Named for Lucien Rudaux (1874–1947), French astronomical painter, writer and amateur astronomer. Rudaux is considered the grandfather of astronomical art. He maintained his own observatory at Donville and used his observations of mountain profiles on the lunar limb to argue that lunar mountains are rounded. His lunar paintings and articles, from about 1910 onward, correctly described lunar topography, whereas the popular misconception was of spiky crags. His paintings also showed various aspects of other planets, satellites, the zodiacal light and comets, using the best available data. His writings include many illustrated articles about astronomy and space travel and the book Sur les Autres Mondes
(1937). (M 12807) _ _.