The full moon is often perceived as a phenomenon that lasts throughout the night, but this is a misconception because the moon as seen from Earth gets bigger or smaller all the time (albeit too slowly to be noticed by the naked eye). The size of the Moon reaches its absolute maximum at the moment when the increase stops.

Since a full moon occurs every 29.5 days, February is the only month of the year that may not have a full moon. In each of the remaining months it is guaranteed to occur at least once.

When a full moon coincides with the Moon's closest approach to Earth in its elliptical orbit, a rare phenomenon known as a supermoon occurs. The most recent supermoon occurred on the night of September 27-28 last year, and the next time it will not be visible until 2033.

The full moon is often associated with temporary insomnia. In the past, the reason for this opinion was obvious: people could not sleep well under the full moon due to the bright light it reflected. However, today, given the bright artificial light that surrounds us in everyday life, this is unlikely to be the cause of the insomnia that many people continue to suffer during this lunar phase.

It is sometimes claimed that in the past, surgeons refused to operate during the full moon because the risk of death increased due to loss of blood from the patient. Research conducted in Barcelona found a statistically significant relationship between lunar phase and hospitalization of people with gastrointestinal bleeding.

A full moon is considered unlucky if it falls on a Sunday, and lucky if it occurs on a Monday. In fact, the word "Monday" in English - "Monday" - comes from the Old English word "Monand?g" or the Middle English word "Monenday", which means "lunar day".

The full moon is believed to cause mental illness and lycanthropy (a form of insanity in which the sufferer imagines himself to be a wolf). One of the most popular beliefs was that a person could turn into a werewolf if he slept outside on one of the summer nights, Wednesday or Friday, with the full moon shining right in his face.

The Royal Air Force used the light reflected from the full moon to launch an attack on the German city of Lubeck on the night of Saturday, March 28, during World War II.

Dogs are known to bark and howl more during the full moon than at other times, but they can also be more aggressive. A study carried out by Bradford Royal Infirmary found that dogs bite twice as often during the full moon than on other days.

The Full Moon is the brightest object in the night sky. Its apparent magnitude (a measure of the brightness of a space object from the point of view of an observer on Earth) is -12.74 (for the Sun - -26.74).

It has been assumed that the full moon affects humans in the same way it affects the oceans through tidal force, since the human body is almost 75% water, but in reality the tidal effect on such a small scale is quite negligible.

When two full moons fall in the same calendar month, the second full moon is called a Blue Moon. This phenomenon occurs on average once every 3 years.

According to one of the most common superstitions, more children are born on a full moon than at other times. This claim is not supported by any scientific research. However .

When the full Moon coincides with a total lunar eclipse, it appears red. During this time, the only light we see is the light that is refracted by the Earth's shadow. It appears red for the same reason that sunsets are red - due to Rayleigh scattering of the more blue light present.

It was believed that the full moon drives people crazy. The word "sleepwalker" was used to describe a person who was considered mentally ill, dangerous, stupid or unpredictable - conditions attributed only to insanity. This word comes from the Latin word "lunaticus", one of the meanings of which is "possessed, possessed."

Some wild animals behave differently during the full moon. For example, lions usually hunt at night, but the day after the full moon they go hunting during the day, as scientists suggest, to compensate for the hunger that reaches its maximum during the full moon.

The Full Moon is often associated with an increase in strange and unexplained things, but this belief may be misleading. People have this feeling because during the full moon they pay more attention to unusual events. In fact, such things happen throughout the rest of the month, but people usually do not associate them with any celestial events.

Various celebrations dedicated to the full moon are held in different parts of the world. One of the most popular is the Full Moon Party on Ko Pha Ngan Island, Thailand, attracting tens of thousands of tourists every full moon night. In Japan, this is tsukimi - admiring the full moon in September.

During the full moon, people notice pareidolic images: human faces, heads, silhouettes. These images actually consist of dark areas of lunar maria (basalt plains) and lighter highlands on the lunar surface.

The Lunar Society of Birmingham, a club and informal learned society of eminent men of the English midlands, which met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, took its name from the fact that its members met exclusively during the full moon, since In the absence of street lighting, their return home under the additional light of the moon was easier and safer.

The honeymoon is named after the full moon in June. Because it falls between planting and harvesting, it has traditionally been considered the best month for weddings.

In Sri Lanka, the full moon is sacred. According to legend, the birth of Buddha, his Enlightenment and transition to nirvana took place on the days of the full moon. On the night of the full moon, all shops are closed, the consumption and sale of alcohol, sporting events and killings of any kind (including fishing) are prohibited.

Pagans believe that the most mystical time at Stonehenge is when the full Moon wanes, allowing the Earth to reunite with its lover, the Sun, at dawn.

While there is no evidence that the full moon directly affects our mental health, 80% of nurses and 63% of doctors said they are more likely to see patients with mental health problems during the full moon than at any other time. This study was conducted by Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada.

There is a common misconception that the first Apollo landing took place during a full moon. In fact, it happened more than a week later.

© Voraorn Ratanakorn | Shutterstock

How did the Moon appear?

After the Sun shone, the formation of the planets of the Solar system began. But it took another hundred million years for the Moon to form. There are three theories about how our satellite could have been born: the giant impact hypothesis, the conformation theory, and the capture theory.

Giant Impact Hypothesis

This is the prevailing theory held by the scientific community. Like the other planets, Earth formed from the remaining cloud of dust and gas orbiting the young Sun. The early Solar System was a hot place where several bodies formed that never reached the status of full-fledged planets. According to the giant impact hypothesis, one of them crashed into Earth shortly after the formation of the young planet.

It was a Mars-sized body known as Theia. The object collided with the Earth, throwing evaporated particles of the young planet's crust into space. Gravity bound the ejected particles together to form the Moon. This birth explains why the Moon is composed predominantly of lighter elements, making it less dense than Earth - the material that formed it came from the crust, while the planet's rocky core remained intact. As the material gathered around what was left of Theia's core, it became concentrated near Earth's ecliptic plane - the path the Sun takes across the sky and where the Moon's orbit lies today.

Conformity theory

According to this theory, gravity facilitated the simultaneous aggregation of material in the early solar system into the Moon and Earth. Such a Moon should be very similar to the planet, and its location should coincide with the current one. But although the Earth and Moon are made of essentially the same material, the Moon is much less dense than our planet, which would be unlikely if both bodies began to form their cores from the same heavy elements.

Capture theory

It's possible that Earth's gravity snagged the passing body, as happened with other moons in the solar system, such as the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos. According to the capture theory, a rocky body formed in other parts of the solar system could be launched into orbit around the Earth. The capture theory explains the differences in the composition of the Earth and the Moon. However, such satellites are often oddly shaped rather than spherical like the Moon's, and their paths, unlike the Moon's, do not tend to align with the ecliptic of their parent planet.

