The Moon by Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt

Author:Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030372699
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Mare Humboldtianum

2000 “

Mare Imbrium

16000 “

Mare Nubium

18000 “

Oceanus Procellarum

90000 “

The remaining scattered grey areas

5000 “

Sum

167500 Square Miles

These of course, contain all transitional formations, medium-high hills, Light rays, isolated mountains, and craters.

So as not to exaggerate, we set the total area of the plains only = 160000 square miles.

Since now half the surface of the Moon-sphere contains 344600 geographical square miles, it is evident that all the grey plains together do not yet cover half the hemisphere.

MÄDLER’s estimate is only 2/5 or about 130000 square miles.

Similar to how on Earth, by the distribution of land and sea, the character of a landscape, or, in a geognostic and geographical sense, the character of a whole part of the world may be determined, it may also be said of the Moon that the general impression afforded by the sight of its surface is conditioned by the shape and distribution of the grey plains visible to the naked eye.

This is true for the full Moon, because at the time of the phases sometimes the grey areas do not stand out significantly, and it is the predominant type of Ring mountains that gives the Moon such an unfamiliar appearance.

When we look at a landscape, our judgment about it depends on the sensuous impression which the formations and colours evoke; we speak of the greatness, the gravity, or the grace of a landscape, according to what is seen and how it touches our mind.

Soon the richness of the plants and animal forms, or the alternation of the cultivated land with the forest-covered mountains, sometimes the dark line in which the sky rests on the horizon of the sea, or the smoke column of a distant, cone-shaped volcano, the reflections of the lakes, or on high Felshorn the lustre of the eternal snow shining brightly over the cloud cover, which vividly captivates our attention, arouses our admiration, and provides the searching eye the great features that characterize the landscape.

If, for our sake, the Moon does not present such a wealth of views, the eye would prefer to adhere to the dark, often jagged surfaces, to the shimmering white rays which interrupt the monotony of those, and on the dazzling garland of mighty peaks, when they cover hundreds of square miles with their parallel narrow and pointed shadow forms with a deep darkness. It always returns to the plains; the charm of their sight, and the quiet, mysterious charms which their development from the night to daylight often presents, is more stimulating and beneficial than the tiring and strenuous observation of the bright mountain-country, where colossal craters are pressed together in ever-repeated forms and without Change of the light and the colour of the viewing nowhere provide resting points. - Drawings and measurements in and around the grey plains are easier and more pleasant than in the wild light-radiant mountains; for the Selenographer, the Mare are an oasis in the desert.

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