Linné (crater): Difference between revisions

In 1824 Wilhelm Lohrmann (1786-1840) of Dresden had drawn Linné as an 8&nbsp;km diameter crater in his acclaimed lunar atlas, and in 1837 [[Wilhelm Beer]] and [[Johann Heinrich Mädler]] had described Linne in ''Der Mond'' as a 10&nbsp;km crater.<ref>David Leverington, Babylon to Voyager and Beyond: A History of Planetary Astronomy, Cambridge University Press, 2003</ref> In 1866, the experienced lunar observer and mapmaker [[Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt]] made the surprising claim that Linné had changed its appearance. Instead of a normal, somewhat deep crater it had become a mere white patch. A controversy arose that continued for many decades. However, this crater size tests the limit of visual perception of Earth-based telescopes. In conditions of poor seeingvisibility this feature can appear to vanish from sight <ref>[http://www.astrosurf.com/lunascan/Linncont.htm "The Linne' crater {{sic|nolink=y|controversey}}", ''The Lunascan Project'']</ref> (see also [[transient lunar phenomenon]]).