Limb huggers

Is Lavoisier the only lunar crater named for a scientist who faced the guillotine? The brilliant French chemist famed for his recognition that oxygen is a chemical element, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier was one of many nobles who lost their heads during the French Revolution. But the crater Lavoisier remains along the western limb of the Moon, ironically near von Braun, another noble who supported a deposed regime.

These two craters are so near the limb (about 80°W longitude) that they appear as and are both near 80°E longitude and are frequently targeted by observers. The latter two craters are twice as big as Lavoisier and von Braun, and are readily observed in early evenings, while the western limb craters are best seen from full Moon until almost new Moon, progressively later in the night and early in morning. But there are other possible explanations for the slight. Most observers may not realise how interesting these noble craters are and thus haven’t tried to find them.