Although the co-formation theory and the capture theory explain some aspects of the existence of the Moon, they leave many questions unanswered. The giant impact hypothesis covers most of them, making it the most popular among scientists.

How big is the Moon?

The Moon is the brightest object in our night sky. It seems quite large, but only due to the fact that it is the nearest celestial body. The Moon is slightly more than a quarter the size of Earth (27%), which is much smaller than the size ratios of other moons to their planets.

© shutterstock

Our Moon is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average radius of the Moon is 1737.5 km, diameter - 3.475 km, less than a third of the Earth's. The equatorial circumference is 10,917 km. The surface area is about 38 million square kilometers, which is inferior to the total area of ​​the Asian continent of 44.5 million square kilometers.

“If you imagine that the Earth is the size of a coin, then the Moon in this case can be compared to a coffee bean”, say the researchers.

Mass, Density and Gravity

The Moon's mass is 7.35 × 10^22 kg, about 1.2% of the Earth's mass. In other words, the Earth weighs 81 times more than the Moon. The density of the Moon is 3.34 g/cm3. This is about 60% of the density of the Earth. The Moon is the second densest satellite of the Solar System after Jovian Io, whose similar parameter is 3.53 g/cm3.

The lunar gravity is only 16.6% of the Earth's. A person weighing 45 kg on Earth will weigh only 7.5 kg on the Moon. A person who can jump 3 m on Earth will be able to jump almost 18 m on the Moon.

Like most worlds in the solar system, the Moon's gravity varies depending on the characteristics of its surface. In 2012, NASA's GRAIL mission mapped lunar gravity in unprecedented detail. “When we see a noticeable change in the gravitational field, we can synchronize that change with surface topography features such as craters or mountains,” mission scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a statement.

Although the Moon is the closest and one of the most studied astronomical objects, the interest of scientists in it does not wane. "The Moon is the Rosetta Stone through which we understand the rest of the solar system," said Noah Petr, NASA's LRO deputy project scientist.

Supermoon

Since the Moon's orbit is not perfectly circular, it is sometimes closer to us, sometimes further away. Perigee is the point in the lunar orbit at which it is closest to Earth. When the full moon coincides with perigee, we get a supermoon that is 14% larger and 30% brighter than normal.

The main reason the Moon's orbit is not a perfect circle is that the Moon has a lot of tidal, or gravitational, forces. The gravity of the Earth, the Sun, and the planets in our solar system influence the Moon's orbit, causing it to make these close passes.

A supermoon occurs approximately every 414 days. But we must keep in mind that this is an average. For example, 2016 boasted three supermoons.

Images of the giant Supermoon in 2016 became a hit on social media.

Amateur photographs of the astronomical phenomenon, which became the largest in the past 68 years ago, were shared by residents of Russia, Europe, North and Latin America.

NY. © Stan Honda | spaceweather.com

What happened, why does the Moon take up more space in the sky than usual? The fact is that the distance between the centers of the Earth and its natural satellite has decreased by 50 thousand kilometers relative to the apogee. Therefore, the Moon appears 14% larger in the Earth's sky and 30% brighter. This is the largest and brightest full moon in almost 70 years!

The difference between the Moon at perigee and apogee. © Sky and Telescope, Laurent Laveder

Supermoons occur quite often. In 2016, it was observed on October 16, November 14 and December 14. But none of them will surpass the November event in terms of entertainment!

Loy Krathon, a festival in Thailand that takes place during the November full moon. © Jeff Dai | spaceweather.com

The hashtag #supermoon is trending on Twitter. Pictures of the huge moon spread across other social networks.

Here is a photo posted on Twitter by Luca Parmitano, an Italian cosmonaut who is now in Kazakhstan to support his colleagues - Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, American Peggy Whitson and Russian Oleg Novitsky - who went to the ISS on November 17, 2016.

The photographs below show the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle, which carries the Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft, against the backdrop of the Supermoon.

The next time the Moon will come this close will be on November 25, 2034. There is only one supermoon in 2017 - December 3rd. In 2018 there are two - January 2 and 31.

« Blue Moon"is called the second full moon in a month. The first occurred on January 2, 2018.

January 31, 2018 year, the inhabitants of the Earth witnessed a unique astronomical event: on this day The supermoon coincided with a “bloody” lunar eclipse and the so-called “Blue Moon”. The last time this was observed was a century and a half ago, in 1866.

During a Supermoon, the Full Moon appears larger and brighter than usual as it moves closer to Earth. In this case, the distance between the satellite and our planet was 350 thousand kilometers.

The “Blood Moon” is the result of the refraction of the sun's rays during a total lunar eclipse, when the satellite is entirely in the earth's shadow.

Horizon illusion

A little-understood optical effect can visually magnify the Moon as it rises behind distant objects on the horizon. This effect, known as the moon illusion or Ponzo illusion, has been observed since ancient times, but still has no generally accepted explanation.

According to one theory, we are used to seeing clouds just a few kilometers above us, while we know that clouds on the horizon can be tens of kilometers away. If a cloud on the horizon is the same size as clouds overhead usually are, despite the great distance, we know it must be huge. And since the Moon near the horizon is the same size as we see it above our heads, our brain automatically magnifies it.

Another hypothesis suggests that the Moon appears larger at the horizon because we can compare its size to nearby trees and other objects on Earth - and it takes on a terrifying size in comparison. Overhead, against the backdrop of vast outer space, the Moon appears small.

One way to check the illusory nature of the picture is to hold your thumb up to the visible Moon and compare its size with your fingernail. When the Moon rises higher, look at it again and you will see that the Moon will be the same size compared to your fingernail.

Why does the Moon appear larger at the horizon?

When the moon is full, it creates an optical illusion that has baffled observers since the time of Aristotle. Rising Moons, especially full ones, look strangely huge near the horizon and appear smaller and smaller as they rise in the night sky.

© lOvE lOvE | shutterstock.com

The moon illusion exists solely in your head. The Moon does not change size, and although its distance from Earth changes slightly over time, it does so too slowly for a significant transformation to occur overnight.

If you want proof that the moon illusion is an entirely psychological phenomenon, simply measure the Moon near the horizon and high in the sky with a ruler. The “lower” Moon will appear significantly larger, but the ruler will show that its diameter has not changed.

The cameras also help bring the Moon into the open. Take several photographs of the Moon in succession from the same point, and then combine them - it will be obvious that the size of the satellite has not changed.

© Jingpeng Liu | spaceweather.com

© Ken Sperber | spaceweather.com

So what's going on? When we look at the Moon, rays of reflected sunlight form an image with a diameter of 0.15 mm on the retina.

“High and low Moons create a spot of the same size, says NASA scientist Tony Phillips. - And yet the brain insists that one of them is larger than the other.".

