Mont Blanc
Lunar Orbiter 4 image
Highest point
Elevation3.7–3.8 km
ListingLunar mountains
Coordinates45°25′N 0°26′E / 45.41°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

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°29′N 0°25′E / 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]

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. 1 2 Altimetric data of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, obtained via JMARS software
  2. 1 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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