Day 1 |
This is a one day old moon. More precisely, it's 1 day 15 hours and 35 minutes. That's how much time has passed from the moment of New Moon till this picture was taken. One day moons can be difficult to spot. They are very close to the horizon and visible for just a few minutes after sunset. This moon was 39 hours old but the world record young moon sighting is closer to 12 hours with a telescope and around 15 hours with binoculars. This picture was taken with a Nikon Coolpix 885 digital camera held up to the eyepiece of a Celestron C-90 Astro telescope on July 11th 2002 at 10:03 pm EDT in Holt, Michigan. |
Day 2 |
This is a two day old moon. Some craters are starting to come into view as the terminator moves across the face of the moon. The terminator is the line that separates the light and dark halves of the moon. The large smooth circular area is the Sea of Crises. The photo was taken with a Celestron C5 telescope. Photo date: July 12th, 2002 10:07 pm EDT. Moon's age: 2 days 15 hours 40 minutes. |
Day 3 |
This moon is 3 days old. More detail can be seen along the terminator. If you were on the moon at the terminator, it would be sunrise. Due to the low angle of the sun, shadows cast by craters and mountains are very long. This tends to make features near the terminator look exaggerated. The photo was taken on July 13th 2002 at 9:52 pm with the C5 telescope. Moon's age: 3 days 15 hours 24 minutes. |
Day 4 |
This moon is 4 days old. The photo was taken on July 14th 2002 at 10:29 pm with my 8 inch Newtonian telescope. The smooth darker areas are some of the lunar seas. The famous Sea of Tranquility is now partly in view, along with the Sea of Fertility and the lesser known Marsh of Sleep. Moon's age: 4 days 16 hours 1 minutes. |
Day 5 |
This moon is 5 days old. It's a waxing crescent moon. The craters Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina are the three big craters on the terminator. The photo was taken at 10:23 pm EDT on June 15th, 2002. The telescope used was a Celestron 8" f/10 schmidt-cassegrain. Click here to see a photo of Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina taken the same night through the 24" MSU telescope. The Sea of Tranquility is the large smooth area north of Theophilus. Apollo 11 landed on the southwest edge of this lunar sea on July 20th 1969. Moon's age: 5 days 2 hours 35 minutes.
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Day 6 |
Here's the Moon as seen through the eyepiece of a Celestron C-90 Maksutov 90mm f/11 telescope. This moon is six days old. You can see that the terminator has moved a little west since the five day moon. The craters Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina are now in full sunlight and are not as easy to see. The photo was taken at 10:37 pm EDT on June 16th, 2002. Moon's age: 6 days 2 hours 49 minutes. |
Day 7 |
This moon is seven days old. It's a first quarter moon. This photo was shot through an 8" f/6 Newtonian reflecting telescope. The photo was taken at 9:51 pm EDT on June 17th, 2002, one hour and 21 minutes past the exact moment of first quarter. Look for the Apennine Mountain Range west of the Sea of Serenity. The Apollo 15 astronauts landed near the foot of these nearly 20,000 foot tall mountains. The Apennine Mountains are one of the largest mountain ranges on the Moon. Moon's age: 7 days 2 hours 2 minutes.
