Nicolaus Copernicus & Copernicus (lunar crater) - Warsaw, Poland
Posted by: vraatja
N 52° 14.293 E 021° 01.077
34U E 501225 N 5787534
Bronze statue of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus in front of the Staszic Palace in Warsaw and lunar crater named after him located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon.
Waymark Code: WMTT5H
Location: Mazowieckie, Poland
Date Posted: 01/05/2017
Views: 9
The over-life-size bronze statue of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus holding a compass and armillary sphere was designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen in 1822 and erected in 1828–30. It was funded by public donations and by the scientist and philosopher Stanislaw Staszic. The unveiling ceremony, presided over by Tadeusz Kosciuszko's former comrade-in-arms, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz. Polish clergy refused to attend the ceremonies as his book had been condemned by the Holy Office in 1616.
The east face of the marble pedestal bears the Latin inscription, "Nicolo Copernico Grata Patria" (i.e."To Nicolaus Copernicus [from a] Grateful Nation"), and the west face there is a Polish one —"Mikolajowi Kopernikowi Rodacy" ("To Mikolaj Kopernik [from his] compatriots").
In 1944, after the Warsaw Uprising, in which the monument was damaged, the Germans decided to melt it down. They removed it to Nysa, but had to retreat before they could melt it down. The Poles brought the monument back to Warsaw on 22 July 1945, renovated it, and unveiled it again on 22 July 1949.
In 2007 a bronze representation of Copernicus' solar system, modelled after an image in his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, was placed on the square before the monument. In July 2008 the statue was vandalized, but the stolen parts were soon recovered.
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Copernicus (lunar crater)
Copernicus, one of the most prominent craters on the Moon. It constitutes a classic example of a relatively young, well-preserved lunar impact crater. Located at 10° N, 20° W, near the southern rim of the Imbrium Basin (Mare Imbrium) impact structure, Copernicus measures 93 km (58 miles) in diameter and is a source of radial bright rays, light-coloured streaks on the lunar surface formed of material ejected by the impact. Photographs of the crater taken from spacecraft above the Moon show terraced slumps on the crater walls that resemble giant stairs leading to the floor, 3.8 km (2.4 miles) below the rim crest. Peaked mountains rise from the centre of the crater to a height of 800 metres (2,600 feet); they probably were formed as a result of a rebound of deep-seated rocks at the site of impact. Lunar scientists estimated that Copernicus was created less than one billion years ago.
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