Those who explore the highways and byways of selenography (read: lunar map making and the nomenclature of the moon's surface formations) know that this hobby has many unexpected twists and surprises.
Somewhere, I can't remember if it was online or in a magazine or book, I discovered the name Granollachs for a crater on the moon's near side. That crater turn'd out to be the inconspicuous looking Gauricus A at 13°30' West / 35°30' South, just southwest of Gauricus itself. Now I hear you thinking: OH YES, GAURICUS; THE CRATER JUST EASTWARD OF WURZELBAUER !!! (I wish it was true). Now, that enigmatic name Granollachs was incorporated in an alphabetic list of the 100-and-more additional names from Wilkins, Paluzie, Moore, Mee, McDonald, Arthur, Cameron, Hoag, Adams, and Nicholson (see also page 230 in Ewen A. Whitaker's book Mapping and Naming the Moon, a history of lunar cartography and nomenclature (1999). In Whitaker's book however, all 100-and-more of these additional names are indeed mentioned... but... sans Granollachs. Mystery! Who or what was Granollachs?
Another mystery is the absence of the name Ataturk (Romer A) in Whitaker's book, although Ataturk was also one of Wilkins's new names, mentioned in his own book THE MOON (which is a goldmine for those who want to know the origin of the bunch of odd non-I.A.U. names on the Swiss Hallwag map of the moon, made by Hans Schwarzenbach).
Now, those of you who could tell me more about the name Granollachs... well.. without really knowing it or without realizing it, you are at the threshold of a wonderful new hobby! (if you don't know what to do because of cloudy nocturnal skies... and your telescope with attached digital photographic apparatus is off duty... there's always the wonder of moon atlases, lunar charts, moonglobes, and alphabetic gazetteers of named lunar formations!).
Danny Moon
Somewhere, I can't remember if it was online or in a magazine or book, I discovered the name Granollachs for a crater on the moon's near side. That crater turn'd out to be the inconspicuous looking Gauricus A at 13°30' West / 35°30' South, just southwest of Gauricus itself. Now I hear you thinking: OH YES, GAURICUS; THE CRATER JUST EASTWARD OF WURZELBAUER !!! (I wish it was true). Now, that enigmatic name Granollachs was incorporated in an alphabetic list of the 100-and-more additional names from Wilkins, Paluzie, Moore, Mee, McDonald, Arthur, Cameron, Hoag, Adams, and Nicholson (see also page 230 in Ewen A. Whitaker's book Mapping and Naming the Moon, a history of lunar cartography and nomenclature (1999). In Whitaker's book however, all 100-and-more of these additional names are indeed mentioned... but... sans Granollachs. Mystery! Who or what was Granollachs?
Another mystery is the absence of the name Ataturk (Romer A) in Whitaker's book, although Ataturk was also one of Wilkins's new names, mentioned in his own book THE MOON (which is a goldmine for those who want to know the origin of the bunch of odd non-I.A.U. names on the Swiss Hallwag map of the moon, made by Hans Schwarzenbach).
Now, those of you who could tell me more about the name Granollachs... well.. without really knowing it or without realizing it, you are at the threshold of a wonderful new hobby! (if you don't know what to do because of cloudy nocturnal skies... and your telescope with attached digital photographic apparatus is off duty... there's always the wonder of moon atlases, lunar charts, moonglobes, and alphabetic gazetteers of named lunar formations!).
Danny Moon
