#hortensius

To the north in this image is Mare Imbrium ("Sea of Showers"). Three lunar missions have landed here: the Soviet Luna 17 in 1970, the American Apollo 15 in 1971, and the Chinese Chang'e 3 in 2013. To the south in this image is Mare Insularum ("Sea of Islands").

Separating the two seas is the mountain range Montes Carpatus, named after the Carpathian Mountains in central and southeastern Europe.

There are many craters in this image. The largest one in the center is Copernicus crater named after Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), a Prussian astronomer who's book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium revolutionized modern thinking, placing the Sun at the center of the universe rather than the Earth.

In no particular order, the other craters are:

Lansberg crater, named after Flemish astronomer Johan Philip Lansberge (1561-1632) who published tables predicting planetary positions.

Reinhold crater, named for German astronomer Erasmus Reinhold (1511-1553) who produced a catalog of stars.

Hortensius crater, named for Dutch astronomer Maarten van den Hove (1605-1639) who developed a method for measuring the diameters of the planets from telescopic observations.

Fauth crater, named for German astronomer Philipp Johann Heinrich Fauth (1867-1941) who created detailed maps of the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Gambart crater, named for Jean-Félix Adolphe Gambart (1800-1836) who recorded observations of Jupiter's moons and discovered 13 comets.

Stadius crater, named for Flemish astronomer Jan van Ostaeyen (1527-1579) who published tables of planetary positions.

Eratosthenes crater, named for the ancient Greek astronomer Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276 - 195 BC) who was the first to calculate the Earth's circumference.

Gay-Lussac crater, named for the French physicist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) who was the person who discovered that water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.

Draper crater, named for the American astronomer Henry Draper (1837-1882) who was a pioneer of astrophotography.

Wallace crater, named for the English explorer Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) who independently discovered the theory of evolution and explored the Amazon.

Pytheas crater, named for the Greek geographer Pytheas of Massalia (c. 350 - 306 BC) who explored northern Europe in 325 BC.