Beautiful Moon

The Moon is currently showing a 'waxing crescent' phase: as it travels around the Earth the angle between the Moon and the Sun varies how much of its surface is illuminated as seen from our planet. At the moment it is moving towards a position where it is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun: full Moon. When the illuminated portion is becoming larger, the Moon is described as waxing: when it is decreasing the Moon is described as waning. The large multiple crater on the border between the Moon's lit and unlit regions (the terminator) is called Janssen: the relentless pounding of the lunar surface that produced these amazing impact structures is almost unimaginable.