Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1891 — Surface of the Moon. [ARTICLE]

Surface of the Moon.

Prof. Holden, of the Lick Observatory, by means of its great telescope has taken a picture of the moon, which is said to be a triumph of astronomical photography. Professor Weinck,of the Observatory of Prague who has probably studied the surface of the moon more than any other helped Prof. Holden in the delicate work of making tfie negative. A feature of the picture is the bed of a sea, of which Mr. Hop deu says: The large sea at tjje left hand of the cut is Mare Crisium. Its dimensions are 281 by 355 miles. Its area is about that of Ohio and Indiana combined. It is, in fact, not a sea, but the floor of a great plain — which may once have been a sea, but which is now like one of tho small plains on the island of Hawii, only on a grander scale. To give an idea of the vertical scale it may be noted highest mountains surrounding the sea are about 11,000 feet.” The professors of the Lick Observatory are taking a series of Pictures of the moon, from which an immense map is ultimately to be made. The work wilLcost $5,000.