5/30/2023 0 Comments Vintage book moon atlas![]() If one enhances the colour in a lunar image (it is not just a monochrome object) it is seen that Mare Tranquillitatis has a bluish hue whereas the adjacent Mare Serenitatis is reddish in colour. The brighter highland regions are rich in calcium and aluminium whilst the darker maria are made up of basaltic lavas containing large amounts of magnesium, iron and titanium. This darker hue results from their chemical composition. Their relative darkness separates them from the lighter lunar highlands. The name Mare or, the plural, Maria comes from the latin ‘sea or seas’ as, in the 17 th century, they were thought to be seas. The ‘Lunar 100 Observing Club’ provides an observing log that can be used to record your observations and an excellent website: includes many images of the individual lunar regions and gives links to further related websites.Įven visible with the unaided eye as the ‘Man in the Moon’, the lunar maria are, perhaps, its most striking feature. The April 2004 issue of Sky and Telescope published an article by Charles Wood listing 100 of the most interesting sights to observe on the Moon. Virtual Moon Atlas can beautifully show the Moon’s libration simply by holding down the left mouse click over the “>” tab in the ephemeris command window. Though the Moon is tidally locked to keep one face towards the Earth, its elliptical orbit makes it appear to ‘wobble’ a little and this allows us, at times, to see some of the far side with, over time, 59% in total of the lunar surface visible from the Earth. ![]() The period from one New Moon to the next, called a synodic month or lunation, is 29.5 days. Its angular size thus varies from 29.4 up to 33.5 arc seconds and when at its furthest distance cannot fully cover the Sun’s disk during a solar eclipse so that an annulus of the Sun surrounds the dark lunar disc and one sees what is called an ‘annular eclipse’. The Moon orbits the Earth in an elliptical path so that its distance varies from 356,400 km at perigee to 406,700 km at apogee. It plots an excellent chart of the visible part of the lunar surface for any chosen date and time and will provide detailed information about any feature that is selected as shown in the figure below.Ī comparison of its chart and the author’s image at the same lunar phase is shown in the image below. There is one piece of free software that every lunar observer should have and that is the ‘The Virtual Moon Atlas’. ‘Phillips Night Sky Atlas’ by Robin Scagell is a superb book for beginners and it has an excellent chapter on the Moon containing four, beautifully drawn, lunar quadrant charts. This can sometimes be found second hand but is now quite rare. It includes very detailed maps drawn by Wilkins. This is the highest resolution lunar chart available and can be bought second hand for ~£64.Ī classic Book with excellent descriptions of lunar craters and features written by Patrick Moore is ‘The Moon’ by Wilkins and Moore. The, large scale, ‘Times Atlas of the Moon’ is based on the Lunar Surveyor images and charted by the US Air Force. ![]() This is ~£25 from Amazon but may be found for less. (New copies are VERY expensive!) A superb photographic atlas is the ‘21 st Century Atlas of the Moon’ by Wood and Collins. It is well worth seeking out a second hand copy. In this short series I will first point out some of the aids that can help when planning lunar observations and then describe some of its most interesting features.Ī classic, hand drawn, lunar atlas is the ‘Atlas of the Moon’ by Antonin Rükl. This allows one to progressively dim the view of the Moon to the desired level whilst, at the same time, increasing contrast, reducing glare and so increasing the amount of detail that can be studied. Each filter set consists of two polarizing filters, one which can be rotated in its cell to adjust the brightness down from ~40% to ~2%. Even better, a polarising filter can be obtained from about £28 for use with a 1.25 inch eyepiece or £40 for use with a 2 inch eyepiece. Any telescope can be used and a “Moon filter” used to reduce its brightness so that it does not dazzle the eye. An article in the author’s Astronomy Digest – Ī great thing about observing the Moon is that it is easy to find and very bright (perhaps too bright) so that it can be one of the best objects for a beginner to study.
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