Here are my observations of the Moon's features listed in the Astronomical League's Lunar Observing Club. All of the observations were made with my naked eyes, Orion Little Giant 16x80 binoculars or Orion 8" Dob telescope.
The purpose of this table is to make it easy for me (and anyone else who is interested) to see what objects I've observed. The list was taken from Astronomical League's list of Moon features to observe in order to get the AL Lunar Observing Club certificate.
Also if you would like a template of this page for your own logging usage, here's the template file. This will open the file in a new browser. Just save the file using "Save As..." or whatever save command you use to save new files. Then you can edit it with your favorite editor and put it on your web site. Be sure to let me know if you're using the template.
There are 3 tables here, one for observations with naked eyes, one
for observations made with binoculars and third for observations
with telescope. In the latter 2 tables, the column, "Chart #"
is the chart number from the book, Atlas of the
Moon
, by Antonin Ruke.
| Feature | Best Observed | Date | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Moon In New Moon's Arm | Within 72 hours after New Moon | ||||
| New Moon In Old Moon's Arm | Within 72 hours before New Moon | 2002-10-04 | 07:00 CDT | Top of parking garage at work, Austin | Lovely sight. Dark side of moon easily visible. |
| Waxing Crescent Moon | Within 48 hours after New Moon | ||||
| Waning Crescent Moon | Within 48 hours before New Moon | ||||
| Man in the Moon | |||||
| Woman in the Moon | |||||
| Rabbit in the Moon | |||||
| Cow jumpping over the Moon | |||||
| Maria Crisium | First Quarter to Full Moon | ||||
| Maria Fecunditatis | First Quarter to Full Moon | ||||
| Maria Serenitatis | First Quarter to Full Moon | 2003-04-12 | 20:35 CDT | Home in Austin | Had no trouble seeing it as the right "eye". |
| Maria Tranquillitatis | First Quarter to Full Moon | ||||
| Maria Nectaris | First Quarter to Full Moon | ||||
| Maria Imbrium | Full Moon to Third Quarter | 2003-04-12 | 20:35 CDT | Home in Austin | Had no trouble seeing it as the left "eye". |
| Maria Frigoris | Full Moon to Third Quarter | ||||
| Maria Nubium | Full Moon to Third Quarter | 2003-04-12 | 20:40 CDT | Home in Austin | Saw it as the "nose". |
| Maria Humorum | Full Moon to Third Quarter | ||||
| Maria Oceanus Procellarum | Full Moon to Third Quarter |
| Feature | Best Observed | Chart # | Date | Time | Moon Age | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunar Rays | |||||||
| Sinus Iridum | Full Moon to Third Quarter | 10 | |||||
| Sinus Medii | First Quarter to Full Moon | 33 | |||||
| Sinus Roris | Around Third Quarter | 1,8,9 | |||||
| Palus Somnii | Around First Quarter | 26,37 | |||||
| Palus Epidemiarum | Around Third Quarter | 63 | |||||
| Mare Vaporum | Around First Quarter | 22,33,34 | |||||
| Crater Langrenus | About 4 days old | 49 | 2002-06-15 | 22:00 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | C. Langrenus appears as white oval. |
| Crater Vendelinus | About 4 days old | 60 | 2002-06-15 | 22:00 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | C. Vendelinus appears as white oval. |
| Crater Petavius | About 4 days old | 59 | 2002-06-15 | 22:00 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Found it between C. Langrenus and C. Vendelinus, faintly. |
| Crater Cleomedes | About 4 days old | 26 | 2002-06-15 | 21:40 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Could see C. Cleomedes faintly, a bit more difficult than C. Macrobius. |
| Crater Atlas | About 4 days old | 15 | 2002-06-15 | 21:25 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Can see it with a bit of difficulty, next (eastward) to C. Hercules. |
| Crater Hercules | About 4 days old | 14 | 2002-06-15 | 21:25 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Can see it with a bit of difficulty next (westward) to C. Atlas. |
| Crater Endymion | About 4 days old | 7 | |||||
| Crater Macrobius | About 4 days old | 26 | 2002-06-15 | 21:40 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Could make it out faintly, but not as difficult as seeing C. Cleomedes, which is odd since C. Cleomedes is bigger than C. Macrobius. |
| Crater Piccolomini | About 7 days old | 58 | 2002-06-15 | 22:20 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Made it out without trouble. |
| Crater Theophilus | About 7 days old | 46 | 2002-06-15 | 22:15 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Beautiful sight! I can see its bright peak, with the interior of the crater in darkness. Observed this in conjunction with C. Cyrillus and C. Catharina. |
| Crater Cyrillus | About 7 days old | 46 | 2002-06-15 | 22:15 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Beautiful sight! I can see its bright peak, with the interior of the crater in darkness. Observed this in conjunction with C. Theophilus and C. Catharina. |
| Crater Catharina | About 7 days old | 57 | 2002-06-15 | 22:15 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Beautiful sight! I couldn't make out its peak though, unlike adjacent C. Cyrillus. Observed this in conjunction with C. Theophilus and C. Cyrillus. |
| Crater Posidonius | About 7 days old | 14 | 2002-06-15 | 21:30 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Clearly visible, nicely reliefed. |
| Crater Fracastorius | About 7 days old | 58 | 2002-06-15 | 22:20 CDT | 5 days | Home in Austin | Made it out easily when tried to "dim" the lunar light intensity by shifting my eye around. |
| Crater Aristoteles | About 7 days old | 5 | |||||
| Crater Eudoxus | About 7 days old | 13 | |||||
| Crater Cassini | About 7 days old | 12 | |||||
| Crater Hipparchus | About 7 days old | 44 | |||||
| Crater Albategnius | About 7 days old | 44 | |||||
| Crater Aristillus | About 7 days old | 12 | 2002-08-17 | 21:00 CDT | 9 days old | Home in Austin | This one was easy to find, being norteast of Crater Archimedes and north of Crater Autolyeus. |
