Over the past few late evenings, our natural satellite - - is available for observation during favorable conditions. weather conditions. Such a celestial object is not dangerous and, in the absence of clouds, can be perfectly observed with binoculars. Let's try.
I securely installed mine on a tripod, centered the horizontal on it, brought it to the bedroom window and began to observe.
Observing the Moon through binoculars
I spent the first few minutes letting my eyes get used to the darkness and turned off the lights in the entire apartment. Adjusted the sharpness on the binoculars. I didn’t forget to invite the cat (although he doesn’t need a special invitation 🙂). Launched an astronomical observation program. Observations were carried out, as they say, in live. Yes, don’t forget - the program must have the function enabled "night mode".
The Moon in Stellarium
In Stellarium I found the Moon, turned on object tracking so that it always remained in the center of the monitor screen, adjusted the approximate scale that I can see through binoculars, double-checked that the date and time coincided with current time. The image is clickable and will open in a new tab.
You can pay attention to how our Moon is - -12.11 m. This is more than 60,000 times brighter than a star Vega, which is taken to be zero magnitude. And this is still 3 days before the full moon.
The most the best way when getting to know the Moon, this is the use of a lunar map with the names of seas, craters, hills, plateaus, lowlands, mountain ranges. There are a lot of card options, below is a simple example:
Map of the Moon with symbols (taken from the site shvedun.ru)
As you can see, even binoculars are enough for a detailed acquaintance with most of the seas and bays on visible side Moons. Thanks to the use of a tripod, my image did not rattle, which allowed me to carefully examine as many details as possible. The entire surface of our natural satellite is covered with craters different sizes, they arise as a result of impacts and collisions of other small cosmic bodies with the surface of the Moon. The dark areas of the Moon are called seas. Pay attention to the names, many of them are symbolic: the Sea of Fertility, the Sea of Foam, the Sea of Humidity or the Sea of Clouds.
The bright areas of the Moon are called mountain ranges. These are the so-called lunar mountains, the height of which varies from several meters to several kilometers.
Probably one of the most famous objects on the lunar surface is Copernicus crater. If you look closely, you can see the bright color“rays” extending up to 800 kilometers. The second no less famous crater is crater Tycho. Its “rays” extend for almost one and a half thousand kilometers. Both of these craters can be easily seen with binoculars.
At the first hour of the night, clouds began to “advance” on the Moon and partially block it, making it difficult to observe.
After waiting a little, he turned his gaze to celestial body again.
You can definitely look at the Moon for a long time and many times. You shouldn’t try to see everything in one night or at one time. You can decide or try to consider as many details as possible of several objects. Make sketches in a notebook or note what was inaccessible and what was clearly and clearly visible. Then, with the next observations, you will be able to compare your achievements and results, and gradually discover something new for yourself. Important add that observing during a full moon is not the best time best time. The lunar illumination itself hides many details. Try looking at the Moon at different phases. And even on a new moon you can distinguish the contours and enjoy the view of this close “friend” of ours.
By one o'clock in the morning I began to curl up and stop watching, and only the cat was actively observing the surroundings through the window and following my actions.
Cat, Moon and binoculars
Look at the sky, appreciate every day you live, love good and bad weather. That's all.
I have a sister Dasha, she is 5 years old. One day she asked me: “What shines through our windows at night? ” The answer was simple: “This is the Moon. Satellite of our planet.” “What is on it? “Dasha continued her questions.
The moon has always been watched. The Moon is the closest celestial body to us that can be observed with the naked eye. However, the Moon was also observed using optical instruments. What can you see on the Moon while in the city of Ufa using optical instruments?
This was the subject of a working study. For several cycles, the Moon was observed using a reflecting telescope. This diagram telescopes were invented by Isaac Newton. He made a mirror from an alloy of copper, tin and arsenic with a diameter of 30 mm and installed it in his telescope in 1667. Our reflector has a mirror with a diameter of 200 mm, as well as many devices that make observations very convenient - an equatorial mount, a standard electric drive on both axes, and a control panel.
