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Van Serg (crater)

Van Serg is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in Taurus–Littrow valley. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited it in 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission, during EVA 3. Van Serg was designated Geology Station 9.

Van Serg
Location of Van Serg crater in Taurus–Littrow valley. South Massif is at lower left, North Massif is at top center, and Sculptured Hills are at upper right. Scale bar is 5 km
Coordinates20°14′N 30°50′E / 20.23°N 30.83°E / 20.23; 30.83
Diameter100 m[1]
EponymNicholas Vanserg (pen name of Hugh McKinstry)

To the northwest is Shakespeare and to the northeast are Cochise and Geology Station 8 at the base of the Sculptured Hills. To the south is Sherlock, and to the southwest are the Apollo 17 landing site and the large crater Camelot.

View of Van Serg with Eugene Cernan at right. North Massif is on the horizon.
Planimetric map of Station 9 including the rim of Van Serg.
Apollo 17 panoramic camera image.
Dark matrix breccia from Van Serg cratering ejecta (sample 79135). Although this material is coherent enough to maintain fractures that produce small plates and wedges, the fragments are quite friable and break from the specimen during handling. Note the various light-gray clasts, some of which are feldspathic breccias. (NASA caption)

Name

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The crater was named by the astronauts after Harvard University geology professor Hugh McKinstry, who, according to their explanation, sometimes wrote satire under the pseudonym "Nicholas Van Serg".[2] In fact, McKinstry's pseudonym was Nicholas Vanserg.[3][4]

Songwriter, humorist and academic Tom Lehrer, who attended and taught at Harvard, suggested that McKinstry's pseudonym was inspired by the name of the Vanserg Building at Harvard, which is an acronym of its original tenants: Veterans Administration, Naval Science, Electronic Research, and Graduate dining hall. Since it was a temporary building, it never got a "real" name. (This wooden building still exists.)[5] A slightly different list of tenants reported is "Veterans Administration, Naval Science, Electronic Research, and Graduate School".[6][7]

Samples

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The following samples were collected from Van Serg crater (Station 9), as listed in Table 7-I of the Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report.[8] The "Rock Type" is from the table, and the "Lithology" is from the Lunar Sample Compendium of the Lunar and Planetary Institute or NASA's Lunar Sample Catalog.

Sample In Situ Photo Rock Type Lithology Photo
79002/01 (Double drive tube)   Regolith Regolith[9] -
79035   Dark matrix breccia Soil Breccia[10] -
79115   Dark matrix breccia Regolith Breccia[11] -
79125   Dark matrix breccia Microbreccia[12] -
79135   Dark matrix breccia Regolith Breccia[13]  
79155 - Coarse basalt Shocked Basalt[14] -
79175   Agglutinate Regolith Breccia[15] -
79195   Dark matrix breccia Regolith Breccia[16] -
79215   Brecciated troctolite Feldspathic Granulitic Impactite[17] -
79225   Friable dark matrix breccia Friable Microbreccia[18] -
79226   Friable dark matrix breccia Friable Microbreccia[19] -
79227 and 79228   Friable clods Clod[20] -
79245   Crystalline High Grade Metaclastic[21] -
79265   Fine basalt High-Ti Mare Basalt[22] -
79515   Medium basalt Ilmenite Basalt[23] -
79516   Fine basalt Vitrophyric Ilmenite Basalt[24] -
79517   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[25] -
79518   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[26] -
79519   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[27] -
79525   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[28] -
79526   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[29] -
79527   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[30] -
79528   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[31] -
79529   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[32] -
79535   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[33] -
79536   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[34] -
79537   Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[35] -

References

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  1. ^ Van Serg, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
  2. ^ The Valley of Taurus–Littrow, Apollo 17 Lunar Surface Journal, Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright 1995 by Eric M. Jones
  3. ^ Vanserg, Nicholas. "Mathmanship." American Scientist, vol. 46, no. 2, 1958, pp. 94A–98A. JSTOR.
  4. ^ William A. S. Sarjeant (1980). Geologists and the history of geology: an international bibliography from the origins to 1978. Macmillan. p. 1689. ISBN 978-0-333-29393-5.
  5. ^ "The College Pump - Naming Names". Archived from the original on 2010-01-16.
  6. ^ p. 144
  7. ^ Note: The full name for VA was "Veterans' Administration Guidance Center", where "Veterans' Administration" refers to the United States Veterans' Administration now known as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. These centers were established after WWII in all major educational institutions.[1]
  8. ^ Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report (NASA Special Publication 330). Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. 1973.
  9. ^ 79002/01
  10. ^ 79035
  11. ^ 79115/79135
  12. ^ 79125
  13. ^ 79115/79135
  14. ^ 79155
  15. ^ 79175
  16. ^ 79195
  17. ^ 79215
  18. ^ 79225
  19. ^ 79226
  20. ^ 79227/79228
  21. ^ 79245
  22. ^ 79265
  23. ^ 79515
  24. ^ 79516
  25. ^ 79517
  26. ^ 797518
  27. ^ 79519
  28. ^ 79525
  29. ^ 79526
  30. ^ 79527
  31. ^ 79528
  32. ^ 79529
  33. ^ 79535
  34. ^ 79536
  35. ^ 79537
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