Honouring Sir Patrick

Hi all

Three years ago I wrote an email to the IAU suggesting the name of a lunar feature after Sir Patrick, at the time I was told it required the person to be deceased for three years. Sir Patrick died on December 9 2012, more than three years ago. I sent another email to the IAU resurrecting the suggestion, I am waiting for a reply.

Here is the email I sent.

Good evening.

Sir Patrick Moore died on December 9 2012. Sir Patrick was an extraordinary man in the astronomical world, one of the greatest popularisers of astronomy to the public through his numerous books and his presentation of The Sky At Night programme from 1957 to 2013

Sir Patrick's great love was the moon, he was a skilled selenographer, his maps were so precise that they were used by both the Soviet Union for their Luna probes and NASA for their Apollo programme, as was acknowledged by both agencies. The Soviets allowed him to be the first westerner to view the images from Luna 3 to show the features on the dark side of the moon. He reported extensively on the Apollo missions from Mission Control.

It was claimed that he discovered the Mare Orientale, though he denied this and stated that Julius Heinrich Franz be given the honour.

It has been more than three years since his passing and I believe that Sir Patrick should be honoured with the naming of a lunar feature in his name, as he has been linked to the Mare Orientale it would be appropriate that a feature in this region should be chosen, preferably on the nearside so that he can look down on us all.

I hope that you take my suggestion into consideration as it would be fitting for a man who contributed to the exploration of the Moon.

Yours sincerely.

Paul Byrne

I have no idea what way the IAU operates, but I firmly believe that to deny Sir Patrick this recognition for all that he had done for the world of astronomy, and the moon in particular, would be an insult.

We shall see.

Paul

Paul,

There is a crater named 'Moore' that is registered with the IAU Lunar Commission.
It was formally known as Agatharchides A, and lies to the north west of Hippalus.
Sir Patrick Moore discovered it with a 6 inch refractor in 1949.
Then with the great 33 inch Meudon refractor, he then observed more details

Eamonn.

Thanks Eamonn, if Moore is taken then Caldwell should suffice.