Their works from 1645 to 1651 also introduced names for lunar features. The craters named Langrenus, Hevelius, and Riccioli honor three pioneering lunar cartographers. By observing these lunatics’ craters you can track the highpoints of telescopic lunar exploration. Here, then, are a few of the nearly two dozen craters named for passionate lunar mappers whom I particularly like because of the stories associated with them.

Rather, I reason that anyone who drew a detailed map of the Moon must have spent years observing it - and thus qualifies. So whom do I consider a lunatic? Many scholars, from Lucretius in ancient Greece to Galileo and Newton, considered the Moon in their studies - but it was not the major part of their life’s work. In this sense I think of the Moon itself as a kind of planetary pantheon - the Lunar Hall of Fame - and although its opening hours are variable throughout the month, admission is free. We commemorate their work by assigning their names to lunar craters. The word lunatic comes from Latin, meaning “moonstruck.” In that context it applies to many of the observers who have devoted intense effort to studying the Moon. Labels identify the famously obsessed mappers in the author's Lunar Hall of Fame Beginning in 1645, obsessed observers drew maps of the Moon's face in ever-greater detail.

Lunark name