I ran across a problem the other day, by making what seemed to be a simple assumption. I put my character in "what would one day be known as Shackleton Crater." (It is a crater on the Moon of some interest in that its rim encircles the Moon's south pole and because it's in perpetual shadow, may contain water ice. However interesting that is, it is unimportant to my story.) That wouldn't be much of a problem, except that I have him there at a certain date (between 1961 and 1969). It occured to me that the crater may have received its name prior to 1961.
So I went to look it up.
I typed in my query in myriad ways (in several search engines), followed link after link, (until they started referencing themselves). I found all sorts of references to Shackleton (the explorer) and to Shackleton Crater (named for the explorer), but absolutely nothing at all about when the crater was so named, nor who did it. Believe me, I am really tired of Google and Bing.
Any clue to how I might find out what I seek is much appreciated.
So I went to look it up.
I typed in my query in myriad ways (in several search engines), followed link after link, (until they started referencing themselves). I found all sorts of references to Shackleton (the explorer) and to Shackleton Crater (named for the explorer), but absolutely nothing at all about when the crater was so named, nor who did it. Believe me, I am really tired of Google and Bing.
Any clue to how I might find out what I seek is much appreciated.