Ponzo illusion

One explanation for the brain’s “self-deception” may be. In the animated image below, the top yellow stripe appears wider than the bottom because it is "much further" (i.e. closer to the horizon) on the train tracks. Our brains add width to compensate for the expected distortion. As with the high and low Moons, both stripes are the same length, as the vertical red lines clearly show.

Another illusion that may explain the change in the size of the Moon is the Ebbinghaus illusion. It lies in the difficulty of the brain perceiving the relative sizes of objects. In the image below, the orange circles are the same size, although the right one appears larger. At the horizon, the Moon is surrounded by relatively small buildings and trees, so it may appear larger than in the sky, where there are no objects for comparison.

Ebbinghaus illusion

Unfortunately, all explanations for the illusion that have been proposed so far have flaws (for example, the Ebbinghaus illusion does not work in the case of sailors and pilots - there are no buildings and trees in the sky and sea - but people see the illusion) - scientists are still in heated debate on this occasion.

An animated overview of attempts to understand the lunar illusion - in a video by science popularizer Andrew Vanden Heuvel (Russian subtitles available):

Does the Moon rotate?

Those who observe the Moon from Earth may notice that the satellite, passing through its orbit, always turns the same side towards its planet. A logical question arises: does the Moon rotate or is it motionless about its axis? Even though our eyes say no, scientists say the opposite - the Moon actually rotates.

© taffpixture | shutterstock

The Moon's orbital period around the Earth is 27.322 days. It takes the satellite approximately 27 days to make one revolution around its own axis. That is why for observers from Earth the illusion is created that the Moon remains absolutely motionless. Scientists call this situation synchronous rotation.

However, it is worth paying attention to the fact that the Moon’s orbit does not completely coincide with its axis of rotation. The Moon travels around the Earth in an elliptical orbit, a slightly elongated circle. When the Moon approaches the Earth as close as possible, it rotates more slowly, allowing us to see the usually hidden 8 degrees on the eastern side of the satellite. When the Moon moves away to its maximum distance, the rotation occurs faster, so an additional 8 degrees can be seen on the western side.

It should be noted that the far side of the Moon is visually very different from how we are used to seeing it from Earth. While the near side of the Moon consists primarily of lunar maria - large, dark plains created by hardened lava flows - and low lunar hills, the far side of the moon is literally littered with craters.

Meanwhile, scientists say that the Moon's rotation period was not always equal to its orbital period. Just as the Moon's gravity affects ocean tides on Earth, Earth's gravity affects the Moon. But since there is no ocean on the planet's natural satellite, the Earth acts directly on the surface of the Moon, creating tidal bulges on it along a line pointing to the Earth. Tidal friction gradually slows down the Moon's rotation.

The satellite itself has the same effect on Earth, so every 100 years the length of the day increases by a few milliseconds. Thus, during the time of dinosaurs, the Earth made one revolution around its axis in 23 hours. In 1820, it took the Earth 24 hours (or 86,400 standard seconds) to rotate around its axis in 24 hours per day. Since then, solar days on the planet have increased by about 2.5 milliseconds.

Is it warm or cold on the moon?

Temperatures on the Moon are extreme, ranging from boiling heat to freezing cold, depending on where the Sun shines. The Moon does not have a significant atmosphere, so it cannot retain heat or insulate the surface.

© Ricardo Reitmeyer | shutterstock

The moon completes a revolution on its axis in about 27 days. A day on one side of the Moon lasts about 13.5 days, and for the next 13.5 days it is immersed in darkness. When sunlight hits the Moon's surface, temperatures can reach 127°C. After sunset it can drop to minus 173 °C. Temperatures vary across the surface of the Moon as it rotates both around the Earth and on its own axis.

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The Moon's axis is tilted by about 1.54 degrees - much less than the Earth's axis (23.44 degrees). This means that the Moon does not have seasons like Earth does. However, due to the tilt, there are places at the lunar poles that never see daylight.

The Diviner instrument on NASA's LRO probe determined temperatures in the lunar south pole craters to be minus 238°C and minus 247°C in the north pole crater. “These temperatures are, to our knowledge, the lowest that have been measured anywhere in the solar system, including the surface of Pluto.”" said David Page, principal investigator for the Diviner instrument and professor of planetary science at Los Angeles University. NASA's New Horizons probe has since found a temperature range on Pluto that falls within comparable ranges, from minus 240 to minus 217°C.

Scientists suspected that water ice could exist in the dark craters of the Moon, which are in permanent shadow. In 2010, NASA radar aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft detected water ice in more than 40 small craters at the north pole. According to preliminary estimates, its volume is more than 1.3 trillion pounds.

What color is the Moon?

According to NASA, the Moon is gray; according to Soviet scientists, it is brown. On December 15, 2013, the Chinese space mission Chang'e-3 transmitted images from the Moon: The Moon is brown! Then NASA supporters (Vitaly Egorov, aka Zelenyikot) caught on and came up with an explanation: “the white balance was simply not adjusted on the cameras.” This video proves NASA supporters wrong.

Why does the moon turn red?

« Blood Moon"appears when the earth's satellite goes through an eclipse phase. Although the phenomenon is not of particular astronomical significance, the appearance in the sky is striking - the usually white Moon turns red or brick brown.

The moon revolves around the Earth, and the Earth revolves around the Sun. The Moon takes about 27 days to orbit the Earth and goes through regular phases on a 29.5-day cycle. The difference between these two cycles is due to the position of the Sun, Earth and Moon relative to each other, which is constantly changing.

Lunar eclipses can only occur during full moons, when the Sun fully illuminates the surface. Typically, the full Moon does not create eclipses because it rotates in a slightly different plane than the Earth and Sun. However, when the planes align, the Earth passes between the Moon and the Sun and blocks the sunlight, creating an eclipse.

If the Earth partially obscures the Sun and the darkest part of its shadow falls on the surface of the Moon, the phenomenon is called a partial eclipse. You will see a shadow that “bites off” part of the satellite. Sometimes the Moon passes through the lighter part of the Earth's shadow, causing a penumbral eclipse. Only experienced sky watchers will notice the difference, as the Moon darkens just a tiny bit.

© AZSTARMAN | shutterstock

Ancient cultures often did not understand why the Moon turns red. At least one explorer - Christopher Columbus - used this to his own advantage in 1504. Columbus and his crew are stranded in Jamaica. At first the locals were hospitable, but the sailors robbed and killed the natives. It is clear that the Jamaicans had no desire to help them find food, and Columbus realized that famine was approaching. Columbus had an almanac with him, which indicated that the next lunar eclipse would soon occur. He told the Jamaicans that the Christian god was upset because Columbus and his crew had no food and would repaint the moon red as a symbol of his anger. When the event actually happened, the frightened Jamaicans “ran with loud screams and cries from all directions to the ships, loaded with provisions, begging the admiral to intercede for them before God.”

During a total eclipse, however, something spectacular happens. The Moon is completely in the Earth's shadow, but sunlight scattered in the Earth's atmosphere still reaches the Moon's surface. Since the rays of the red spectrum are the worst scattered, the Moon looks bloody.

