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Lunar Observation
The Moon is the largest natural satellite of and the closest major astronomical object to Earth. The Moon may be observed by using a variety of optical instruments, ranging from the naked eye to large telescopes. The Moon is the only celestial body upon which surface features can be discerned with the unaided eyes of most people. Optimal viewing times Contrary to popular belief, the Moon should ideally not be viewed at its full phase. During a full moon, rays of sunlight are hitting the visible portion of the Moon perpendicular to the surface. As a result, there is less surface detail visible during a full moon than during other phases (such as the quarter and crescent phases) when sunlight hits the Moon at a much shallower angle. The brightness of a full moon as compared to a phase where a smaller percentage of the surface is illuminated tends to wash out substantial amounts of detail and can actually leave an afterimage on an observer's eye that can persist for several minute ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moon Names
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of Australia). The Moon is a planetary-mass object with a differentiated rocky body, making it a satellite planet under the geophysical definitions of the term and larger than all known dwarf planets of the Solar System. It lacks any significant atmosphere, hydrosphere, or magnetic field. Its surface gravity is about one-sixth of Earth's at , with Jupiter's moon Io being the only satellite in the Solar System known to have a higher surface gravity and density. The Moon orbits Earth at an average distance of , or about 30 times Earth's diameter. Its gravitational influence is the main driver of Earth's tides and very slowly lengthens Earth's day. The Moon's orbit around Earth has a sidereal period of 27.3 days. During each synodic period ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lubiniezky (crater)
Lubiniezky is a lava-flooded lunar impact crater on the northwest edge of Mare Nubium. It was named after Polish astronomer Stanisław Lubieniecki. This feature is most readily located by finding the prominent crater Bullialdus to the southeast. The floor of Lubiniezky has been resurfaced by basaltic lava, which most likely entered from the surrounding mare through the gap in the southeast wall. The surviving rim forms a curved, worn rise around the relatively flat and featureless inner floor. The rim is joined by ridges attached to the north and west walls. To the north of this feature is the bowl-shaped crater Darney. The associated craters Lubiniezky A and E are also flooded, and lie to the northwest. Satellite craters By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Lubiniezky. File:Lubiniezky E crater AS16-119-19106.jpg, Lubiniezky E File:Lubiniezky E and A craters 4132 h2.jpg, Lubiniez ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mare Vaporum
Mare Vaporum (Latin ''vapōrum'', the "sea of vapors") is a lunar mare located between the southwest rim of Mare Serenitatis and the southeast rim of Mare Imbrium. It was named by Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1651.''Autostar Suite Astronomer Edition''. CD-ROM. Meade, April 2006. The mare lies in an old basin or crater that is within the Procellarum basin. It is in diameter and in area, and is bordered to the northeast by the mountain range Montes Apenninus. In the south of the mare is Rima Hyginus, a rille intersected by the crater Hyginus. The lunar material surrounding the mare is from the Lower Imbrian epoch, and the mare material is from the Eratosthenian The Eratosthenian period in the lunar geologic timescale runs from 3,200 million years ago to 1,100 million years ago. It is named after the crater Eratosthenes, which displays characteristics typical of craters of this age, including a surface ... epoch. References External links Mare Vaporum at The Moon Wiki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plinius (crater)
Plinius is a prominent lunar impact crater on the border between Mare Serenitatis to the north and Mare Tranquilitatis to the south. Its diameter is 41 km. The crater is named after the Roman natural scientist and author Pliny the Elder. To the south-southeast of Plinius is the crater Ross, and to the northeast is Dawes. Just to the north is a system of rilles named the Rimae Plinius and touching it is the Brackett crater which is more than a crater diameter north. At the northwest edge of the rille is the Promontorium Archerusia, a cape off the western rim that encloses the Mare Serenitatis. Description The sharp rim of Plinius is slightly oval in form, with a terraced inner wall and an irregular outer rampart. It lacks a visible ray system. The crater floor is hilly, and in the middle is an irregular central peak that has the appearance of a double crater formation under certain angles of illumination. A cleft feature is attached to the northern side of the peak. The easte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gassendi (crater)
Gassendi is a large lunar impact crater feature located at the northern edge of Mare Humorum. It was named after French astronomer Pierre Gassendi. The formation has been inundated by lava during the formation of the mare, so only the rim and the multiple central peaks remain above the surface. The outer rim is worn and eroded, although it retains a generally circular form. A smaller crater – Gassendi A – intrudes into the northern rim, and joins a rough uplift at the northwest part of the floor. The crater pair bear a curious resemblance to a diamond ring. In the southern part of the crater floor is a semi-circular ridge-like formation that is concentric with the outer rim. It is in the southern part where the rim dips down to its lowest portion, and a gap appears at the most southern point. The rim varies in height from as little as 200 meters to as high as 2.5 kilometers above the surface. The floor has numerous hummocks and rough spots. There is also a system of ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kepler (lunar Crater)
