Mapping of the Moon

Abstract

Manned landings on the Moon since 1969 have invoked new widespread interest on the part of lay as well as scientific public in our satellite and in the topography of its surface. The origin of human interest in details visible on the lunar surface goes back much further in the annals of history, and antedates the advent of telescopic astronomy in the early years of the 17th century. The Moon became, in fact, the first celestial body (other than the Earth) whose surface invited description in cartographic form. The first map of the Moon which came down to us — by William Gilbert (1540–1603) — must have been completed almost ten years before Galileo Galilei or Thomas Harriott turned their early telescopes to the Moon in 1609 and depicted for us what they saw.