Structure of the Moon's Surface

1st Edition - January 1, 1961
Author: Gilbert Fielder
Language: English
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 1 - 4 9 6 4 - 6

Structure of the Moon’s Surface aims to assemble and marshal relevant matter, and to produce a largely unprejudiced text which brings lunar studies up to date and stresses the… Read more

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Structure of the Moon’s Surface aims to assemble and marshal relevant matter, and to produce a largely unprejudiced text which brings lunar studies up to date and stresses the importance of certain features of the Moon which have frequently been disregarded in the past, largely because of lack of knowledge about them. The book contains 14 chapters organized into two parts. Part I reviews and summarizes important physical problems. These include the liberations of the moon; height determinations of points of the moon’s surface; the figure of the moon; and the moon’s temperature and atmosphere. Part II discusses relatively new facts and ideas, which have been insufficiently emphasized in the past. Topics covered include ray systems; rilles, faults, and wrinkle ridges; and crater distribution and frequency. It is hoped that this book will be of use both to the professional scientist and to the amateur astronomer.

Part I

List of Plates

List of Abbreviations

Foreword

1 The Librations of the Moon

1-1 Note on the Orbit of the Moon

1-2 The Librations of the Moon

2 Height Determinations of Points on the Moon's Surface

2-1 The Determination of Relative Heights

2-2 The Determination of Slopes

2-3 Lunar Formations in Profile

2-4 The Determination of Absolute Heights

2-5 Summary

3 The Figure of the Moon

3-1 Discovering the Non-Sphericity of the Moon

3-2 The Internal Constitution of the Moon

3-3 The pastHistory of the Moon

3-4 Conclusions

4 The Luminous Intensity and Luminescence of the Lunar Rocks

4-1 Relative Intensities in General. Albedo

4-2 Intensity Distribution across Full Moon

4-3 Variation in the Intensities of the Continents, The Maria, and the Rays, with Variation of Phase Angle: Models of the Surface of the Moon

4-4 Intensity Variations of Bright and Dark Spots

4-5 The Color and Intensity of the ashen Light

4-6 Do The Moon's Rocks Fluoresce?

4-7 Evidence for the Phenomenon of Luminescence

4-8 An Eruption in the Lunar Crater Alphonsus

4-9 Summary

5 The Color of Moonlight and the Composition of the Moon's Surface

5-1 Visual Work

5-2 Instrumental Methods and Results

5-3 Summary

6 on the Polarization of the Light Reflected by the Moon

6-1 Work Accomplished with Purely Optical Polarimeters

6-2 Photoelectric Polarimetry

6-3 Summary

7 on the Temperature of the Moon

7-1 Surface Temperatures from Stefan's Law

7-2 The Measurement of Surface Heat Changes

7-3 Measured Surface Temperatures

7-4 Summary of the Measured Temperatures, and Conclusions

8 The Problem of the Moon's Atmosphere

8-1 Simple Visual Observations

8-2 A Final Solution from the Kinetic Theory of Gases?

8-3 Possible Evidence for an Atmosphere

8-4 Evidence from More Refined Techniques

8-5 Summary of the Estimates of the Density of the Moon's Atmosphere

9 The Probable Nature of the Moon's Surface; Changes which Occur on the Moon

9-1 Deductions from the Size and Mass, from the Figure, and from the Surface Structures of the Moon

9-2 Deductions from the Intensity Variations and from the Color of Moonlight

9-3 Deductions from the Polarization of Moonlight

9-4 Deductions from the Observed Temperature Changes

9-5 The Effect of the Absence of an Atmosphere

9-6 Changes in the Moon's Surface: Apparent and Real

9-7 Are Tektites Samples from the Moon?

Part II

10 Ray Systems

10-1 General Description

10-2 Special Aspects of Some Ray Systems

10-3 Ray Dynamics Applied to the Systems of Tycho and Copernicus

10-4 Relative and Absolute Times of Formation

10-5 on the Discrete Nature of the Rays

10-6 Dark Bands

11 The Grid System, and Lattice Patterns

11-1 Linear Features

11-2 The System Radial to Mare Imbrium

11-3 Intersecting Grids

11-4 Lattice Patterns and Their Time of Origin

11-5 Summary

12 Rilles, Faults, and Wrinkle Ridges

12-1 Description and Distribution of Rilles

12-2 The Detailed Forms of Rilles

12-3 The associations of Rilles with Faults and Ridges

12-4 on the Origin of Rilles

12-5 Wrinkle Ridges

13 Crater Distribution and Frequency

13-1 The Spatial Distribution of Maria

13-2 The Frequency of Occurrence of Craters of Different Sizes

13-3 Anomalies in the Frequency Distribution of Craters

13-4 The Spatial Distribution of Craters

13-5 Crater-Pairs

13-6 Crater-Chains

13-7 The Other Side of the Moon

14 Conditions Relating to the Origin of the Moon's Surface Structure

14-1 Erosion and the Time Sequence of the Topographical Features

14-2 Origins of the Craters

14-3 The Nature of Maria

14-4 Summary of the Probable Time Sequence of the Craters

14-5 Domes and Plateau Craters

14-6 The Nature of the Forces which Produced the Grid System

Appendices

I Sources

II List of Constants

Index