Sicily or the Sea of Tranquility? Mapping and naming the moon.
In their race to provide the ultimate guide to the moon, two 17th-century astronomers proposed lunar maps and nomenclatures that they hoped would gain international currency. But the names we use today were those proposed by the Jesuit, a friend of Galileo's persecutors, in a book whose purpose was to refute the Copernican system once and for all. We now believe that Riccioli was wrong about the universe, but why do we still use his nomenclature? The keys to this foundational visual debate in astronomical image-making are the moon maps themselves.
Vertesi
Janet
J
Science & Technology Studies Department, Cornell University, 311 Rockefeller Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. jav38@cornell.edu
D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D049670:History, 17th Century; D006801:Humans; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D016081:Moon; D012802:Sicily; D014956:Writing