Observing the Moon: Our Celestial Neighbor

There is no easier object to observe than the moon.

You don’t need a fancy telescope or binoculars or anything like that. You really don’t even need it to be night time. Most of the time our closest celestial neighbor is simply forgotten.

Yet up there on that cold rock there is a whole world of things to see and explore. Pun intended.

Before heading outside we need to figure out what we’re looking at.

Lunar Phases

As the moon travels around the earth, while the earth travels around the sun, the way the moon looks changes. You’ve noticed it. Sometimes the moon is barely a sliver while at other times it’s a bright giant orb above casting shadows and causing people to turn into ravenous canine monsters.

Why does the moon change shape?  It doesn’t. The shadow caused by the light from the sun and the position of the viewer on the earth in relation to the moon determines the lunar phase.

The phases start with the new moon and as it orbits around us the amount of light shining on the face of the moon slowly increases until we get the full moon. With the werewolves.

The half moon is either the first quarter or third quarter depending on which side of the full me we are on in the lunar cycle.

Want more phases? Between the new moon and the first quarter is the waxing crescent. Once you pass the first quarter we get the waxing gibbous. After the full moon we get the waning gibbous and eventually the waning crescent. 

You can see all the phases in this gif that was made using MOON, a lunar globe:

Lunar Occultation

As we get deeper into the hobby, we want to watch the moon do more tricks. Casting shadows and playing tag isn’t enough for us. When the moon eclipses other members of our solar system family, we get lunar occultations.

It happens the other way too, when an interior planet crosses the sun is called a solar occultation. Want to learn more about observing the sun safely without ruining your vision? Read our guide here.

So with our new found lunar expertise, its time to get the scope out and explore this big rock.

Three things to explore during the moon’s phases

Exploration of the lunar face when it is full is as easy as it gets. It’s a giant lighted ball in the sky. A very bright lighted ball.

Before diving in, the best way to get details out of the moon when it is full is to use a filter. A filter reduces the glare while bringing out more surface detail.  The full moon is like looking at a light bulb.  A filter acts like sunglasses.  

We recommend these filters
Filters that make seeing details better

Although the full moon is the easiest we think the half phases and crescents are the best. Taking the telescope along the terminator, the line where the light meets the dark, pulls out all the details. You can see tall mountain ranges casting shadows, huge craters being hidden by shadows, and the added contrast combined with less light makes it a more enjoyable experience.

Here are a few land marks to check out.
Messier Crater, Copernicus Crater, Clavius, Plato, Sea of Clouds, Mare Tranquilitus

Of course there are a ton of resources out there like maps and charts to help plan out your own lunar voyage but we made our own in a simple and fun workbook. And it’s free to download. Seriously we don’t even make you sign up for our mailing list to download it.

But you can still sign up here.

And there you have it, not only are you a modern astronomer, you are now an intrepid lunar explorer. We’ve since learned how to tell what phase the moon is in, we’ve learned why eclipses occur, and we’ve learned to spot lunar landmarks using filters.

But if you still haven’t bought that telescope (you mean you actually listened to us when we told you not to?) then we suggest [INSERT TELESCOPE SUGGESTION] for the easiest way to get started.

Yes it’s great for observing the moon but why stop there? It’s time for planets and the deep sky.

Until next time, wishing you dark skies and cloudless nights.