Stunningly detailed topographical map of the near side of the Moon at a scale of 1:5,000,000.



Across the map, the reader can find the names of the Lunar mare or basaltic plains (using Roman capital san-serif, bold and italic), and a lettering system to indicate craters and valleys (Roman bold serif italics), hills and ridges (lower case Greek letters). The topography is shown by the use of complete and dashed lines to map the contours and depressions across the Moon's surface, as one would expect from a terrestrial map.



A colour gradient system has been used to illustrate the heights and depths of the lunar surface, with yellow and orange for the heights, and green and blue for the depths. The tallest height shown reaches 14,000 metres (45932 feet) and the lowest depth 300 metres (9843 feet). Spot elevations are marked across the map.





This is the first printing of the Second Edition of the map, which was compiled in 1963 using stereo-photogrammetric methods - meaning that many images of the Moon were provided by participating observatories including Paris, Lick, McDonald, Mt. Wilson, Yerkes, and Pic du Midi, and by using common points, mathematicians and astronomers were able to measure the distances between features such as craters, ridges and mountains from different angles shown in the photographs. They would then be able to go on to estimate three-dimensional coordinates to map the lunar surface. This map was published in June 1964 by the Army Map Service, Corps of Engineers.


Printed colour. Tube. [CELEST1242]