Set of original drawings of observations of the Littrow lunar region.
[Paris, March to May 1921].
Moon-gray and gilded wood frame (725 x 645 mm), drawing (145 x 130 mm) each.
Charming suite of seven drawings of Moon observations by astronomer and selenographer Maurice Darney (1882-1958).
The observations were made in the Latin Quarter, at the Astronomical Observatory in rue Serpente (Paris VI), which belonged to the Société Astronomique de France.
The drawings show the Littrow region observed under different conditions between March 15 and May 26, 1921. The eighth drawing is a reference to observations published in 1901 in the Atlas photographique de la Lune by Loewy and Puiseux. The ninth is a schematic map of the region.
This set of drawings was selected by the Observatory Commission of the Société Astronomique de France for inclusion in the International Astronomy Exhibition organized in Barcelona in 1921 by the Sociedad Astronomica de Espana y America (Exposició Internacional d'Astronomia i Ciències Afins) (1). The Moon-colored frame was made for the occasion by Bouchard in Nancy.
Maurice Darney could not have imagined that, some fifty years after his observations, two men from the Apollo 17 mission (1972) would land very close to his observation zone (Taurus-Littrow valley).
(1) L'Astronomie. vol. 35. 1921. Nouvelles de la Science, Variétés. p. 405.
2 800€
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