Since the earliest times, billions of eyes have gazed into the night sky as people tried to unravel the mystery of the silent satellite that illuminated their path. The moon is not only our closest space neighbor, it is an integral part of our life, accompanying us everywhere with its mysterious light, which is mentioned in poetry and prose, films and music, hundreds of legends and mystical stories.
Her alluring light from ancient times riveted the attention of ordinary people and great scientists who tried to unravel its eternal riddle.
Scientists of the past unravel the mystery
The first attempts to understand the nature of the Moon, leaving aside the myths and legends, were made by the ancient Greek writer Plutarch, who tried to unravel the mystery of the moon spots.
One of the great people who made an invaluable contribution to unraveling the eternal mystery is Leonardo da Vinci. He, however, possessing knowledge far ahead of the time in which he lived, was no less a mystery totheir contemporaries and subsequent generations. He suggested that the Moon is similar to the Earth and proposed a theory that explained the glow of the Moon. The ashen light of the moon is an amazing phenomenon: we see the whole celestial body, although the Sun illuminates only part of it. At the same time, the part of the surface of the Moon, on which direct sunlight does not fall, has a characteristic ashy hue. This effect is known today as the da Vinci glow. The scientist immortalized his name, presented progressive ideas for consideration at a time when mankind had no idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
The great astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, with his immortal work "On the Revolution of the Celestial Circles", in which he pointed out that the Earth is a celestial body and one of the planets, brought closer the resolution of the question of the nature of the Moon.
Galileo Galilei, without any doubt, became the first scientist to make a huge breakthrough in the minds of mankind regarding the appearance of the surface of the moon. He described the relief of the moon and made a grandiose discovery about the presence of mountains and mountain ranges. For his research, he invented a homemade pipe that allowed him to discover the unknown lunar world. Unable to conduct more detailed studies, he perceived the dark spots on the Moon as seas and erroneously asserted that the Moon and the Earth were completely identical, assuming that the former had both air and water. Fourteen seas are still represented on lunar maps, occupying almost half of its surface. Although now everyone knows that all these "seas" do not contain a single drop ofwaters and are flat areas among many mountains and mountain ranges, regarding which the brilliant scientist was not mistaken one iota. It was Galileo who invented a method for determining the height of mountains on the Moon based on the length of the shadows they cast, stretching in the direction opposite to that from where the Sun's glow comes from and emphasizing the relief of the lunar surface. He also discovered and named two mountain ranges - the famous lunar Alps and the Apennines.
The study of the lunar mountains was continued by the Italian astronomer Riccioli, who in 1651 published a map of the moon. Although he himself did not take an active part in observations, we can still observe his direct participation in the process of designating many parts of the lunar landscape, since the names given to him are preserved on many lunar maps. He even named one of the mountains by his own name.
Moon relief
Currently, when we look at the Moon through binoculars or a small telescope, we can see that its surface consists of two distinct types of terrain: dark flat plains and bright mountainous terrain, which is covered with numerous craters of various sizes.
Earlier, as already mentioned, the dark spots of the plains were mistaken for seas, since at that time they did not suspect that there was no water on the dry, airless surface of the Moon, so they called them maria, which in Latin means sea.
Mountains on the Moon have a peculiar ring shape and are of two types: circuses and craters.
The ways of their formation differ from earthly processes. Mountain ranges on our planetare formed in one of the following ways:
- tectonic - collision with each other of the plates that form the surface of the Earth (most mountains and mountain peaks have this origin)
- volcanic - the formation of mountains under the influence of hot magma rising from the depths of the Earth into volcanoes.
The process of formation of lunar mountains has long been a matter of concern to scientists and causes controversy.
There are two hypotheses:
- According to one of them, the first mountains on the Moon arose as a result of giant asteroid impacts in the distant past, of which there were a huge number in the solar system at the dawn of history. Under the influence of these impacts, craters were formed on its surface much larger than those that we see today. They are, according to this theory, the so-called "seas".
- However, there is also a hypothesis of the volcanic origin of the mountains. Its supporters believe that the mountains formed in the zones of subsidence or subsidence of the surface during the heating of the lunar interior.
What mountains are on the Moon?
Let's find out more about this. How do you feel about the idea of lunar climbing? We don't even need spacesuits, just your imagination.
Mountain ranges and individual mountains are designated by Latin names: montes - mountain ranges and mons - individual mountains. And we'll start from the landing site of the last manned lunar explorer, Apollo 17. In this place are the Taurian Mountains (Montes Taurus), located to the east of the Sea of Clarity. Two major mountain ranges share two other features of the lunar landscape. The Sea of Clarity is separated from the Sea of Souls by the Caucasus Mountains in the north, and in the south by the Apennines. Mount Hadley is visible at their intersection, named after the British inventor and mathematician John Hadley (1682-1743). The Lunar Alps surround the perfectly oval crater Plato to the northwest.
On the barren surface of the Sea of Rains are the two most impressive single mountain peaks Piton and Pico. The python has a base with a diameter of 25 km and a height of 2250 m above the surrounding plain. Even more striking is Pico, with a base of 15x25 km and a height of 2400 m. Both are named after mountains on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
While these mountains look amazing against the backdrop of the dim glow of the rising sun, in reality they are still quite flat compared to those on Earth. But that doesn't stop us from admiring them during our imaginary walk on the moon.
List of mountains on the Moon
Based on the data given in various sources, the most famous mountains in the northeast are:
- Alps (Montes Alpes);
- Alpine Valley (Vallis Alpes);
- Caucasus (Montes Caucasus);
- Apennines (Montes Apenninus);
- Mountains Hemus (Montes Haemus);
- Taurian Mountains (Montes Taurus).
The Pyrenees (Montes Pyrenaeus) are the most noticeable in the southeast.
Southwest:
- Straight Wall (Rupes Recta);
- Riphean Mountains (Montes Riphaeus).
North-West:
- Schroeter Valley (Vallis Schroteri);
- Mountains Jura (Montes Jura).
The height of the mountains on the moon at some points reaches eight kilometers.
Huygens Peak
Located on the edge of the Sea of Rains and its highest point is 5.5 km above sea level. It is part of the mountain system of the lunar Apennines and is the highest mountain on the Moon (however, not the highest point). The highest part of Huygens is in the bright crater zone to the right of Ampère peak.
The mountain was named after the Dutch astronomer, mathematician and physician Christian Huygens.
Mount Tycho on the Moon
You can't ignore this mountain, named after Danish scientist Tycho Brahe in 1961 by Italian astronomer Giovanni Riccioli.
It is a brilliant dot with rays diverging in all directions on the underside of the moon. According to the existing version, the longest ray of the Tycho crater divides the Sea of Clarity and extends for 4000 km from the crater. The majestic Mount Tycho is a crater with a diameter of 95 km. During the full moon, you can see Tycho in all its splendor: it emits such a dazzling light that it seems to permeate the universe and delight many researchers.
Will the dream come true
Walking on the Moon is possible indefinitely, but our journey is coming to an end for today, although no one bothers us to continue it - after all, this can be done at any time, just by looking at the starry sky.
And who knows, maybe someday anyone who wants to will have the opportunity to actually do it and touch with their own hands the alluring cold of these mysterious lunar mountains. Fantasy? But after all, people in ancient times could not even imagine that someday a human foot would set foot on the surface of the moon.