For the report, photographs of the lunar surface were taken using a digital camera. As a result of this, it became possible to find the most important objects and answer my sister's question.
On the left is my photo, on the right is an overview photo map of the Moon from the Internet
Photo #1.
Southern part of the Moon. Crater Tycho. What is this related to? strange name? Is it really so quiet in its surroundings? The moon has an extremely rarefied gas shell. The Moon's mass is simply too small to support an atmosphere on its surface. Therefore, it is really quiet on the Moon - sound cannot travel in an airless environment. Although sound can also travel through the ground. And the Tycho crater is named after the Danish astronomer and alchemist mid-16th century century Tycho Brahe.
We are moving north and west.
Photo 2.
Copernicus Crater (lunar impact crater, named after the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). Located in the eastern part of the Ocean of Storms. Copernicus was formed 800 million years ago as a result of the impact of another body - a meteorite or comet - on the surface of the Moon. The fragments of this body scattered thousands of kilometers and left a system of rays on the surface of the Moon.
Information obtained through detailed study of samples from the Moon led to the creation of the Giant Impact theory: 4.57 billion years ago, the protoplanet Earth (Gaia) collided with the protoplanet Theia. The blow did not land in the center, but at an angle (almost tangentially). As a result most of substances of the impacted object and part of the substance earth's mantle were thrown into low-Earth orbit. From these fragments, the proto-Moon assembled and began to orbit with a radius of about 60,000 km. As a result of the impact, the Earth received a sharp increase in rotation speed (one revolution in 5 hours) and a noticeable tilt of the rotation axis. Although this theory also has shortcomings, it is currently considered the main one.
According to estimates based on the content of the stable radiogenic isotope tungsten-182 (arises from the decay of the relatively short-lived hafnium-182) in the samples lunar soil, in 2005, mineralogists from Germany and Great Britain determined the age of lunar rocks at 4 billion 527 million years (±10 million years). This is the most accurate value to date.
Copernicus is the largest ray crater on the visible side of the Moon. Its diameter is about 93 km
Picture 3.
Copernicus's neighbor, the Kepler crater, is clearly visible on the surface, as it has a system of light rays, like the Copernicus and Tycho craters. (Kepler is an impact crater on the surface of the Moon, named after the German astronomer Johannes Kepler. The crater is clearly visible even in a small telescope, as it has a system of light rays, like the craters Copernicus and Tycho. Kepler is located on the visible side of the Moon, between the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) and the Sea of Islands (Mare Insularum). The size of the crater is 32 km and the depth is 2.6 km.)
All photographed objects are located on the visible side of the Moon; the far side of the Moon remains inaccessible for observation. However, what is interesting is that due to the phenomenon of optical libration, we can observe about 59% of the lunar surface. This phenomenon optical libration was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1635, when he was condemned by the Inquisition.
Between the moon's rotation around own axis and its revolution around the Earth there is a difference: around the Earth the Moon rotates with a variable angular velocity due to eccentricity lunar orbit(Kepler's second law) - near perigee it moves faster, near apogee it moves slower. However, the rotation of the satellite around its own axis is uniform. This allows you to see the western and eastern edges from the Earth reverse side Moons. This phenomenon is called optical libration along longitude. Due to the inclination of the Moon's rotation axis to the plane earth's orbit you can see the northern and southern edge the far side of the Moon (optical libration by latitude).
Even with the naked eye, dark formations are visible on the lunar disk; these are the so-called seas. Such names come from antiquity, when ancient astronomers thought that the Moon had seas and oceans, just like the Earth. However, they do not contain a drop of water and are made of basalts. (3–4.5 billion years ago, lava poured onto the surface of the Moon and, solidifying, formed dark seas. They cover 16% of the lunar surface area and are located on the visible side of the Moon.
Picture 4.