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Day 8 |
This moon is eight days old. It's a now waxing gibbous. This photo was shot through the 8" reflector. The photo was taken at 10:23 pm EDT on June 18th, 2002. An interesting feature this night is The Straight Wall. It appears as a thin dark line. It's about 70 miles long. It's actually a fault line formed from a moonquake in the ancient past. The Apennine Mountains are in full sunlight now. Above the Apennines, look for the Lunar Alps and the Alpine Valley. Moon's age: 8 days 2 hours 35 minutes. |
Day 9 |
This moon is nine days old. Another waxing gibbous moon. This photo was from the 8" f/6 scope. The photo was taken at 10:44 pm EDT on June 19th, 2002. A stunning feature tonight is the crater Copernicus. Copernicus is 60 miles in diameter and 12,600 feet deep. Copernicus is a relatively young crater. It stands out so well because it's surrounded by a smooth dark plain. Above and to the left of Copernicus, the Carpathian Mountains are coming into view. Some of the peaks in this range are 6600 feet high. South of Copernicus is the faint crater Fra Mauro. Apollo 14 landed just north of this crater on January 31st, 1971. Moon's age: 9 days 2 hours 56 minutes. |
Day 10 |
This moon is ten days old. The photo was taken at 10:30 pm EDT on June 20th, 2002 with the 8" telescope. Sinus Iridum also called the Bay of Rainbows, is visible near the north part of the terminator. The Jura Mountains ring the western edge of the Bay of Rainbows. The 6600 foot tall Straight Range is to the bay's northeast. Northwest of the crater Tycho is the Marsh of Diseases! Of course, the marshes, bays and seas on the moon don't contain any water. They are filled with lava that flowed across the moon and filled the lower areas of the moon billions of years ago. Now they are just dry smooth plains. Moon's age: 10 days 2 hours 42 minutes. |
Day 11 |
The eleven day moon. Oceanus Procellarum or the Ocean of Storms is now in view on the western side of the disk. The rays are becoming more noticeable. Rays are the spoke like lines radiating from several of the prominent craters. The rays are formed by the debris blasted out of the crater when it was formed by the impact of a meteorite. Tycho has the best ray system of any lunar crater. This photo was taken on June 21st 2002 at 11:35 pm EDT with the 8" scope. Moon's age: 11 days 3 hours 47 minutes. |
Day 12 |
This moon is twelve days old. The date of this shot is June 23, 2002 12:47 am EDT. The terminator is still just barely visible along the western limb of the moon. The moon is not quite full. Full moon will take place 29 hours after this moment. The crater Billy is interesting. It's smooth floor is one of the darkest stained spots on the moon. The crater Wargentin has the nickname "The Thin Cheese" due to its appearance to a thin block of cheese. Wargentin is a crater that has filled up with lava. The floor of this crater is 1400 feet above the surrounding area. Moon's age: 12 days 4 hours 59 minutes.
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Day 13 |
This is almost a full moon. The photo was taken 16 hours and 19 minutes before the exact moment of full. The photo was shot at 1:25 AM, EDT on June 24th 2002. With a good imagination, you might be able to see the "Rabbit in the Moon", or maybe the "Man in the Moon". Some people can see the "Lady in the Moon". For centuries, people have looked at the light and dark areas of the moon and imagined all sorts of things in the moon. What do you see?
Near the west limb of the moon are two very small craters, 10 and 8 miles in diameters. These little dots are the craters Galileo and Galileo A, two of the smallest named craters on the moon. These were named for Galileo Galilei, the Italian astronomer & physicist who lived from 1564 to 1642. Galileo was the first astronomer to aim a telescope at the moon and the first to see any of its craters and mountains. Moon's age: 13 days 5 hours 37 minutes. |
Day 14 |
This moon is 14 days old. The photo was taken 5 hours and 22 minutes past full moon on June 24th, 2002 at 11:08 pm EDT. Notice the nice ray systems around the craters Tycho, Copernicus, Kepler and Proclus. Craters are formed by meteoric impacts and the rays are formed by the debris blasted out of the crater by the impact. This photo was taken when the moon was low in the sky. When the moon is low, the moonlight cuts through more of our earth's atmosphere. The atmosphere scatters away some of the blue light leaving more of the red and yellow light causing the moon to take on more of an orangish hue. This photograph was shot with a Nikon Coolpix 885 digital camera held up to the eyepiece an 8" reflecting telescope. If you look closely at the southern limb, below Tycho, you can see some mountains poking up over the horizon. These are the Doerfel and Leibnitz mountains. Some of these peaks are thought to be as tall as Mount Everest! Moon's age: 14 days 3 hours 20 minutes. |
