Montes Secchi (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "Secchi Mountains") is a minor range of

lunar Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...

mountains located near the northwestern edge of

Mare Fecunditatis Mare Fecunditatis (Latin ''fēcunditātis'', the "Sea of Fecundity" or "Sea of Fertility") is a lunar mare in the eastern half of the visible Moon. The mare has a maximum diameter of 840 km. __NOTOC__ Description The Fecunditatis basin forme ...

. This roughly linear formation of low ridges grazes the northwestern outer rim of the crater Secchi, the formation from which this range gained its name. This crater is named after

Angelo Secchi Angelo Secchi (; 28 June 1818 – 26 February 1878) was an Italians, Italian Priesthood in the Catholic Church, Catholic priest and astronomer from the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, Emilia. He was director of the observato ...

, a 19th-century

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

. The ridges trend from southwest to northeast. In the vicinity of Montes Secchi is

Mount Marilyn Mount Marilyn is a Moon, lunar mountain within the Montes Secchi, which separate Mare Fecunditatis to the east from Mare Tranquillitatis to the west. It was named at about the time of the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon in 1968 by astronaut Jim Lov ...

, a distinctly triangular mountain formation. It was named in 1968 by

Apollo 8 Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave Sphere of influence (astrodynamics), Earth's gravitational sphere of influence, and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times ...

astronaut

Jim Lovell James Arthur Lovell Jr. ( ; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the fi ...

, after his wife. The name was not approved by the IAU until July 26, 2017.Mount Marilyn
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, last updated Jul 26, 2017 2:07:24 PM Before its approval, it was known as Secchi Theta. The selenographic

coordinate In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine and standardize the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The coordinates are ...

s of the range midpoint are 2.4° N, 43.6° E, and they lie within a diameter of 50 km. This is smaller than the diameter of the crater Taruntius, located to the northeast of the mountains.

Gallery

Image:Montes Secchi as08-13-2342hr.jpg, Oblique view facing west from Apollo 8 File:Montes Secchi (LRO).png, LRO image of Montes Secchi

References

Secchi, Montes {{Moon-stub