The Sea of Rains was formed as a result of the flooding of a large lava impact crater, formed as a result of the fall large meteorite or the nucleus of a comet approximately 3.85 billion years ago.
Lunokhod 1 landed in Rainbow Bay - the world's first planetary rover to successfully operate on the surface of another celestial body.
Picture 5.
The Sea of Cold, located north of the Sea of Rain and stretching to northern tip Seas of Clarity. From the south, the Alps mountains surrounding the Sea of Rain adjoin the Sea of Cold, cut by a straight crack 170 km long and 10 km wide - the Valley of the Alps. The sea is located in outer ring Ocean of Storms; formed during the Early Imbrian period, its East End- in the Late Imbrian period, and the western one - in the Eratosthenesian period of geological activity of the Moon.
To the south of the sea there is a dark round formation - the Plato crater.
Picture 6.
Picture 7.
Sea of Tranquility. A fascinating place. On July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 expedition, a manned spacecraft with two NASA astronauts on board made a soft landing at Tranquility Base. The purpose of the flight was formulated in the following way: “Land on the Moon and return to Earth.” The ship included a command module (sample CSM-107) and a lunar module (sample LM-5). The Apollo 11 spacecraft launched on July 16, 1969 at 13:32 GMT. The engines of all three stages of the launch vehicle worked in accordance with the design program, the ship was launched into a geocentric orbit close to the design one.
After the last stage of the launch vehicle with the spacecraft entered the initial geocentric orbit, the crew checked the onboard systems for about two hours.
The engine of the last stage of the launch vehicle was turned on to transfer the ship to the flight path to the Moon at 2 hours 44 minutes 16 seconds of flight time and worked for 346.83 seconds.
At 3 hours 15 minutes 23 seconds of flight time, the maneuver of rebuilding the compartments began, which was completed on the first attempt after 8 minutes 40 seconds. At 4 hours 17 minutes 3 seconds of flight time, the ship (a combination of command and lunar modules) separated from the last stage of the launch vehicle, moving away from it by safe distance and began an independent flight to the Moon. On command from the Earth, the fuel components were drained from the last stage of the launch vehicle, as a result of which the stage subsequently, under the influence of lunar gravity, entered a heliocentric orbit, where it remains to this day.
During the 96-minute color television broadcast, which began at 55:08:00 flight time, Armstrong and Aldrin moved into the lunar module for the first check of onboard systems.
The spacecraft reached lunar orbit approximately 76 hours after launch. After this, Armstrong and Aldrin began preparing to undock the lunar module for landing on the lunar surface. The command and lunar modules were undocked approximately one hundred hours after launch. The lunar module landed in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20 at 20:17:42 GMT.
Lunar module
Aldrin reached the lunar surface about fifteen minutes after Armstrong. Aldrin tried it various ways rapid movement on the surface of the Moon. The astronauts found normal walking to be the most appropriate. The astronauts walked on the surface, collected a number of samples of lunar soil and installed a television camera. Then the astronauts planted the flag of the United States of America (before the flight, the US Congress rejected NASA’s proposal to install the UN flag on the Moon instead of the national one), held a two-minute communication session with President Nixon, carried out additional soil sampling, and installed scientific instruments on the surface of the Moon (a seismometer and a reflector laser radiation). After installing the instruments, the astronauts collected additional samples soil (the total weight of the samples delivered to Earth was 24.9 kg with a maximum allowable weight of 59 kg) and returned to the lunar module.
After another meal by the astronauts, at the one hundred and twenty-fifth hour of the flight, the take-off stage of the lunar module took off from the Moon.
The total duration of the lunar module's stay on the lunar surface was 21 hours 36 minutes.
On the landing stage of the lunar module remaining on the surface of the Moon, there is a sign with a map of the Earth’s hemispheres engraved on it and the words “Here people from planet Earth first set foot on the Moon.”
