THE MOON as it never was.

The article discusses the work of 19th-century astronomers James Nasmyth and James Carpenter, who created highly accurate plaster models of the Moon despite having incorrect ideas about how lunar craters formed. They proposed a volcanic theory of crater formation, suggesting that the Moon's surface contracted as it cooled and shrank. While their theories were later proven inaccurate, Nasmyth and Carpenter's innovative illustrations and models provided valuable insights into the Moon's topography and were ahead of their time. [Extracted from the article]