Julius Heinrich Franz (28 June 1847 – 28 January 1913) was a German astronomer. Franz was born in Rummelsburg, Prussian Pomerania, he studied at the Universities of Greifswald, Halle and Berlin, after which he was the principal astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Königsberg. In 1882 he was a member of a team sent to the town of Aiken, South Carolina, to observe the transit of Venus. Toward the end of the century he replaced Johann Galle as the director of the observatory at the University of Breslau. He is most noted for his measurements of features near the lunar limbs. He published a popular book about the Moon in 1906 called Der Mond. In this work Julius named some lunar mares along the limb the Mare Orientale, Mare Autumni and Mare Veris. The later two were later renamed to the Lacus Autumni and Lacus Veris. Bibliography Die Figur des Mondes, 1899, Königsberg. Der Mond, 1906, Leipzig. Second edition: Honors The crater Franz on the Moon is named after him. References 1847 births 1913 deaths People from Miastko People from the Province of Pomerania 20th-century German astronomers Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Academic staff of the University of Breslau Academic staff of the University of Königsberg University of Greifswald alumni University of Halle alumni 19th-century German astronomers