How red the Moon becomes depends on pollution, cloud cover or debris in the atmosphere. For example, if an eclipse occurs shortly after a volcanic eruption, particles in the atmosphere may cause the Moon to appear darker than usual.

A partial lunar eclipse occurred August 7, 2017.
January 31, 2018: full eclipse. Lunar metamorphoses could be seen on four continents of the planet - Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and western North America. In the central part of Russia it is only partially visible.

The lucky ones were residents of Siberia, the Far East, Japan, Australia and the west coast of the United States - in these regions the phenomenon was especially spectacular.

In Moscow, cloudy weather prevented observations; moreover, the eclipse over the capital was not total. In St. Petersburg, the red-orange Moon was clearly visible.

July 27, 2018: full eclipse. Visible in South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia.
January 19, 2019: full eclipse. Visible in North and South America, Europe and Africa.
July 16, 2019: partial eclipse. Visible in South America, Europe, Asia, Australia.

Although there are planets and moons throughout the solar system, only Earth experiences lunar eclipses because its shadow is large enough to completely block out the satellite.

The Moon is gradually moving away from our planet (about 4 cm per year), and the number of eclipses will change. There are an average of 2–4 lunar eclipses each year, and each one is visible from about half of the Earth.

Insulation layers

Astronauts on the Moon were protected from extreme temperatures by their space suits. The suits had multiple layers of insulating material covered with a highly reflective outer layer. In addition, they had built-in heaters and cooling systems.

Core temperature

The Moon has an iron-rich core with a radius of about 330 km. The temperature in the core is believed to range from 1.327 to 1427 °C. The core heats the inner layer of the molten mantle, but it is not hot enough to warm the surface. Because the Moon is smaller than Earth, the Moon's internal temperatures do not rise as high.

"The temperature in the Moon's interior is likely lower than Earth's because the Moon is smaller - hence its internal pressure is also smaller," explained NASA planetary scientist Rene Webber.

another side of the moon

The Deep Space Climate Observatory has trained its cameras on Earth, taking numerous images since July 6, 2015, when the Moon came into view of our planet.

The visible difference in texture and lighting between the Moon and Earth in an animated image is not a graphical treatment. The effect was created naturally, thanks to the Earth's atmosphere.

The moon is shrouded only in a thin haze of argon. Sunlight touches the surface of the satellite and is reflected back. Light passing through the Earth's atmosphere, on the other hand, is scattered by the dense air. Therefore, the lighting of our planet is softer.

The EPIC camera tracked the far side of the Moon for the second time during its operation and recorded a satellite crossing its field of view for the third time.

We do not see the far side of the Moon from Earth, since the satellite rotates synchronously relative to our planet. This means that the Moon's rotation—the length of its day from dawn to dawn for anyone standing on its surface—takes the same amount of time as a satellite orbiting the Earth.

Why is the Moon always different?

The Moon is the first celestial object to attract human attention. Everyone knows about the phases of the moon changing throughout the month - but what exactly causes these changes?

Moon phases. © Orion 8

The Moon itself shines, reflecting the sunlight. Relative to our planet, with the exception of the Sun, the Moon has the largest angular size of all celestial objects - the full Moon is 30 times larger and more than 1300 times brighter than Venus.

Interestingly, you can see the phases of the moon right at home - with a little experiment. All you need is a tennis ball that has a rough structure. You need to go outside and hold the ball, focusing on the Sun. If the Moon is also visible in the sky, then you should hold the ball at arm's length towards it. If the angular distance between the ball, which acts as the Moon, and the Sun is the same as between the real Moon and the Sun, then both the Moon and the ball will be in the same phase. Of course, if you move the ball to a different position, its phase will change due to the change in the angle of the light. You can move the ball so that it is fully illuminated (full moon), or only half illuminated (quarter).

© NASA

Lunar phases are related to the position of the Moon in the Earth's orbit. The satellite goes through the entire cycle of phases in 29.53 days - from one new moon phase (when the Moon is not visible) to the next. During this phase, from the point of view of an observer on Earth, the Moon appears in the same position in the sky as the Sun. Therefore, we cannot see the "new" Moon unless it passes directly in front of the Sun - then a solar eclipse occurs. We see the half moon (first quarter phase) when it passes through the first quarter of the cycle - approximately 7.4 days after the new moon. At this stage it rises 6 hours later than the Sun, usually around noon.

The full moon phase occurs 14.8 days after the new moon, the Moon is directly opposite the Sun, its disk is completely illuminated. It rises at sunset, its highest point in the sky is at midnight, and sets at dawn.

The last quarter (when the other half of the Moon is illuminated) occurs 22.1 days after the new moon. In this phase, the Moon rises 6 hours before the Sun - around midnight.

Map of the mineral composition of the earth's satellite

We are used to seeing the Moon in subtle shades of gray. But in this mosaic image, small differences in colors have been exaggerated to create a multicolored lunar landscape. The high-resolution images included in the mosaic were taken during the full moon phase.

© Alain Paillou

The colors correspond to actual differences in the mineral composition of the lunar surface. Blue shades indicate titanium-rich areas, orange and purple shades indicate regions with relatively low titanium and iron content.

The mesmerizing Sea of ​​Vapors with the wide arch of the lunar Apennines above it - just below the center. Top left is the dark floor of the Archimedes crater with a diameter of 83 km. The area above the Arch of the Apennines is the landing site of the Apollo 15 mission.

Analysis of rock samples obtained during the Apollo missions provided the basis for the creation of multicolor images used to study the composition of the lunar surface.

Moon in a 100 megapixel photo

©Sean Doran | Flickr

NASA image processor Sean Doran combined images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to create something incredible - a 100-megapixel photo of the Moon, which he published on his "space" page on Flickr.

A single LRO WAC image has a resolution of 100 meters per pixel and covers about 60 km of the lunar surface. The pictures were taken from a vertical angle, so to get the shape of the moon's globe, Doran needed to map them onto the sphere using altimeter data. As a result, he came up with an image, increasing the scale of which, one can observe all the richness of detail of the lunar relief.

To see all the details, . Its full size is 15 MB.

©Sean Doran | Flickr

Video: © Sean Doran | Made with Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera data

Earth and Moon circling in dance: a rare joint video

Only on rare occasions have the Earth and Moon been photographed together. One of the most impressive joint photo sessions took place 25 years ago, in December 1992. Then the Galileo spacecraft, orbiting Jupiter, used optical magnification and observed our inseparable couple from a distance equal to about fifteen times the distance between our world and its only satellite.

The remastered video combines 52 historical images with enhanced color characteristics. Although the Moon may appear small next to Earth, no other planet in the solar system has a moon of such comparable size. The sun, located far to the right, illuminated each sphere only half, so one part of the Earth is in shadow, while the other shows the familiar white clouds, blue oceans and continents.

