Mont Blanc (Moon)

Mont Blanc is a mountain in the Montes Alpes range on the Moon. It is located on the western edge of the range, near the shore of Mare Imbrium, at 45.48°N 0.42°E / 45.48; 0.42. Its width is about 25 kilometers; the height is 3.7–3.8 km above adjacent plains of Mare Imbrium and 1.12 km above lunar level of zero elevation (a sphere with radius 1737.4 km).[1]

For other uses, see Mont Blanc (disambiguation).
Mont Blanc
Lunar Orbiter 4 image
Highest point
Elevation3.7–3.8 km
ListingLunar mountains
Coordinates45.41°N 0.44°E / 45.41; 0.44
Geography
Locationthe Moon
Location of Mont Blanc in lunar Alps
Location of Mont Blanc in lunar Alps
Location of Mont Blanc in lunar Alps

The name of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain of terrestrial Alps, was proposed for this mountain by Johann Hieronymus Schröter.[2] It was approved by International Astronomical Union in 1935.[2][3] It is the only summit of Montes Alpes with proper name and the only extraterrestrial mountain, whose international name contains French word "Mont" instead of Latin "Mons".[4]

Despite statements that lunar Mont Blanc, like terrestrial one, is a highest mountain of its Alps,[5] measurements of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show that it is only third, being 600 meters lower than the highest one and about 100 m lower than the second.[1]

References
  1. Altimetric data of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, obtained via JMARS software
  2. Blagg, M. A.; Müller, K.; Wesley, W. H.; Saunder, S. A.; Franz, J. (1935). Named Lunar Formations. London: P. Lund, Humphries & Co. Ltd. p. 37. Bibcode:1935nlf..book.....B. Archived from the original on 2015-04-17. (In the linked text — Blanc (Mt.), but in scanned original book — Mont Blanc).
  3. "Mont Blanc". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). 2010-10-18. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  4. According to Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature as for 2015
  5. Chu A.; Paech W.; Weigand M. (2012). "27 - Montes Alpes". The Cambridge Photographic Moon Atlas. Cambridge University Press. p. 94. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139095709.036. ISBN 9781107019737.


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