Kepler is a lunar impact crater that lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the west and Mare Insularum in the east. To the southeast is the crater Encke. Kepler is named for the 17th century German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler. Description Kepler is most notable for the prominent ray system that covers the surrounding mare. The rays extend for well over 300 kilometers, overlapping the rays from other craters. Kepler has a small rampart of ejecta surrounding the exterior of its high rim. The outer wall is not quite circular, and possesses a slightly polygonal form. The interior walls of Kepler are slumped and slightly terraced, descending to an uneven floor and a minor central rise. One of the rays from Tycho, when extended across the Oceanus Procellarum, intersects this crater. This was a factor in the choice of the crater's name when Giovanni Riccioli was creating his system of lunar nomenclature, as Kepler used the observations of Tycho Brahe while devis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mare Humorum
Mare Humorum (Latin ''hūmōrum'', the "Sea of Moisture") is a lunar mare. The impact basin it is located in is 425 kilometers across. Geology It was not sampled by the Apollo program, so a precise age has not been determined. However, geological mapping indicates that it is intermediate in age between the Imbrium and Nectaris Basins, suggesting an age of about 3.9 billion years. Humorum Basin is filled with a thick layer of mare basalt, believed to exceed 3 kilometers in thickness at the center of the basin. A mass concentration (mascon), or gravitational high, was identified in the center of Mare Humorum from Doppler tracking of the five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in 1968. The mascon was confirmed and mapped at higher resolution with later orbiters such as Lunar Prospector and GRAIL. On the north edge of Mare Humorum is the large crater Gassendi, which was considered as a possible landing site for Apollo 17. To the south are the floor-fractured Vitello crater, the partial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mare Nectaris
Mare Nectaris (Latin ''nectaris'', the "Sea of Nectar") is a small lunar mare or sea (a volcanic lava plain noticeably darker than the rest of the Moon's surface) located south of Mare Tranquillitatis southwest of Mare Fecunditatis, on the near side of the moon. Montes Pyrenaeus borders the mare to the east and Sinus Asperitatis fuses to its northwestern edge. It is 84,000 square kilometers in size. Several large craters are situated at the borders of Mare Nectaris. The biggest one is lava-filled Fracastorius (124 km), which fuses with southern coast of the Sea. A prominent trio of 100-km craters Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina is located near northwestern coast. Other notable feature is a "ghost crater" Daguerre, almost entirely covered with lava, in the northern part of Mare Nectaris. Mare Nectaris is located in the central part of 860-km-diameter impact basin, which was formed 3.8–3.9 billion years ago. This event marks the beginning of Nectarian period of the lu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Copernicus (lunar Crater)
Copernicus is a lunar impact crater located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum. It was named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. It typifies craters that formed during the Copernican period in that it has a prominent ray system. It may have been created by debris from the breakup of the parent body of asteroid 495 Eulalia 800 million years ago. Characteristics Copernicus is visible using binoculars, and is located slightly northwest of the center of the Moon's Earth-facing hemisphere. South of the crater is the Mare Insularum, and to the south-south west is the crater Reinhold. North of Copernicus are the Montes Carpatus, which lie at the south edge of Mare Imbrium. West of Copernicus is a group of dispersed lunar hills. Due to its relative youth, the crater has remained in a relatively pristine shape since it formed. The circular rim has a discernible hexagonal form, with a terraced inner wall and a 30 km wide, sloping rampart that descends nearly a kilometer to the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Man In The Moon
In many cultures, several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body are recognized in the disc of the full moon; they are generally known as the Man in the Moon. The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar maria) and the lighter-colored highlands (and some lowlands) of the lunar surface. Origin There are various explanations for how the Man in the Moon came to be. A longstanding European tradition holds that the man was banished to the Moon for some crime. Jewish lore (as this predates the Christians) commonly held that he is the man caught gathering sticks on the Sabbath and sentenced by God to death by stoning in the Book of Numbers XV.32–36. Some Germanic cultures thought he was a woodcutter found working on the Sabbath. There is a Roman legend that he is a sheep-thief. One medieval Christian tradition claims that he is Cain, the Wanderer, forever doomed to circle the Earth. Dante's ''Inferno''Dante, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, canto 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moon Rabbit
The Moon rabbit or Moon hare is a mythical figure in East Asian and indigenous American folklore, based on pareidolia interpretations that identify the dark markings on the near side of the Moon as a rabbit or hare. In East Asia, the rabbit is seen as pounding with a mortar and pestle, but the contents of the mortar differ among Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese folklore. In Chinese folklore, the rabbit is often portrayed as a companion of the Moon goddess Chang'e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her and some show the making of cakes or rice cakes; but in Japanese and Korean versions, the rabbit is pounding the ingredients for mochi or some other type of rice cakes; in the Vietnamese version, the Moon rabbit often appears with Hằng Nga and Chú Cuội, and like the Chinese version, the Vietnamese Moon rabbit also pounding the elixir of immortality in the mortar. In some Chinese versions, the rabbit pounds medicine for the mortals and some include making of m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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