In the sky of an observer located in the center of the side of the Moon facing the Earth, the Earth does not stand motionless at the zenith, but during the month describes a small ellipse (major axis 15 degrees, minor axis 13).

The further the observer is from the center of the lunar disk visible from the Earth, the lower relative to its horizon is the ellipse along which the Earth’s apparent movement occurs. The distance from the center of the disk to the observation point at which this ellipse touches the horizon of the lunar observer is borderline: at a shorter distance the Earth is always visible in the sky, and at a larger distance, in a certain strip on the surface of the Moon, it is possible to observe the rising and setting of the Earth. This strip borders the entire lunar disk, its width varies from the equator to the poles. Even further from the center of the visible disk, beyond this strip, the Earth is never visible from the Moon at all.

Let us trace how the Earth rises and sets above the horizon of observers located on the equator of the Moon at the points where the ellipse touches the horizon. Two more points coincide with the point of contact: the sunrise and sunset of the Earth. There are two such observation points at the equator: near the left (L) and right (R) edges of the visible side of the Moon. They are interesting because in them the Earth rises to the greatest height at sunrise compared to the height of its rise above any observation points on the Moon. At points L and Pr, the rising of the Earth lasts two Earth weeks and the setting of two weeks.

At the equator of the Moon, the main role is played by the repeatedly described libration in longitude. Longitude libration (see Fig. 1) occurs because the Moon’s orbit is not a circle, but an ellipse. Therefore, when the Moon is at orbital point A, from the Earth you can see how a section of 15 degrees in longitude (L) behind the left edge of the Moon is closed, and on the other part of the orbit, at point B, it is open. Behind the right edge of the visible side of the Moon (R) the same thing happens, but in antiphase. Therefore, from the Earth it seems that the Moon is swaying. This can only be noticed from Earth with regular observations of the Moon, since the phenomenon occurs very slowly, and the rotation of the Moon itself is small.

Picture 1

An observer located in the opening and closing strip of the Moon also sees the Earth, it also seems to him that the Earth is swaying - rising and setting.

If longitude libration were the only libration, then the apparent motion of the Earth on the Moon's surface would occur in a straight line, up and down for an observer at the Moon's equator. But at the same time, latitude libration operates. Therefore, this straight line is divided into a rising arc and a setting arc. The size of the major axis of the ellipse is determined by libration in longitude, and the minor axis of this ellipse is the result of libration of the Moon in latitude.

Comparing the sunrises and sunsets of the Earth with the onset of day and night on the Moon and with the phases of the Earth allows us to more clearly imagine what a lunar observer might see. It is also necessary to recall that the disk of the Earth in the lunar sky is 14 times larger than the disk of the Moon in our sky, and that during the time that the Earth describes an ellipse in the sky of the Moon, it turns around its own axis 27 times.

At point A of the lunar orbit, an observer located on the Moon at point A sees that the Earth rises in the second half of the night (a day on the Moon is approximately equal to an earthly month). The earth rises very slowly, and its appearance changes. From behind the horizon it appears in the form of a slightly smaller half with its convex upwards. Morning comes. Gradually losing weight, the Earth turns into an aging blue crescent with long orange legs, reminiscent of an arch. The sickle becomes thinner and the horns become longer. At noon, in the lunar black sky, the Earth appears as a dark disk in a red-orange halo. This phase is New Earth. After noon, the Earth still continues to rise and turns into a young boat-shaped crescent, and the horns above it almost close. When approaching point B of the lunar orbit, the crescent grows and becomes almost half of the Earth's disk, the Earth reaches its highest position, culmination, rising above the horizon to a height ... no higher than 16 degrees.

It's evening on the moon. Above point A the same slow descent of the Earth begins. Its illuminated part increases to a full disk (full earth). Night falls on the moon. Mountains, valleys and plains are illuminated by the ghostly bluish-greenish light of the full Earth. It shines more than 60 times brighter than our Moon. The earth still continues to set, its illuminated part is decreasing. When the Moon reaches point A of its orbit and becomes slightly less than its waning half, the Earth will reach the horizon at observation point L. The sunset is over, the next lunar day is a new sunrise and sunset.

On the right edge of the lunar disk at observation point Pr, the rise of the Earth begins in the evening at point B of the lunar orbit, at the same time when sunset begins at point A. At lunar midnight during full earth at the point Pr, the earth continues to rise. It's morning on the moon. The illuminated part of the Earth decreases. When it becomes slightly smaller than the waning half, it will culminate above point Pr, also at an altitude of approximately 16 degrees above the horizon. This will happen at point A of the lunar orbit. And the Earth’s two-week sunset will immediately begin, precisely at the same time when the Earth begins its rise above point L. Lunar morning, afternoon and part of the evening The Earth descends over point Pr, reaches the horizon at point B of the lunar orbit and begins a new rise.

In Fig. Figure 2 shows the ellipse of the apparent motion of the Earth at observation points located on the equator of the Moon in the zone of Earth rising and setting. It can be seen that with distance from the center of the disk, an increasing part of the ellipse falls below the horizon, and a smaller part of it remains above the observer’s horizon (L, L1, L2, L3, L4, Pr, Pr1, Pr2, Pr3, Pr4). At the points where the ellipse intersects with the horizon, the Earth rises and sets once a lunar day. At points L4 and Pr4, the ellipse completely goes below the horizon.

Figure 2

From observation point L to point L4 and from point Pr to Pr 4, the Earth’s culmination above the horizon is lower and lower, sunrises occur later and sunsets occur earlier, which means that the time of visibility of the Earth above the horizon of the lunar observer decreases. In this case, the distance between the points of sunrise and sunset with the distance of the observer from the center of the disk first increases from zero at point L to 13 degrees at point L2, and then decreases again to zero at point L4, similarly on the right side of the Moon. Sunrise and sunset occur on the same side of the horizon - towards the center of the visible disk of the Moon.

In Fig. 3 it can be seen that at all latitudes of the Moon, the axes of the ellipse along which the Earth’s movement visible in the Moon’s sky occurs, the greater the latitude of the observation site, the more inclined they are to the horizon. The ellipse “lies” at the poles. At mid-latitudes it touches the horizon or intersects with it in an oblique position, so the arcs of sunrise and sunset are asymmetrical. In any direction, with distance from the center of the disk, an increasingly smaller arc of the ellipse remains above the horizon, and the time of visibility of the Earth decreases. At all lunar latitudes, the pattern of Earth's sunrise and sunset unfolds on the side of the horizon directed toward the center of the visible side of the Moon.

Figure 3

With distance from the equator, the position of the earth's crescents (and other phases) relative to the observer's horizon changes from horizontal to vertical. After all, the convex side of the illuminated part of the Earth is always facing the Sun, and the Sun rises almost vertically above the equator with its daily movement, and near the poles of the Moon it rolls along the horizon. (The above photograph of the Earth was taken not from the surface of the Moon, but from the orbit of a spacecraft.)