After the take-off stage of the lunar module entered a selenocentric orbit, it was docked with the command module at the 128th hour of the expedition. The crew of the lunar module took the samples collected on the Moon and moved to the command module, the take-off stage of the lunar cabin was undocked, and the command module started on its way back to Earth. Only one course correction was required during the entire return flight, caused by poor meteorological conditions in the planned landing area. New area The landing site was approximately four hundred kilometers northeast of the intended landing site. The separation of the command module compartments occurred at the one hundred and ninety-fifth hour of the flight. In order for the crew compartment to reach the new area, the controlled descent program was modified using lift-to-drag ratio.
The crew compartment splashed down in Pacific Ocean approximately twenty kilometers from the aircraft carrier Hornet (CV-12) (English Hornet (CV-12)) after 195 hours 15 minutes 21 seconds from the start of the expedition.
Picture 8.
Sea of Clarity. The name of this sea (like many other seas in the eastern part of the visible hemisphere of the Moon) is associated with good weather and was introduced by the astronomer Giovanni Riccioli. The Sea of Clarity was visited by the crew of Apollo 17, as well as by the Luna 21 station, which delivered Lunokhod 2 to the surface. This self-propelled vehicle moved for four months along the eastern shore of the Sea of Clarity - taking photo panoramas, and also conducting magnetometric measurements and X-ray analysis of the soil transition zone between the sea and mainland areas. During the operation of the Lunokhod-2 apparatus, a number of records were set: a record for the duration of active existence, for the mass of a self-propelled vehicle and for the distance traveled (37,000 m), as well as for speed of movement and duration of active operations.
Lunokhod-2
In March 2010, Professor Phil Stook of the University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario) discovered Lunokhod-2 in photographs taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, thereby clarifying the coordinates of its location.
Location of Lunokhod-2
Lunokhod 2 was delivered to the Moon on January 15, 1973 by automatic interplanetary station"Luna-21". The landing took place 172 kilometers from the Apollo 17 landing site. The navigation system of Lunokhod-2 was damaged and the ground crew of the Lunokhod was guided by the surrounding environment and the Sun. It turned out to be a great success that shortly before the flight, through unofficial sources, the Soviet developers of the lunar rover were given a detailed photographic map of the landing site, compiled for the Apollo landing.
Despite the damage to the navigation system, the device overcame longer distance than its predecessor, since the experience of controlling Lunokhod-1 was taken into account and a number of innovations were introduced, such as, for example, a third video camera at the height of human growth.
In four months of work, he covered 37 kilometers, transmitted 86 panoramas and about 80,000 television frames to Earth, but he further work prevented by overheating of the equipment inside the case.
After driving inside a fresh lunar crater, where the soil turned out to be very loose, the lunar rover skidded for a long time until it reached the surface in reverse. At the same time, the lid folded back with solar battery, apparently, scooped up some of the soil surrounding the crater. Subsequently, when the lid was closed at night to preserve heat, this soil fell on the upper surface of the lunar rover and became a heat insulator, which during lunar day led to overheating of the equipment and its failure.
The Lunokhod is a sealed instrument compartment mounted on a self-propelled chassis.
The mass of the device (according to the original design) is 900 kg, the diameter at the upper base of the body is 2150 mm, the height is 1920 mm, the chassis length is 2215 mm, the track width is 1600 mm. Wheelbase 1700 mm. Wheel lug diameter 510 mm, width 200 mm. The diameter of the instrument container is 1800 mm. Maximum speed movement on the Moon - 4 km/hour.
The Lunokhods were controlled by a group of operators of 11 people, who made up the “crew” in shifts: commander, driver, highly directional antenna operator, navigator, flight engineer. The control center was located in the village of Shkolnoye (NIP-10). Each control session lasted daily for up to 9 hours, with breaks in the middle of the lunar day (for 3 hours) and on the lunar night. Operators' actions were tested on current model"Lunokhod" at a special training ground with imitation of lunar soil.
