19th century illustration of the Moon's Copernicus crater, 'one of the largest annular mountains of the Moon, near the Carpathians'. The interpretatio

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19th century illustration of the Moon's Copernicus crater, 'one of the largest annular mountains of the Moon, near the Carpathians'. The interpretation of these lunar features was very different to our present understanding; then they were regarded as volcanic in origin. 'All the crust of our satellite is pierced by craters which indicate an innumerable series of volcanic eruptions.' Evidence collected during the Apollo Project and from unmanned spacecraft of the same period proved conclusively that meteoric impact, or impact by asteroids for larger craters, was the origin of almost all lunar craters, and by implication, most craters on other bodies as well. From an illustration by J Nasmyth, reproduced in 'The Heavens' by Amedee Guillemin, Publ. Richard Bentley, 1878.

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Size: 5189px × 5255px
Photo credit: © DAVID PARKER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: annular, apollo, asteroid, crust, eruptions, heavens, impact, lunar, meteoric, meteorite, moon, mountains, project, satellite, space, spacecraft, unmanned, volcanic, volcano