The description of all the phenomena considered will become much more complicated if we take into account that librations of the Moon are the total result of the action of many phenomena occurring at different periods.

Moving in orbit, the Moon actually sways, since under the influence of ebbs and flows from the Earth, it acquired an ovoid shape. This is physical libration.

The reason for latitudinal libration is that the axis of the Moon's daily rotation is inclined to the ecliptic plane. Thanks to latitude libration, 13 degrees of the Moon's surface above the upper and lower edges of its disk are sometimes opened and closed for an observer on Earth.

From the Earth it is clear that the Moon simultaneously experiences libration in longitude and latitude. As a result of these two wobbles, the center of the Moon's disk visible from Earth describes a small ellipse. Therefore, to the lunar observer, who is in the center of the visible disk and moves along the ellipse with it, it seems that in his sky the Earth describes a similar ellipse.

Less significant librations occur because the Moon’s orbital motion is very complex, for example, the inclination of the plane of the Moon’s orbit to the ecliptic plane changes, and the Moon’s orbit around the Earth continuously rotates in its plane. Many other features of the Moon's movement can be observed from Earth. As a result, the parameters of the ellipses along which the visible movement of the Earth occurs in the sky of the Moon continuously change from month to month, the ellipses do not close, but transform into one another, forming a complex spiral.

The science

When the full moon arrives, the moon's bright light captures our attention, but the moon also holds other secrets that may surprise you.

1. There are four types of lunar months

Our months correspond approximately to the period of time it takes for our natural satellite to go through complete phases.

From excavations, scientists discovered that people since the Paleolithic era have been counting days by associating them with the phases of the Moon. But there are actually four different types of lunar months.

1. Anomalistic- the length of time it takes the Moon to orbit the earth, measured from one perigee (the point of the Moon's orbit closest to the Earth) to the other, which takes 27 days, 13 hours, 18 minutes, 37.4 seconds.

2. Nodal- the length of time it takes the Moon to travel from the point where the orbits intersect and return to it, which takes 27 days, 5 hours, 5 minutes, 35.9 seconds.

3. Sidereal- the length of time it takes the Moon to circle the earth, guided by the stars, which takes 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 11.5 seconds.

4. Synodic- the length of time it takes the Moon to go around the earth, guided by the Sun (this is the period of time between two successive conjunctions with the Sun - the transition from one new moon to another), which takes 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 2.7 seconds . The synodic month is used as a basis in many calendars and is used to divide the year.

2. From Earth we see a little more than half of the Moon

Most reference books mention that because the Moon rotates only once during each orbit around the Earth, we never see more than half of its entire surface. In truth, we get to see more during its elliptical orbit, namely 59 percent.

The Moon's rotation speed is the same, but its rotation frequency is not, allowing us to see only the edge of the disk from time to time. In other words, the two movements do not occur in perfect sync, even though they converge towards the end of the month. This effect is called libration by longitude.

Thus, the Moon wobbles in the east and west directions, allowing us to see a little farther in longitude at each edge. We will never see the remaining 41 percent from the Earth, and if someone were on the other side of the Moon, he would never see the Earth.

3. It Takes Hundreds of Thousands of Moons to Match the Brightness of the Sun

The Full Moon has an apparent magnitude of -12.7, but the Sun is 14 times brighter, with an apparent magnitude of -26.7. The brightness ratio of the Sun and Moon is 398.110 to 1. It will take so many moons to match the brightness of the sun. But this is all a moot point, since there is no way to fit so many moons in the sky.
The sky is 360 degrees, including the half beyond the horizon that we can't see, so there are more than 41,200 square degrees in the sky. The moon is only half a degree across, giving an area of ​​0.2 square degrees. So you could fill the entire sky, including the half beneath our feet, with 206,264 full Moons and still have 191,836 left to match the brightness of the Sun.

4. The first and last quarter of the Moon are not half as bright as the Full Moon.

If the surface of the Moon were like a completely smooth billiard ball, then the brightness of its surface would be the same everywhere. In this case, it would be twice as bright.

But The moon has a very uneven terrain, especially near the border of light and shadow. The landscape of the Moon is pierced by countless shadows from mountains, boulders and even the smallest particles of lunar dust. In addition, the surface of the Moon is covered with dark areas. Ultimately, in the first quarter, the Moon 11 times less bright than when full. The Moon is actually slightly brighter in the first quarter than in the last quarter because some parts of the moon reflect light better during this phase than in other phases.

5. 95 percent of the illuminated Moon is half as bright as the full Moon

Believe it or not, about 2.4 days before and after the full moon, the Moon shines half as brightly as the full Moon. Even though 95 percent of the Moon is illuminated at this time and will appear to be full to most normal observers, it is about 0.7 magnitudes less bright than at full phase, making it half as bright.

6. When viewed from the Moon, the Earth also goes through phases

However, these phases opposite to lunar phases that we see from Earth. When we see the new moon, we can see the full Earth from the Moon. When the Moon is in the first quarter, then the Earth is in the last quarter, and when the Moon is between the second quarter and the full moon, then the Earth is visible in the form of a crescent, and finally, the Earth in a new phase is visible when we see the full moon.

From any point on the Moon (except for the farthest side, where Earth cannot be seen), the Earth is in the same place in the sky.

From the Moon, the Earth appears four times larger than the full Moon When we observe it, and depending on the state of the atmosphere, it shines from 45 to 100 times brighter than the full Moon. When the full Earth is visible in the lunar sky, it illuminates the surrounding lunar landscape with a bluish-gray light.

7. Eclipses also change when viewed from the Moon.

Not only do the phases change places when viewed from the Moon, but also lunar eclipses are solar eclipses when viewed from the Moon. In this case, the Earth's disk covers the Sun.

If it completely covers the Sun, a narrow strip of light surrounds the dark disk of the Earth, which is illuminated by the Sun. This ring has a reddish tint, as it is due to the combination of light from sunrises and sunsets that occur at this moment. This is why during a total lunar eclipse, the Moon takes on a reddish or copper hue.

When a total eclipse of the Sun occurs on Earth, an observer on the Moon may see for two or three hours a small, distinct dark spot move slowly across the Earth's surface. This dark shadow of the Moon that falls on Earth is called umbra. But unlike a lunar eclipse, where the Moon is completely engulfed by the Earth's shadow, the lunar shadow is several hundred kilometers smaller when it touches the Earth, appearing only as a dark spot.

8. Craters of the Moon are named according to certain rules

Lunar craters were formed by asteroids and comets that collided with the Moon. It is believed that only on the near side of the Moon approximately 300,000 craters, more than 1 km wide.