Day 15 |
This moon is 15 days old. 15 days 0 hours 21 minutes. The photo was shot 13 hours and 33 minutes after the full moon and about 25 hours before the Autumnal Equinox, (12:55 am EDT 9/22/2002). The full moon that occurs closest to the Autumnal Equinox (first day of fall) is known as a Harvest Moon. Due to the low angle of the ecliptic to the horizon, the moon rises only about 30 minutes later each night around a harvest moon as apposed to the normal 60 minutes later each night for the other full moons in the year. Photo date September 21st 2002 at 23:33 EDT. 8" f/6 Meade telescope |
Day 16 |
This moon is 16 days old. It's no longer looking "full". It's now a waning gibbous moon. The terminator is now visible along the eastern edge of the moon. This is the last night you'll be able to see the Sea of Crisis and the Foaming Sea until the next lunation. Moons age: 16 days 8 hours 2 minutes. Date of photo: August 24th 2002 at 23:19 EDT. Telescope used: 8" f/6 Meade newtonian telescope. |
Day 17 |
This moon is 17 days old. On this night, you can get another view of Tranquility Base. The first USA moon base established by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969. Of course, it's too small for us to see even from the largest earthbase telescopes. Moons age: 17 days 8 hours 42 minutes. Date of photo: August 25th 2002 at 23:59 EDT. Telescope used: 8" f/6 Meade newtonian telescope. |
Day 18 |
This moon is 18 days old. The Apollo 17 landing site is visible in this photo. However, you can't see the flag left on the moon by the astronauts because it's much too small. Moons age: 18 days 8 hours 31 minutes. Date of photo: August 26th 2002 at 23:48 EDT. Telescope used: 8" f/6 Meade newtonian telescope. |
Day 19 |
This moon is 19 days old. The three craters, Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina are on the terminator. The last time they were this visible was the 5 day old moon. Moons age: 19 days 9 hours 33 minutes. Date of photo: August 28th 2002 at 00:50 EDT. Telescope used: 8" f/6 Meade newtonian telescope. |
Day 20 |
This moon is 20 days old. Look for the mountains Pico and Piton tonight. They rise up from the floor of the Sea of Rains. Mt. Pico is 8000 and Mt. Piton is 8200 feet high. Pico seems to be made of white rocks and shines brightly. Also look for the Alpine Valley in the lunar Alps. Moon's age: 20 days 10 hours 8 minutes. Date of photo: August 29th 2002 at 1:26 EDT. Telescope used: 8" f/6 Meade telescope. |
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Day 21 |
The moon is 21 days old. Nice night with excellent views. This photo taken with 8" f/6 Meade telescope. high quality photo with vivid crater's viewable. I sometimes forget how beautiful the moon is |
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Day 22 |
This moon is 22 days old. It's a waning crescent moon. This photo was shot through an 8" f/6 Newtonian reflecting telescope. The photo was taken at 3:54 am EDT on July 3rd, 2002. Look for the Straight Wall east of the Sea of Clouds. It appears as a bright line now. When the sun was shining on it's other side, on the 8 day moon, it appeared as a dark line. Apollo 12 landed in the Ocean of Storms and Apollo 14 landed just north of the faint crater Fra Mauro. Moon's age: 22 days 8 hours 6 minutes.
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Day 23 |
This moon is 23 days old. The photo was taken at 3:15 am EDT on September 30th, 2002. Moon's age: 23 days 4 hours 3 minutes. As the moon orbits the earth, it seems to wobble. This slight wobble is known as libration. Compare this photo with the 22 day moon photo taken in July 2002. Look closely at the features near the limb to see the lunar libration. |
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Day 24 |
This moon is 24 days old. The photo was taken at 4:32 am EDT on October 1st, 2002. Moon's age: 24 days 5 hours 20 minutes. It's interesting to compare lunar features when the sun is shining from a different angle. Notice how different the Bay of Rainbows looks now compared to the 11 day moon and the 15 day moon. |
