Sky & Telescope - October 2019 - 53

A second, lesser-known cross is
visible at full Moon when the ﬂoor
of 41-km-wide Plinius is crossed by
a broad X of bright material, with the
central peak of the crater providing a
bright central spot. And just west of
Rima Hyginus and north of Ukert is
the rarely seen Lunar V. This unofﬁcial
feature is harder to notice under sunrise
conditions than the similar-sized Lunar
X due to it being the southern rim of a
crater that was nearly buried during the
period of surging Imbrium ejecta 3.8
billion years ago.
What about other letters in the English alphabet? There are 24 additional
letters for which pareidolic examples are
rarely mentioned. The letter C is recognizable at sunrise for Plato, Archimedes, and many other large and small
craters when sunlight reﬂects brightly
from their western interior rims while
the rest of the crater is in deep shadow.
Many, many small craters on the maria
each make a perfect O at full Moon;
Bessel is an excellent example.
Probably there are some lunar Is and
maybe even a B, D, L, or T, but frankly
I am not very interested in them or the
Xs, Vs, Cs, and Os. Examples of pareidolia tell us very little geologically and are
nothing more than accidents of topography and illumination. But admittedly such standouts are a pleasure to
stumble upon unexpectedly, at least for

When viewed with north to
the right, crater C. Mayer D
bears a striking resemblance
to the shape of Brazil.

observers who use the Latin-derived
alphabets common to Western Europe
and its former colonies. I wonder if
X is as satisfying for observers whose
language is written in entirely different
scripts or characters?
There are a few instances of pareidolia that do bring geologic pleasure. For
example, the Valentine Dome near
the crater Linné is a volcanic structure
appearing nearly ﬂat and crossed by a
rille that's often quite challenging to
observe. And at least one other example

of pareidolia always causes me to smile.
Brazilian observer Ricardo Jose Vaz
Tolentino noticed that the foreshortened view (turned so that north is at
right) of the 65-km-wide lunar crater
C. Mayer D is an uncanny match of
the outline of Brazil - it even has a
crater at the location of Brasilia. Now
that's creative thinking!
¢ Contributing Editor CHUCK WOOD
often looks for Cassini's maiden when
observing the Moon.

q Giovanni Cassini saw the profile of a woman in the hills of Promontorium Heraclides when he drew his 1679 map of the Moon. You can spot her

CR ATER C. M AY ER D: N ASA / LUN A R RECONN AISSA NCE ORBITER; BR A ZIL
M
A P: K ELSE Y CHISA M ORE / THE NOUN PROJECT; M A P: GIOVA NNI CASSINI /
CREDIT
PUBLIC DO M AIN; PHOTO: SE A N WA LK ER / S&T

when observing Sinus Iridum just a day or two following first quarter. South is up in both images.

s k y a nsdktyeal ensdct oe p
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Sky & Telescope - October 2019

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