Craters named after scientists and explorers. For example, Copernicus Crater was named after Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer who, in the 1500s, discovered that the planets move around the sun. Archimedes Crater named after mathematician Archimedes, who made many mathematical discoveries in the 3rd century BC.

Tradition assign personal names to lunar formations started in 1645 Michael van Langren(Michael van Langren ) , a Brussels engineer who named the main features of the Moon after kings and great men on Earth. On his lunar map he named the largest lunar plain ( Oceanus Procellarum) in honor of its patron Spanish Philip IV.

But just six years later, Giovanni Batista Riccoli( Giovanni Battista Riccioli ) from Bologna created his own lunar map, removing the names he gave van Langren and instead assigned the names of mostly famous astronomers. His map became the basis of a system that survives to this day. In 1939, British Astronomical Association released a catalog of officially named lunar formations. " Who's Who on the Moon", indicating the names of all entities accepted International Astronomical Union(MAS).

To date MAS continues to decide what names to give to craters on the Moon, along with names for all astronomical objects. MAS organizes the naming of each specific celestial body around a specific theme.

The names of craters today can be divided into several groups. As a rule, the craters of the Moon were called in honor of deceased scientists, scientists and researchers, who have already become renowned for their contributions in their respective fields. So craters around the crater Apollo And Seas of Moscow on the Moon will be named after American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.

9. The Moon has a huge temperature range

If you start searching the Internet for data on the temperature on the Moon, you will most likely get confused. According to the data NASA, temperatures at the Moon's equator range from very low (-173 degrees Celsius at night) to very high (127 degrees Celsius during the day). In some deep craters near the Moon's poles, the temperature is always around -240 degrees Celsius.

During a lunar eclipse, when the Moon moves toward Earth's shadow in just 90 minutes, surface temperatures can drop by 300 degrees Celsius.

10. The moon has its own time zones

It is quite possible to tell the time on the Moon. In fact, in 1970 the company Helbros Watches(Helbros Watches) asked Kenneth L. Franklin ( Kenneth L. Franklin ) , who for many years was the chief astronomer at New York Hayden Planetarium create watches for astronauts who set foot on the Moon. These clocks measured time in so-called " Lunations" is the time it takes for the Moon to orbit the Earth. Each Lunation corresponds to 29.530589 days on Earth.

For the Moon, Franklin developed a system called lunar time. He imagined local lunar time zones following standard time zones on Earth, but based on meridians that were 12 degrees wide. They will be called simply " 36 degrees Eastern Standard Time" etc., but it is possible that other more memorable names will be adapted, such as " Copernican time", or " time of Western calm".

> How to watch the Moon

Moon watching: is it possible to see meteors, eclipses, auroras and comets, when is the best time to observe, cycles and phases of the Moon, map of the lunar surface, telescope, filters.

The Moon seems to be the most accessible object to observe in the sky. Sometimes it appears in the form of a thin crescent, sometimes it disappears completely, and on some days it shines as a huge sphere, eclipsing the stars. These are not the whims of the luminary, but the phases of the Moon and the distance of the satellite to the Earth, which changes as it passes along an elliptical orbit around the planet. We are accustomed to this night neighbor, so we pay attention only during periods of lunar eclipse. But the Moon hides many interesting objects. Below you will find out when is the best time to look at the Moon, whether you can see meteors and what interesting things are located on the surface. At the very end, admire amazing photos of the Moon with craters and seas. Don’t forget also that on the site you can use telescopes and observe the Moon online in real time.

The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth, which is also the brightest object in the night sky. The gravity there is 6 times lower than on Earth, and the difference between night and day temperatures exceeds 300˚C. A complete revolution of the Moon around its axis takes 27.3 Earth days. In this case, the rotation trajectory and its angular speed are stable and equal to the speed of its rotation around the Earth. That is why the observer constantly sees only one hemisphere of the satellite. The other side (the other side of the Moon) is always hidden from us.

When is the best time to watch the Moon?

Despite the fact that this fact, at first glance, seems complete nonsense, its veracity has been proven by the experience of thousands of observers. The full moon (moon phase) is a bad time to explore the moon. At this time, the contrast of details on the surface is reduced to zero, so it is almost impossible to see them. There are two periods in the lunar month that are conducive to research. This is the time after the new moon, which ends two nights after the first quarter. Here the Moon is perfectly visualized in the evening.

Lunar "evolution"

The second period begins a couple of days before the last quarter and ends on the new moon. At this time, the lunar shadows are so long that they are perfectly visualized on mountainous terrain. In addition, the atmosphere in the morning is much calmer than in the evening, resulting in clear and stable images with plenty of fine detail.

In any case, it is important to take into account the height of the Moon above the horizon. The lower the Moon is, the denser the air that overcomes the moonlight. This results in a large number of distortions and lower picture quality. The satellite's height above the horizon varies from season to season.

Before moon observations Determine the time of optimal visibility using any planetarium program.

The trajectory of the Moon around the Earth has the shape of an ellipse. The average distance between the centers of the Moon and the Earth is 384,402 km, but the actual distance constantly varies from 356,410 to 406,720 km. In this regard, the apparent size of the Moon also changes - from 29" 22"" at apogee to 33" 30"" at perigee.

Of course, the observer should not wait for the moment when the Moon is closest to the Earth. Just remember that at perigee you can study subtle features on the moon's surface that are hidden during normal times.

When starting a study, you need to point the telescope at any point near the terminator - the line dividing the Moon into light and dark halves. During the waning Moon, the terminator shows the place of sunset; during the waxing Moon, the terminator shows the place of sunrise.

Photograph of the Moon through an amateur telescope. Image obtained through a 125 mm refractor

Moon observation at the terminator will allow the researcher to study the structure of mountain peaks illuminated by sunlight. At the same time, the lower part of the mountains hides in the shadows. The landscape near the terminator line is changing in real time. Therefore, many hours of observation of any attraction will be rewarded with a magnificent spectacle.

It is important! When exploring the Moon between the last or first quarter phases and the full Moon, turn on a moderately bright white light behind you. Of course, the light source should not be located in the direct line of sight, hit the eyes or glare on the eyepiece. This will allow you to maintain better daytime vision and see many details on the satellite's surface.

Necessary equipment

To observe the Moon and get high-quality photos, you need to know how to choose or buy the right telescope. The moon is an object with a very bright glow. During observations through a telescope, it can easily blind the researcher. There are several ways to make observations more comfortable by reducing the brightness of the Moon. For example, you can use a variable density polarizing or neutral gray filter. It is more reasonable to use the first one, since with it you can change the level of light transmission (1% - 40%). This is convenient because the level of lunar glow directly depends on its phase and the magnification used. And when using an ND filter, the image of the Moon will constantly change from too dark to too bright.

A variable brightness filter will smooth out these differences, allowing you to set the brightness parameter you want.

It is not customary to use color filters during lunar exploration. The only exception is the red filter, which can be used to increase the contrast of areas with a high basalt content. In addition, it stabilizes images in unstable atmospheres and minimizes lunar glare.

