La storia sulla Luna

Abstract

Over the time, the lunar nomenclature presented by Giambattista Riccioli (1598-1671) in his "Almagestum novum", in the mid-seventeenth century, outperformed contemporary proposals, such as the one developed by Michael Florent van Langren (1600-1675) or the even more famous "Selenographia" by Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687). His idea of associating the various lunar spots with the names of famous astronomers of ancient and contemporary times was successful, so much so that in 1932 the International Astronomical Union chose it as the starting point for the modern nomenclature of the Moon. But which savants did Riccioli place on the Moon, and what could they tell us about the historical and astronomical culture of the 17th century? This is the subject of this work.