining both 144-sheet sets in detail appears at the bottom of the index maps linked to above.
LPOD Articles
Bibliography