If you decide to study the Moon, purchase a lunar atlas or map. In addition, use the Virtual Atlas of the Moon application, which will provide you with all the information in preparation for your exploration.

For experienced astronomers, we offer you a more detailed moon map, where all surface formations are displayed:

(Image size: 2725 x 2669, Weight: 1.86 mb).

Details on the Moon depending on equipment

Since the Moon is located close to the Earth, astronomy lovers love to observe it both with the naked eye and with the help of special equipment. Thus, even with the naked eye you can see the characteristic ashy hue of the Moon, which is especially obvious in the mornings on a waning Moon and in the evening twilight on a waxing Moon. In addition, the general features of the satellite can be easily observed.

Image of the Moon taken through a 114 mm telescope + 2x Barlow lens

Using a small telescope or binoculars, you can take a closer look at lunar craters, seas, and mountain ranges. Believe me, you will find a lot of interesting things here!

As the aperture increases, the purely visible objects also increase. Through a telescope with an aperture of 200 - 300 mm, you will be able to study fine details on the surface of large craters, explore the structure of mountain ranges, and see numerous folds, grooves, and chains of small craters.

It is extremely difficult to calculate the capabilities of each specific telescope, since the state of the atmosphere plays a decisive role here. Most often, at night, the maximum limit of a large telescope is 1”. Periodically, the atmosphere calms down for a couple of seconds. And at this time, the observer must use his technique to the limit of its capabilities. For example, on a clear and calm night, using a 200 mm telescope, you can see craters with a diameter of up to 1800 meters, and using a 300 mm instrument - 1200 meters.

How to Observe the Moon

Typically, observations of the Moon are carried out along the terminator, since this line has increased contrast of lunar details. And the play of shadows makes the landscapes of the lunar surface truly magical. At the same time, you should not be afraid of experiments. Play with magnification and choose what will be optimal for your specific viewing conditions. Most often, you will need a set of 3 eyepieces.

A low magnification eyepiece, often called a search eyepiece. Used for comfortable exploration of the full lunar disk and general acquaintance with the sights on the surface of the satellite. In addition, you can use it to observe lunar eclipses and organize lunar excursions for friends.

An eyepiece with medium magnification (from 80x to 150x) is the most popular. Extremely useful in unstable atmospheres.

A powerful eyepiece (2D-3D) is used for professional study of the Moon with the maximum capabilities of optical technology. Can only be used in an excellent atmosphere and absolute thermal stabilization of the telescope.

Lunar through a 300 mm telescope and 2 Barlow lenses

You can increase the efficiency of your observations using Charles Wood's list of the 100 best lunar objects. In addition, read the articles in the “Unknown Moon” series, which are devoted to an overview of the attractions on the surface of the satellite.

Surely, you will be carried away by the search for tiny craters that can only be seen at the limit of the telescope's capabilities.

Be sure to keep a diary of observations. In special columns, enter data about the time and phase of the Moon, observation conditions, the state of the atmosphere, and the magnification used. You can also make sketches here

What to see on the Moon

Craters are objects that dot the entire lunar surface. The term comes from the Greek word meaning "cup". Most often, lunar craters are formed from impacts of cosmic bodies on the surface of the satellite.

Lunar maria are dark areas that contrast with the rest of the Moon's surface. They are essentially lowlands, occupying up to 40% of the surface area visible from Earth. During a full moon, dark spots give the moon a “face.”

Furrows are valleys on the surface of the Moon. They reach many hundreds of kilometers in length, 3500 meters in width, and up to 1000 meters in depth.

Folded veins - outwardly look like ropes. They are formed as a result of compression and deformation from the subsidence of the seas.

Mountain ranges are mountains on the surface of the Moon. Their height varies from 100 to 20,000 meters.

The domes are the real secret of the Moon. There is still no reliable data about their nature. Today there is evidence of a couple of dozen domes, which are small (up to 15 km in diameter) smooth and round elevations.

10 most interesting lunar objects

T (moon age in days) - 9, 23, 24, 25

Located in the northwestern region of the Moon. You can even observe it with binoculars with 10x magnification. Using a medium magnification telescope, it is visualized as an amazing object with a diameter of 260 km and blurred edges. There is a scattering of small craters on the flat bottom of the Gulf

T – 9, 21, 22

It is one of the most famous lunar objects that can be explored with a small telescope. The crater is surrounded by a system of rays that radiate 800 km from the crater. The depth of the crater is 3.75 km, diameter is 93 km. When the Sun rises or sets over the crater, the observer can enjoy magnificent scenes.

T - 8, 21, 22

It is a tectonic fault that can be easily visualized with a 60mm telescope. The length of the object is 120 km. It is located at the bottom of an ancient destroyed crater, traces of which you will see at the eastern edge of the Straight Wall.

T - 12, 26, 27, 28

A huge volcanic dome that can be observed with a 60mm telescope or powerful astronomical binoculars. The diameter of the hill is 70 km, and its highest point is located at an altitude of 1.1 km from the lunar surface.

T - 7, 21, 22

A mountain range whose length is 604 km. It can be seen with binoculars, but for more serious observations you will need a telescope. Some peaks are 5 km high. And in certain parts of the mountain range there are deep grooves.

T - 8, 21, 22

Visualized with binoculars, Plato's crater is one of the most popular objects among amateur astronomers. The diameter of the crater is 104 km. “Great Black Lake” is the poetic name given to the crater by Jan Hevelius, a Polish astronomer (1611-1687). Indeed, with the help of an amateur telescope or binoculars, the object is visualized as a large dark spot contrasting with the light surface of the Moon.

T - 4, 15, 16, 17

A pair of small craters, which can be observed with a telescope of 100 mm. Messier is an elongated object with a size of 11 by 9 km. Messier A is a little larger - 13 by 11 km. To the west there is a pair of light rays, the length of which exceeds 60 km.

T - 2, 15, 16, 17

The crater is visualized through small binoculars, but only a powerful telescope with serious magnification turns it into an amazing object. The bottom of the crater is dome-shaped, dotted with cracks and grooves.

T - 9, 21, 22

It is one of the most famous lunar objects, which became known for its huge system of rays around the crater. The system extends over 1500 km. You can even see the rays with amateur binoculars.

T - 10, 23, 24, 25

The crater is oval in shape and is 110 km long. Excellent visualization in 10x binoculars. Using a telescope, you can see a huge number of crevasses, hills and mountains at the bottom of the crater. You will also definitely see that the walls of the crater are partially destroyed. At the northern edge is the Gassendi crater, which makes the object look like a diamond ring.

From the author

So what should you do if your skies are currently gloomy or you don't have any astronomy equipment? Our portal has taken care of this too. Presents to your attention an interactive tool that allows you to observe the Moon in real time.

Photos of the Moon taken by amateur astronomers: