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Tuesday 29 September 2020

Great time to find your way around the Moon

When the Moon is a day or two away from full (as it was last night) even with a small telescope it's easy to pick out the so-called 'seas' and larger craters: the maria are, of course, huge impact craters that filled from beneath with lava / basalt.

These features were traditionally given Latin names (as is generally the case in Science) but the English translations are used with increasing frequency. (Personally, I'm a traditionalist!) I think Mare Crisium has more of a ring than 'The Sea of Crises')

Here's a photo of last night's waxing gibbous Moon and another naming the maria and a few craters:



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