The main difficulty in controlling the lunar rover was the time delay: a radio signal travels to the Moon and back for about 2 seconds, and the frequency of small-frame television picture changes ranged from 1 frame per 4 seconds to 1 frame per 20 seconds. The total delay in control reached up to 24 seconds, depending on the terrain.
The Lunokhod could move at two different speeds, in two modes: manual and dosed. The dosed mode was an automatic movement stage programmed by the operator. The turn was carried out by changing the speed and direction of rotation of the left and right side wheels.
To the east is the Poseidon crater.
Picture 9.
A sea of crises. The Sea of Crises is easily visible to the naked eye as a separate dark oval speck to the right of the main sea basin. Located northeast of the Sea of Tranquility. The sea has a diameter of 418 km and an area of 137,000 km.
The surface of the Moon is covered with a layer of rock, crushed to a dusty state as a result of meteorite bombardment over millions of years. This rock is called regolith. The thickness of the regolith layer varies from 3 meters in areas of the lunar “oceans” to 20 m on the lunar plateaus. For the first time, lunar soil was delivered to Earth by the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft in July 1969, in the amount of 21.7 kg. The Luna 16 automatic station delivered 101 grams of soil on September 24, 1970, after the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 expeditions. “Luna-20” and “Luna-24” from three regions of the Moon: the Sea of Plenty, the continental region near the Amegino crater and the Sea of Crisis in the amount of 324 g and were transferred to the GEOKHI RAS for research and storage. During lunar missions Under the Apollo program, 382 kg of lunar soil was delivered to Earth.
On August 22, 1976, the Soviet Luna-24 probe successfully delivered a soil sample from the Sea of Crises to Earth.
Picture 10.
Apennine Mountains. There are several mountain ranges and plateaus present on the Moon. They differ from the lunar “oceans” in being lighter in color. The lunar mountains, unlike the mountains on Earth, were formed as a result of collisions of giant meteorites with the surface. The fourth landing on the Moon took place in the Apennine Mountains. The flight of Apollo 15 was the first so-called J-mission. There were three of them, along with Apollo 16 and Apollo 17. J missions included longer landings on the Moon (up to several days) with big accent on Scientific research than it was before. Crew commander David Scott and lunar module pilot James Irwin spent almost three days (just under 67 hours) on the Moon. Total duration three exits to the lunar surface amounted to 18 and a half hours. On the Moon, the crew used a lunar vehicle for the first time, the Lunar Roving Vehicle, which greatly facilitated and accelerated the movement of astronauts between various geologically interesting objects. 77 kilograms of lunar soil samples were collected and then delivered to Earth. According to experts, the samples delivered by this expedition were the most interesting of all collected during the Apollo program.
Lunar rover
The Moon is the closest and best studied celestial body and is considered a candidate for the establishment of a human colony. NASA developed space program"Constellation", within which a new space technology and create the necessary infrastructure to support flights of the new spacecraft to the ISS, as well as flights to the Moon, the creation of a permanent base on the Moon and, in the future, flights to Mars. However, according to the decision of US President Barack Obama on February 1, 2010, funding for the program may be terminated in 2011.
In February 2010, NASA introduced new project: “avatars” on the Moon, which could be realized in just 1000 days. Its essence lies in organizing an expedition to the Moon with the participation of robotic avatars (representing a telepresence device) instead of people. In this case, flight engineers eliminate the need to use important systems life support and thanks to this, less complex and expensive spaceship. To control robotic avatars, NASA experts suggest using high-tech remote presence suits (like a suit virtual reality). The same suit can be “put on” by several specialists from different areas sciences one by one. For example, while studying the features of the lunar surface, a geologist can control the “avatar,” and then a physicist can put on a telepresence suit.
China has also repeatedly announced its plans to explore the Moon. On October 24, 2007, China's first lunar satellite, Chang'e-1, was successfully launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. His tasks included obtaining stereo images, with the help of which a three-dimensional map of the lunar surface would subsequently be produced. In the future, China hopes to establish a habitable space on the Moon. scientific base. According to Chinese program, the development of the Earth’s natural satellite is scheduled for 2040-2060.
