Van Serg

{{Short description|Crater on the Moon}}

{{Infobox Lunar crater

| image = Van Serg crater location AS17-151-23251.jpg

| caption = 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

| coordinates = {{coord|20.23|N|30.83|E|globe:moon_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| diameter = 100 m[http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6315 Van Serg], Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)

| depth =

| colong =

| eponym = Nicholas Vanserg (pen name of Hugh McKinstry)

}}

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.

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.

File:Van Serg crater AS17-142-21800-03-05-07-09-11.jpg at right. North Massif is on the horizon.]]

File:A17 PSR Figure 6-123 Station 9.gif

Image:Van Serg crater AS17-P-2750 ASU.jpg

File:Lunar sample 79135 photo S73-15443.jpg

Name

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".[https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/a17.site.html The Valley of Taurus–Littrow], Apollo 17 Lunar Surface Journal, Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright 1995 by Eric M. Jones In fact, McKinstry's pseudonym was Nicholas Vanserg.Vanserg, Nicholas. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27827101?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents "Mathmanship."] American Scientist, vol. 46, no. 2, 1958, pp. 94A–98A. JSTOR.{{cite book|author=William A. S. Sarjeant|title=Geologists and the history of geology: an international bibliography from the origins to 1978|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lbZFAAAAYAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-333-29393-5|page=1689}}

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.{{cite web| url = http://harvardmagazine.com/1997/03/pump.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100116035744/http://harvardmagazine.com/1997/03/pump.html| archive-date = 2010-01-16| title = The College Pump - Naming Names}} ({{As of|2025}}, his wooden building still exists.[https://harvardplanning.emuseum.com/sites/334/vanserg-building Vanserg building]) A slightly different list of tenants reported is "Veterans Administration, Naval Science, Electronic Research, and Graduate School".[https://books.google.com/books?id=hxpvsfxjfMAC&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144 p. 144]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.[https://books.google.com/books?id=ehCoRf6JRlkC&pg=RA51-PA1]

Samples

The following samples were collected from Van Serg crater (Station 9), as listed in Table 7-I of the Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report.Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report (NASA Special Publication 330). Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. 1973. 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.

border="1"

| Sample

In Situ PhotoRock TypeLithologyPhoto
79002/01 (Double drive tube)50pxRegolithRegolith[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79002.pdf 79002/01]-
7903550pxDark matrix brecciaSoil Breccia[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79035.pdf 79035]-
7911550px50pxDark matrix brecciaRegolith Breccia[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79135.pdf 79115/79135]-
7912550pxDark matrix brecciaMicrobreccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79125.pdf 79125]-
7913550px50pxDark matrix brecciaRegolith Breccia[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79135.pdf 79115/79135]50px
79155-Coarse basaltShocked Basalt[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79155.pdf 79155]-
7917550pxAgglutinateRegolith Breccia[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79175.pdf 79175]-
7919550pxDark matrix brecciaRegolith Breccia[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79195.pdf 79195]-
7921550pxBrecciated troctoliteFeldspathic Granulitic Impactite[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79215.pdf 79215]-
7922550pxFriable dark matrix brecciaFriable Microbreccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79225.pdf 79225]-
7922650pxFriable dark matrix brecciaFriable Microbreccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79226.pdf 79226]-
79227 and 7922850pxFriable clodsClod[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79227_79228.pdf 79227/79228]-
7924550pxCrystallineHigh Grade Metaclastic[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79245.pdf 79245]-
7926550pxFine basaltHigh-Ti Mare Basalt[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79265.pdf 79265]-
7951550pxMedium basaltIlmenite Basalt[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79515.pdf 79515]-
7951650pxFine basaltVitrophyric Ilmenite Basalt[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/compendium/79516.pdf 79516]-
7951750pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79517.pdf 79517]-
7951850pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79518.pdf 797518]-
7951950pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79519.pdf 79519]-
7952550pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79525.pdf 79525]-
7952650pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79526.pdf 79526]-
7952750pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79527.pdf 79527]-
7952850pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79528.pdf 79528]-
7952950pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79529.pdf 79529]-
7953550pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79535.pdf 79535]-
7953650pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79536.pdf 79536]-
7953750pxDark matrix brecciaDark Matrix Breccia[https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/apollo17/v3/79537.pdf 79537]-

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References

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