Maritiem Digitaal
collectie zoeksyteem van de maritieme musea
geen titel
| titel | geen titel
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| inventarisnummer | GLB0140
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| collectie | Globes
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| museum | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
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| datum | 1797
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| omschrijving | Selenographia. This globe is comprised of a lunar sphere and a terrestrial sphere. On the lunar sphere, two great circles, the lunar equator, and the lunar prime meridian, are drawn, but these are not graduated. The craters, the seas and the mountains are delicately drawn but no nomenclature is provided. The main craters are marked by a cross. The terrestrial sphere bears a simple outline of the continents. Tasmania is still drawn as a peninsula. A total of five oceans are named.
The invention of the Selenographia is a unique event in the history of globe and instrument making and it is constructed in such a way as to reproduce the motion of the Moon, including wobbling with respect to the Earth. Only one side is illustrated, the other is blank, since we only ever see one side of the Moon from Earth.
John Russell spent 30 years perfecting his map of the Moon. Mapping the Moon became a serious focus of interest only after the invention of the telescope. An extra impetus, around the time this globe was made was the so-called 'extra-terrestrial life debate', where there was much serious consideration that there might be life on the Moon. Russell invented the Selenographia but he may not have actually made the globes himself. The Selenographia was offered for sale with various stands. For full details about the cartography and construction of this selenographia please refer to the related publication.
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| afmetingen | Overall: 504 x 340 x 453 mm; Sphere diameter: 300 mm
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