Montes Rook is a ring-shaped mountain range that lies along the western limb of the
Moon, crossing over to the
far side
''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealis ...
. It completely encircles the
Mare Orientale, and forms part of a massive impact basin feature. This range in turn is encircled by the larger
Montes Cordillera
Montes Cordillera is a mountain range on the Moon. This feature forms the outer wall of peaks that surround the Mare Orientale impact basin, the inner ring being formed by the Montes Rook. The center of the range is located at selenographic coord ...
, which is separated from the Montes Rook by a rugged, ring-shaped plain.
The Montes Rook is actually a double-ring formation, sometimes divided into the outer Rook and the inner Rook, having respective diameters of 620 km and 480 km. The material excavated to form Montes Rook came from a
mafic layer below an anorthositic zone. Many of the peaks in this ring are composed of pure
anorthosite.
Sections of the gap between these sub-ranges contain long valleys filled in places with
basaltic
lava, forming small
lunar maria. One such section along the northeastern part of the range has been named
Lacus Veris.
The selenographic
coordinates of this range are 20.6° S, 82.5° W, and the diameter is 791 km. The range was named after the
English astronomer Lawrence Rooke
Lawrence Rooke (also Laurence) (1622–26 June 1662) was an English astronomer and mathematician. He was also one of the founders of the Royal Society, although he died as it was being formally constituted.
Life
He was born in Deptford, and ...
. Due to its location this range is viewed from the edge from
Earth, and not much detail can be seen. However a partial view of the range can be obtained by projecting an image of the range acquired from the Earth onto the surface of a white globe. This is how
William K. Hartmann and
Gerard Kuiper discovered the ring shape of Montes Rook in the early 1960s.
[Hartmann, W. K. and G. P. Kuiper, 1962. Concentric Structures Surrounding Lunar basins. ''Comm. Lunar and Planetary Lab.'', 1, 51-66.]
Several named craters are embedded within the Montes Rook. Near the southwest outer edge are the craters
Nicholson and
Pettit.
Kopff Kopff may refer to:
* 1631 Kopff, a main-belt asteroid
* Kopff (crater), a lunar crater
People with the surname
* August Kopff (1882–1960), German astronomer
* E. Christian Kopff
E. Christian Kopff (born 22 November 1946, Brooklyn, New York ...
lies along the eastern inner edge, and
Maunder on the northern inner side. Smaller craters include
Lallemand Lallemant is a French surname that may originate in the phrase "l’Allemand", meaning "the German." Variants of the name include: Laleman, Lalemand, Lalemant, Lalleman, L'allemand, and Lallemand.
It may refer to:
Persons
*Charles Lallemant (1587� ...
to the northeast,
Shuleykin to the south, and
Fryxell in the west. Out of sight from the
Earth, even during favorable
libration
In lunar astronomy, libration is the wagging or wavering of the Moon perceived by Earth-bound observers and caused by changes in their perspective. It permits an observer to see slightly different hemispheres of the surface at different tim ...
s, are the craters
Lowell to the northwest, and
Golitsyn to the west-southwest.
References
{{reflist
Rook, Montes