Milestones of Science Books

WHITAKER, Ewen A., KUIPER, Gerard P., HARTMANN William K. and SPRADLEY L. H.

Rectified Lunar Atlas - Supplement Number Two to the Photographic Lunar Atlas. Contributions, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, No. 3.

Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1963.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002215

Oblong folio (380 x 465 mm). Title, 2 pages of text and 141 photographs. Original blue cloth. Dedication inscription on inner front cover by R.G.Baxter to the British Astronomical Association. ----

Ewen Whitaker (1922-2016) was astronomer at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, becoming the director of the Lunar Section of the British Astronomical Association. He then emigrated to the United States and joined the staff of the Yerkes Observatory. In 1960 he left Yerkes, along with Gerard P. Kuiper, helping found the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, eventually becoming research scientist emeritus. He worked on several NASA missions, and was successful in locating the landing site of the Surveyor 3. (This was used to determine the landing site for the Apollo 12 mission.) He has been considered by some to be the world's leading expert on mapping the Moon and lunar nomenclature. He was a member of the IAU's Task Group for Lunar Nomenclature (wikispace).
As part of G.P. Kuiper's Moon-mapping program of the late 50s and 60s a unique atlas of the limb regions was made, the Rectified Lunar Atlas by Whitaker, Kuiper, Hartmann and Spradley. This large format, bound atlas showed each limb area as seen from directly overhead. Since this was made before lunar orbiters flew it was necessary to create it by projecting telescopic images of the Moon onto a large white sphere and then rephotographing the sphere from directly over the area of interest. In doing this Bill Hartmann discovered the multi-ring structure of Orientale and other basins. This vertical view also allowed us crater catalogers (compiling the System of Lunar Craters) to clean up many inconsistencies of limb nomenclature and recognize craters deserving names. D.W.G. Arthur and E.A. Whitaker gave 68 new names or shifted earlier names to real formations in the Atlas. Information from personal experience and (Whitaker, 1999, p234-5). - Visit our website to see more images!

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