The Clementine Atlas of the Moon (Hardcover)

~ Ben Bussey (Author), Paul D. Spudis (Author) "Earth's Moon is mankind's first offshore island in space, an exotic world with its own unique properties..." (more)
Key Phrases: host crater, satellitic craters, satellite craters, Lunar Prospector, South Pole-Aitken, Fra Mauro (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...an exceptionally useful volume...it is highly recommended to lunar scientists and advanced amateur astronomers." M.-K. Hemenay, University of Texas at Austin, Choice

"...the Clementine Atlas has quickly become one of the lunar references that I use the most. It's the most convenient and accurate resource for identifying names features. It's also a great research tool." Sky & Telescope, Charles A. Wood

"This is the first atlas to show the entire lunar surface in uniform scale and format." Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Product Description

The highly successful Clementine mission to the Moon in 1994 gave scientists their first global look at the Moon, and both the near and far side were mapped. This atlas is based on the data collected by the Clementine mission. It covers the entire Moon in 144 Lunar Aeronautical Charts (LACs), and represents the most complete lunar nomenclature database in existence, listing virtually all named craters and other features. This is the first atlas to show the entire lunar surface in uniform scale and format. A section of color plates shows lunar composition and physical properties.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521815282
• ISBN-13: 978-0521815284
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #678,918 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic resource for lunar enthusiasts, May 26, 2004

By A Customer

This book represents a groundbreaking and unique resource for both professional and amateur lunar enthusiasts. The first section of the book consists of a concise, yet comprehensive review of lunar exploration and lunar science. The authors bring many years of experience to bear on a subject in which they are clearly well versed and highly knowledgable.
The main section of the book represents the first global atlas of the Moon covering both the near and the far sides, and as such is an unique and unprecendented resource. The Clementine images have been reproduced at a high quality and the use of annotated shaded relief maps ensures an unobscured view of the Clementine mosaics.
Finally, the atlas contains the most complete gazeteer of lunar features ever produced.
I have to disagree with the other reviewer's comments about the book. The book was clearly never intended to primarily be a general interest book about lunar exploration (many excellent books on this subjects already exist). Instead it is intended to be an atlas of use to both professional researchers and amateur astronomers (and would no doubt be an interesting addition to any coffee table), and it fills this role admirably.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a serious lunar atlas for us, January 9, 2007

By	B. Pohnan (IL, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are looking for a book with a lot of pretty pictures of the lunar surface, take a big pass on The Clementine Atlas of the Moon.

If, however, you are looking for a professional lunar atlas utilizing spacecraft photos, this is your book. The images shown on the pages of The Clementine Atlas of the Moon are reproduced at the same scale and under nearly identical lighting conditions. This alone provides a consistency that has been sorely lacking in lunar atlases made from photographs taken by other NASA spacecraft.

The main part of the atlas features 144 plates made from images taken at the 750nm wavelength by the Clementine spacecraft launched in 1994. Plates generally correspond to the LAC (Lunar Aeronautical Chart) system of the early 1960s. The plates, each with a two degree by two degree grid overlay, are on even number pages. A small inset map of the front and near side is at the upper left-hand corner of each plate and shows its location on the lunar surface. Corresponding maps annotated with the names of various prominent features are on the facing odd number pages. Each map also has a grid and indicates the plate numbers to the north, south, east and west. The atlas must be turned ninety degrees to the right for use and north is always on top (or "up"). At the lunar equator a plate is 20 degrees wide in longitude and 16 degrees height in latitude and physically measures 23 cm by 18.5 cm. The entire moon is covered.

Image quality is very good, but the plates themselves are somewhat bland due to the fact that the lighting is overhead, or at lunar noon. Nonetheless, there was not a single feature for which I searched that I could not find. The somewhat generous plate scale, about 1.1 cm per degree at the equator, and grid makes finding lunar features fairly straightforward if you are armed only with a set of coordinates.

The front part of the book, about 40 pages, describes modern lunar exploration, the Clementine mission itself, and the atlas. This section ends with maps of the near and far sides that are overlaid with the LAC system of chart numbers to provide a quick guide reference guide. The back portion of the atlas offers a 25-page gazetteer which keys in names of lunar features to coordinates and atlas plate numbers. I found only one discrepancy in the gazetteer for features I needed to find. The crater Leakey is shown to be on plate 79, but was not indicated on its corresponding annotated map.

I did find it curious that the six Apollo landing site are designated on the appropriate plates, but Ranger, Surveyor, Luna and Lunokhod landing sites are not. Perhaps "boots on the ground" was the criteria for inclusion. This, however, is nitpicking as The Clementine Atlas of the Moon should be an essential part of any serious student-of-the-moon's library, whether that person is an amateur or professional.

4.0 out of 5 stars The best yet!, July 20, 2004

By A Customer

The Clementine Lunar Atlas of the Moon, by Bussey & Spudis, provides a wealth of information on basic lunar facts, history, and exploration (part 1), and is the best global compilation of lunar geography and imagery in one book to date (part 2). The remarks of the Italian reviewer concerning the figures in part 1 are overstated. One of the figures is blurred, however, none of the figures appear as badly scanned from another book and carelessly pasted in the text. In addition, the criticism about the pixel size of some of the global remotely sensed element maps is unwarranted. The reader is observing the data at the resolution Lunar Prospector acquired it (~60 km per pixel). There just isn't anything that can be done about it except go back to the Moon and acquire better, higher resolution measurements.

The atlas fills an important niche in my collection. A reference guide to finding any crater named in any article I am reading, and getting a good first-order understanding of the crater's local geography. The quantity of craters named (using the Madler system), the extent of coverage (both the far side and near side of the Moon), and the comparable (Nadir) viewing geometry of all the images makes this atlas a must have for lunar scientists, gradstudents, and amateur astronomers alike.