Besson Rock (, ) is the rock off the northwest coast of
Nelson Island in the
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...
,
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
extending 45 m in southeast–northwest direction and 32 m in southwest–northeast direction. Its surface area is 0.09 ha. The vicinity was visited by early 19th century
sealers Sealer may refer either to a person or ship engaged in seal hunting, or to a sealant; associated terms include:
Seal hunting
* Sealer Hill, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
* Sealers' Oven, bread oven of mud and stone built by sealers around 1800 ...
.
[L. Ivanov]
General Geography and History of Livingston Island.
In: ''Bulgarian Antarctic Research: A Synthesis''. Eds. C. Pimpirev and N. Chipev. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2015. pp. 17–28
The feature is named after
Jacques Besson (ca 1540–1573), a French inventor and mathematician who created the
cosmolabe, an instrument to be used for navigation, surveying and cartography; in association with other names in the area deriving from the early development or use of
geodetic
Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the geometry, gravity, and spatial orientation of the Earth in temporally varying 3D. It is called planetary geodesy when studying other astronomical bodies, such as planets ...
instruments and methods.
Location
Besson Rock is located at ,
[Bulgarian Antarctic Gazetteer.]
Antarctic Place-names Commission which is 1.93 km north of
Smilets Point, 2.78 km northeast of
Folger Rock, 2.78 km southwest of
Withem Island and 2.27 km west by north of
Retamales Point. British mapping in 1968.
See also
*
List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands
This is a list of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands.
* Antarctic islands are, in the strict sense, the islands around mainland Antarctica, situated on the Antarctic Plate, and south of the Antarctic Convergence. According to the terms of the A ...
Maps
* Livingston Island to King George Island. Scale 1:200000. Admiralty Nautical Chart 1776. Taunton: UK Hydrographic Office, 1968.
South Shetland Islands.Scale 1:200000 topographic map No. 3373. DOS 610 - W 62 58. Tolworth, UK, 1968.
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated.
References
Bulgarian Antarctic Gazetteer.Antarctic Place-names Commission
The Antarctic Place-names Commission was established by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute in 1994, and since 2001 has been a body affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bulgaria), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria.
The Commis ...
. (details in Bulgarian
basic datain English)
External links
Besson Rock adjusted Copernix satellite image
Rock formations of the South Shetland Islands
Bulgaria and the Antarctic
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