Title:      Lunar Geography: How the Selenographic Coordinate System Works

Speaker:     Stanley M. Max,Department of Mathematics, Towson University

Abstract:     Dr. Max discusses selenography, which is the study of the surface, physical features, and in general the geography of Earth’s moon (or Luna, to use a more descriptive word).  As one principal tool in his work, he uses the Virtual Moon Atlas (VMA), which is open-source software providing three-dimensional modeling of Luna (just as Google Earth provides for Earth).  The VMA contains an exhaustive database of impact craters and other lunar features, and the International Astronomical Union serves as the source of this database.  The VMA allows both true- and false-color imagery, and Dr. Max uses the VMA to display lunar features.  The talk explains Luna’s ecliptic orbit around Earth, the lunar prime meridian and antimeridian, libration, and the selenographic coordinate system.  Using the VMA, the presenter pictorially displays the location of several key impact craters on the four quadrants of Luna’s Near Side and the four quadrants of its Far Side, along with significant sites near the lunar South Pole.  He makes special mention of historically noteworthy lunar-related events that China and India recently achieved.  To close his presentation, Dr. Max also touches upon Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s rocket equation, focusing in particular on its implications for lunar exploration.