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Review: Photographic Atlas of the Moon-A Comprehensive Guide for the Amateur Astronomer by Robert Reeves
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Photographic Atlas of the Moon-A Comprehensive Guide for the Amateur Astronomer by Robert Reeves.
ISBN 9780228104988
Reviewed by David Teske
Introduction
I am a collector and reader of all things lunar, and have been for many years. As such, I have read just about every lunar atlas that I can get my hands on, cover to cover. The latest book in this list is the Phoographic Atlas of the Moon-A Comprehensive Guide for the Amateur Astronomer by Robert Reeves. In short, this is a wonderful, well written, well-illustrated book for students of the Moon, whether beginners or seasoned observers. Reeves is a well-known lunar imager, and his images are spectacular in this volume. His descriptions of lunar features are interesting and very informative. Any lunar observer is sure to learn more about the features of the Moon. Please note, this book has wonderful illustrations, images and text about the Moon. It is not, however, the book that you would take outside to identify lunar features. That task would be done much better by the Rükl Atlas of the Moon or the Duplex Moon Atlas by Ronald Stoyan. These two atlases have great labeled lunar maps and images, but do not have the discussion of lunar features as does the Reeves book.
Book Features
The Photographic Atlas of the Moon is a hardbound book, 10.25 x 10.25 inches in size, with 288 pages. I am really impressed that the publisher, Firefly, used heavy paper with a nice matte finish for this book. This really helps the images pop out.
Book Content
The table of contents lists the following:
The Introduction consists of:
Chapter 1 The Creation of the Moon
Chapter 2 The Face of the Moon
Chapter 3 The Language and Science of the Moon
Chapter 4 The Moon’s Orbit
Chapter 5 The Lunar Seas
Chapter 6 The Lunar Craters
Most of the book is the Atlas of The Moon with sections such as “Exploring the Waxing Gibbous Moon”.
A fun additional section of the atlas is Nicknamed Features of the Moon, which consists of 20 lunar features that you have heard of (the Straight Wall) and others you may not have heard of (the Heart of the Moon or the Steppingstones).
The book concludes with Additional Resources for the Moon Observer. If there is a second edition of this Atlas, I would recommend that this section be more comprehensive.
Illustrations
The Atlas is profusely illustrated with very nice, large, color, full-page illustrations demonstrating the concept that Reeves is trying to explain. No black and white line drawings are in this Atlas! Reeves reports that he developed the illustrations and graphic artists at Firefly made the illustrations. I am really impressed by the quality of these drawings. Please refer to the images of illustrations below.
Page 17 Lunar Directions
Page 26 Libration in longitude
Page 34 The Moon’s wandering orbit
Page 63 The Atlas of the Moon
Page 268 Nicknamed Features of the Moon
The lunar images are all taken by Reeves using his armada of telescopes, which were Celestron 8 and 11-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, a 7-inch Maksutov-Cassegrain and a 20-inch Dobsonian reflector telescope. Reeves lunar imaging is well known, as it frequently appears in Amateur Astronomy, Sky and Telescope and Astronomy, Deep Sky and The Lunar Observer magazines. All of the images that Reeves showcases in his Atlas are very sharp, detailed and illustrate his descriptions well. A sampling of the lunar images of Reeves is below.
Page 169 Rupes Recta
Page 174-175 Plato
Page 23 Robert Reeves
Samples
As I read prose about lunar features frequently, I must say the writing in the Atlas almost sound like Reeves is next to me telling me about the lunar features as I am looking through his telescope. A few samples are below:
From page 173 The Plato, Alpine Valley and Cassini Region
“When it was initially suspected that massive asteroid impacts created the basins and craters on the Moon, it was thought that the Alpine Valley was ripped open by huge chunks of debris heaved up by an asteroid impact. Today, it is recognized that the creation of the Alpine Valley was more benign. The valley is a graben, a geological feature created by the slumping of land between two fault lines. The Alpine Valley is 155 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide. The floor of the valley descends 800 meters from the surrounding hilly terrain. Most of the channel forming the Alpine Valley lies 2,700 meters below mean lunar elevation and the valley superficially appears to connect Mare Imbrium with Mare Frigoris. The western end of the valley funnels down to a gorge 200 meters wide that opens onto a delta leading to Mare Imbrium. The narrow channel is bounded by a northern massif that rises 1.8 kilometers while the southern massif rises 2.5 kilometers above the plains of Mare Imbrium, both collectively known by the unofficial name of “the Guardians.” To me, they look like massive ancient Egyptian monuments guarding the path to the pharaoh’s paradise.”
From page 260, The Grimaldi Region
“Giovanni Riccioli named Grimaldi in 1651 after Francesco Grimaldi, a fellow Jesuit and partner in Riccioli’s 17th-century lunar mapping efforts. Riccioli didn’t leave himself off the lunar map. He affixed his name to the 155-kilometer-wide crater northwest of Grimaldi, so that the lunar partners would remain together. Riccioli is a floor-fractured crater with the channels of Rimae Riccioli crisscrossing the southern half, while the northern interior is flooded with dark basalt.”
From page 264 Mare Orientale
“The reason the Eastern Sea lies on the Moon’s western limb is that prior to 1961, the east and west cardinal points on the Moon were reversed. The eastern limb was the side appearing closest to Earth’s eastern horizon as the Moon rose, as seen from the northern hemisphere. When it was realized that the Moon was a target soon to be explored by rocket probes and astronauts, it was decreed that lunar maps would mimic terrestrial maps, with west on the left. Thus, the Eastern Sea found itself on the western limb.”
Conclusion
If the Moon is the subject of your astronomical observing program, whether as a beginner or seasoned observer, Robert Reeves Photographic Atlas of the Moon seems to me as a must-have resource. Way back when I started my lunar explorations, I wish that this book had been around. Luckily for the lunar observer of the mid 2020s, there are a good number of fine lunar observing books to choose from. This one should be at the top of that list.
David Teske
Coordinator, Lunar Topographic Section
Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
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2 Comments
A great review, David... thank you for posting!
My one complaint about this book is that almost every photo is overly-sharpened and displays tons of sharpening artifacts that aren't really there.
That really spoiled the book for me.
But, as mentioned in the review, this is not the book to take outside and keep in the lap to spot Moon features, it is a book to teach you about the Moon, and that it does fairly well.