Montes Taurus is a rugged, jumbled mountainous region on the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
. It is located to the east of the
Mare Serenitatis
Mare Serenitatis (Latin ''serēnitātis'', the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is .
Geology
Mare Serenitatis is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the Nectarian epo ...
, in the northeastern quadrant of the Moon's near side.
Coordinates
In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...
of their center are , and their extent is about 170 km.
[
Montes Taurus are rather unimpressive and indistinct compared to other named lunar mountain systems.][ It is a broad hilly region without sharp borders. These mountains reach maximal height between craters Kirchhoff and Newcomb (4.9 km above Mare Serenitatis and 2.1 km above mean level of lunar surface).][
A number of craters lie embedded within this range. At the southwestern edge of the region is the crater ]Römer
The Römer (German surname, "Roman") is a medieval building in the Altstadt of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and one of the city's most important landmarks. The Römer is located opposite the Old St. Nicholas church and has been the city hall (' ...
, and Newcomb is located in the northeastern section. Several satellite craters also lie throughout the Montes Taurus. Southwestern edge of this region hosts Taurus–Littrow valley, the landing site of the manned Apollo 17
Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walke ...
mission.
Name
The Montes Taurus are named after Taurus Mountains
The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğird ...
in southern Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
. This name appeared on the lunar map due to Johannes Hevelius
Johannes Hevelius
Some sources refer to Hevelius as Polish:
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Some sources refer to Hevelius as German:
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*of the Royal Society
* (in German also known as ''Hevel''; pl, Jan Heweliusz; – 28 January 1687) was a councillor ...
, who used to name lunar features after terrestrial ones. But he assigned this name (in the form ''Mons Taurus'') to a completely different feature — one of bright rays of crater Tycho. The item of this article was designated as ''Taurica Chersonnesus'', because Hevelius tried to establish a correspondence between lunar regions and regions of vicinity of Mediterranean sea, and on his map this lunar region corresponded to Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
(historically known as Tauris or Tauric Chersonese
The recorded history of the Crimean Peninsula, historically known as ''Tauris'', ''Taurica'' ( gr, Ταυρική or Ταυρικά), and the ''Tauric Chersonese'' ( gr, Χερσόνησος Ταυρική, "Tauric Peninsula"), begins around the ...
).[ Later lunar cartographers began to call it ''Montes Taurus'', and in 1935 this name was adopted by ]International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
.[
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References
Taurus, Montes
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