Japanese agency for space research plans to commission a manned station on the Moon by 2030 - five years later than previously expected. In March 2010, Japan decided to abandon manned space lunar program due to budget deficit.
The second half of 2007 was marked by a new stage in the space competition. At this time, the launches of lunar satellites from Japan and China took place. And in November 2008, the Indian satellite Chandrayaan-1 was launched. Installed on Chandrayaan-1 11 scientific instruments from different countries will make it possible to create a detailed atlas of the lunar surface and carry out radio sounding of the lunar surface in search of metals, water and helium-3.
On November 22, 2010, Russian scientists identified the 14 most likely lunar landing sites. Each landing site measures 30-60 km. Future lunar bases are at the experimental stage; in particular, the first ones have already been carried out successful tests self-patching spacecraft. It is possible that some of them will be used in the operation of the first stations, which are planned to be sent to the Moon as early as 2013. In the future, Russia plans to use cryogenic (low-temperature) drilling at the lunar poles to deliver soil containing volatiles to Earth. organic matter. This method will allow organic compounds, which are frozen on the regolith, do not evaporate.
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky said: “The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever.” Humanity will master others cosmic bodies and the closest, both in time and distance, will be the Moon.
In March 2010, Professor Phil Stuck from the University of Western Ontario discovered Lunokhod 2 in the images, thereby clarifying the coordinates of its location.
Unfortunately, this cannot be done with our telescope. Currents of warm air, especially in winter time, affect image clarity. Warmth from open door, from open windows, from ventilation systems of buildings, car exhausts - all this worsens the image of celestial objects, because our telescope was in the city during observations. Images taken in positive temperatures on October 20 were of higher quality than images taken in subzero temperatures on November 21, 2010. At the same time, we can firmly say that through a telescope you can see everything. interesting objects Moons.
Special thanks to Adel Kamilievich Enikeev for the opportunity to use the Sky-Watcher HEQ5 1000 * 200 reflector telescope and a Canon EOS 50D digital camera with a set of interchangeable lenses.
I've done the work
Portyanko Alexander,
student of Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 22, Kirovsky District, Ufa
Republic of Bashkortostan
Planet Earth has a natural satellite near it, the Moon.. The period of revolution of the Moon around the Earth is 29.53 solar days. It is worth noting that the period of circulation and lunar day match up. From this when moon sighting You can only see one side of it, and it is always hidden from us.
To enlarge, click on the image
If you decide to observe the Moon through a telescope, then first you should decide on the observation area. On the lunar surface, through a telescope, many areas and details can be discerned in more or less detail. It also depends on the characteristics of the telescope. The areas visible to us can be seen on a map of the lunar surface.
To enlarge, click on the image.
To make it pleasant to observe the Moon through a telescope, It’s worth stocking up on special filters. After all, the Earth's satellite is the second brightest object after that visible from our planet. By applying filters, the surface of the satellite can be examined in more detail.
It is also worth noting that observing the Moon should be done when it is high above the horizon. The point is not in the city lights, and not in the smoke, but the point is that there are turbulent air currents near the horizon, which greatly distort the image.
So it is better to observe when the Moon is high above the horizon. If the weather suddenly gets a little worse, it’s worth having several eyepieces with different focal lengths. Since in a turbulent atmosphere, strong magnification will produce significant distortion.
It is best to begin observing the lunar surface on the third day after the new moon.. At this time, the details of the relief can be seen more clearly on the surface.
The dark boundary of light and shadow on the surface of the Moon is called the terminator. The border of the terminator on the third day after the new moon runs through the very center of the Sea of Crises. Here you can take a closer look large craters: Petavius, Langren, Furnerius.
On the fifth day, the border passes through the Taurus region. You can also observe the craters here: Hercules, Atlas, Jansen. And also the Sea of Cold, the Sea of Rain and the Apennines and Alps. On the tenth day lunar phase you can see the Jura Mountains, Rainbow Bay and the Great southern mainland, which is very heavily covered with craters. During the full moon period, the visible surface of the Moon will be completely accessible for observation.
