# How are coordinates and cardinal points defined on on Earth's Moon? [duplicate]

I came across this page - http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/alsjcoords.html that mentions the various landing coordinates of of NASA missions on the Earth's moon. The cordinates are given in the same way as that of the Earth N/S & E/W.

I understand that the moon does not have a molten core and therefore cannot have a magnetic North or South. So how is the coordinate system created?

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## marked as duplicate by James Jenkins, TildalWaveFeb 4 '14 at 2:50

Repeated question: space.stackexchange.com/questions/3207/… – Mark Adler Feb 3 '14 at 19:22
Note that Earth's coordinate system has nothing to do with its magnetic field. – Mark Adler Feb 3 '14 at 22:15

They used selenographic coordinates. A small yet well-preserved crater called Mösting is used as a fundamental reference point, and given these coordinates:

Latitude:   3° 12' 43.2" South
Longitude:  5° 12' 39.6" West


All coordinates are defined relative to this location, so there's no need to rely on a magnetic field, although the Moon does have one. For more information, please read this RAND corporation report of 1987, and the fundamental IAU/IAG paper.

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