The Names of the Moon
Official USGS/IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, crater namesake biographies, historical approval eras, and cataloged maria, montes, and rimae.
NOMENCLATURA · GUIDED GAZETTEER READING
A name is a claim on the map.
Follow a lunar feature from physical form to namesake to the moment it becomes part of a shared planetary vocabulary.
01 · SELENOGRAPHIC FEATURE
A name begins with a shape.
A crater, mare, rima, or mountain enters the gazetteer as a physical feature first. Coordinates and morphology keep the story attached to the surface.
Namesake record
Nicolaus Copernicus
The 'Monarch of the Moon'—a prominent impact crater located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum, with a terraced wall and an extensive bright ray system.
The selected feature drives the coordinate, morphology, approval trace, and namesake record.
The Names of the Moon: USGS / IAU Nomenclature Graph
Who gets commemorated on the Moon? Analyzing 400 years of lunar naming politics from Riccioli (1651) to modern IAU dockets.
Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), Polish astronomer who formulated heliocentric cosmology.
The 'Monarch of the Moon'—a prominent impact crater located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum, with a terraced wall and an extensive bright ray system.