Short-term phenomena.
When observing the lunar surface you can see interesting phenomena. These are gas emissions from craters, which are accompanied by bright flashes. When meteorites fall to the surface, a flash also occurs. There are such strange phenomena like dark spots that seem to float on the surface. You can often see a bluish glow in the Aristarchus crater, and a reddish glow in the Gassendi crater.
Most often mysterious phenomena unknown origin , can be observed in the area of the Aristarchus crater, about 100 cases were recorded there. In the Sea of Crises, the Plato crater, as well as in the Schröter valley.
Of all the astronomical objects in the sky, none is more attractive than the only one natural satellite of our planet - the Moon. Remember the rush of excitement and feeling when you first saw the surface of the Moon through a telescope or astronomical binoculars? (If you haven't seen it yet, you will be amazed.) The first observations of its wide plains, mountain ranges, deep valleys, and countless craters are remembered by all astronomy lovers.
Different moon every night. Moon phases
The moon revolves around our planet and makes full turn around the Earth in approximately 27.3 days. We only see one side of the Moon's surface while on Earth. Moreover, due to the inclination of the Moon’s rotation axis to the plane of the Earth’s orbit (1.5°), while on Earth you can see the northern and southern edges of the far side of the Moon. IN total we can see up to 59% of the lunar surface.Watching the Moon through a telescope in different days(during the dark), you can see that appearance The moon changes dramatically during its 27.3-day orbital period. This happens because, looking at the Moon from our observation point, sunlight falls on the surface of the Moon at different phases under different angles. Due to the change in angle sunlight The Moon appears slightly different to us each night as it orbits the Earth. Note that in reality, approximately 29.5 days pass from new moon to new moon. The added time is due to the movement of the Earth around the Sun.
The Moon is an ideal target for all amateur astronomers. It is bright and large enough to reveal amazing surface detail, regardless of the type or size of telescopic equipment, and can be viewed successfully both in the city and in rural areas. But keep in mind that some phases of the moon are more favorable for viewing than others.
Best time to watch the moon
Perhaps the most erroneous common belief is that the full phase of the moon (full moon) is the best time for viewing. Because Sun rays During this period, they shine directly on the Moon; there are no shadows on its surface that could give the lunar surface texture and relief. Look though full moon through a telescope is also interesting.Instead, the best time to see is when the crescent Moon (waxing) is a few nights after the new moon (when the Moon is a thin crescent), or until two or three nights after the first quarter (when half of the visible disk is glowing). But the best time to observe is the waning Moon immediately before the last quarter and further to the new moon phase. During these phases, finer features of the Moon's surface can be seen at the terminator line due to the Sun's lower altitude at moonlit sky. Terminator is a light dividing line separating the illuminated (light) part of a celestial body from the unlit (dark) part.
The globe will help
From the Earth we can only see one side of the Moon, but with the help of a lunar globe we can see its other side. The globe shows a detailed map of the lunar surface with the names of craters, valleys, lunar seas, lakes, mountains, etc. The landing sites of spacecraft of the USSR and the USA throughout the history of exploration of the lunar surface are indicated. The coordinate selenographic grid of the Moon is plotted. With the help of a globe and a telescope, you can easily find the Ocean of Storms, the Sea of Tranquility, Lunnik Bay, Lake Happiness, the craters of Tycho, Copernicus and other lunar objects.
For better clarity when studying the Moon, you can purchase a globe with detailed map lunar surface.
Improve the look with lunar filters
It is always better to look at the Moon through lunar filters, no matter what phase the Moon is in. They screw into the barrel of the telescope eyepiece and reduce bright moonlight, making it more favorable to observe the Moon and identify more quantity details of the lunar surface. Some moon filters, called variable polarization filters, allow you to adjust the brightness to your liking.