| Crater Autolycus | About 7 days old | 12 | 2002-08-17 | 21:00 CDT | 9 days old | Home in Austin | Like Crater Archimedes and Aristillus, this was easy to find. It's smaller than either of these craters, but still a lovely sight. |
| Crater Maurolycus | About 7 days old | 66 | |||||
| Crater Plato | About 10 days old | 3 | 2002-08-17 | 20:55 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | It was very easily visible. Bright rim with darkish crater floor. |
| Crater Archimedes | About 10 days old | 12,22 | 2002-08-17 | 21:00 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | Could see it without too much trouble. I also could see C. Aristillus and Autolycus easily. |
| Crater Ptolemaeus | About 10 days old | 44 | 2002-08-17 | 21:10 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | This was visible but only with some effort. I could also see Crater Herschel, which was north of this crater, and helped me to find Crater Ptolemaeus. In addition I saw Crater Arzachel. |
| Crater Alphonsus | About 10 days old | 44 | 2002-08-17 | 21:10 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | This was visible with some effort and in addition to Crater Ptolemaeus, I also was able to see Crater Herschel and Crater Arzachel. |
| Crater Arzachel | About 10 days old | 55 | 2002-08-17 | 21:10 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | A lovely crater with a very nice peak at the center. |
| Crater Walter | About 10 days old | 65 | 2002-08-17 | 21:35 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | Finally saw it after some trouble finding it among the numerous craters in the era. I could see very vaguely the craters in Crater Walter itself. |
| Crater Maginus | About 10 days old | 73 | 2002-08-17 | 21:40 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | Made out this crater with help from Crater Clavius to its southwest and Crater Tycho to its northwest. |
| Crater Tycho | About 10 days old | 64 | 2002-08-17 | 21:40 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | An easily visible as a sharp defined crater. |
| Crater Clavius | About 10 days old | 72 | 2002-08-17 | 21:45 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | A lovely view with a long shadow over Crater Blancanus to its southwest |
| Crater Eratosthenes | About 10 days old | 21,32 | 2002-08-17 | 21:50 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | I think I saw a hint of its peak in a very well defined crater. |
| Crater Longomontenus | About 10 days old | 72 | 2002-08-17 | 21:45 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | I could see its peak, as well as very nice shadow. |
| Crater Copernicus | About 10 days old | 31 | 2002-08-17 | 21:50 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | A beautiful crater with its central peak easily visible. |
| Crater Bulliadus | About 10 days old | 53 | 2002-08-17 | 22:00 CDT | 9 days | Home in Austin | It was near the terminator when I observed it--hence most of its floor was in the shadow. Nonethless, it's a lovely view. |
| Crater Aristarchus | About 10 days old | 18 | |||||
| Crater Gassendi | About 10 days old | 52 | |||||
| Crater Kepler | About 14 days old | 30 | |||||
| Crater Grimaldi | About 14 days old | 39 |
| Feature | Best Observed | Chart # | Date | Time | Moon Age | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sinus Aestuum | About 10 days old | 32 | 2003-04-12 | 21:10 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | At 133x power, this looked like Texas! Or at the very least a fat arrowhead or spearhead. |
| Lacus Mortis | About 7 days old | 14 | 2002-08-15 | 21:00 CDT | 7 days | Home in Austin | At 48x, it's right on a ridge running from Mare Serenitatis. I could make out Crater Mason easily, but Crater Plana was not as easy. I had no trouble finding C. Burg, which sit in the middle of Lacus Mortis. Switching to 133x, I could see C. Plana more easily, as well as numerous smaller craters around and in C. Mason and Plana. C. Burg has a nice peak. L. Mortis appear to be to have a shape resembling Australia through the telescope. |
| Palus Putredinis | About 9 days old? | 22 | 2003-04-12 | 21:05 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | Nice view of the greyish palus at both powers. |
| Promontorium Laplace | About 10 days old | 10 | 2003-04-12 | 21:25 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | Lovely view of this promontorium and the other promontorim (Heraclides) on the other side of Sinus Iridum. This is one real good reason to get higher power eyepiece, as it'd be fun to explore them in greater details. Also this would be better observed earlier in the moon's month since there'd be more shadow. So I will definitely check this again earlier to determine best age to observe this, not to mention with higher power eyepiece. |
| Promontorium Heraclides | About 10 days old | 10 | 2003-04-12 | 21:25 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | A beautiful sight along with the other promontorim (Laplace) around Sinus Imbrium. As mention above, I will want to check this again earlier in the moon's month. |
| Promontorium Agarum | About 7 days old | 38 | 2002-08-15 | 21:15 CDT | 7 days | Home in Austin | Easily visible at 48x as a white "finger" off Mare Crisium. With 133x, it's a very nice view, could even see shadow off it. |
| Montes Alpes | About 10 days old | 12 | 2003-04-12 | 21:45 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | Very nice view of the mountains. I can imagine why it was given its name. Definitely another to reobserve at a better time. |
| Montes Apenninus | About 10 days old | 22 | 2003-04-12 | 22:05 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | A nice chain of mountains. Would be better observed earlier in the moon's month. |
| Mons Hadley | About 10 days old | 22 | 2003-04-12 | 22:05 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | This appeared as a bright white spot at both powers. Another object to reobserve in the future. |
| Mons Piton | About 10 days old | 12 | 2003-04-12 | 21:45 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | This wasn't too hard to find, not far from Montes Alpes. A nice sole mountain in the middle of plain. |
| Mons Pico | About 10 days old | 11 | 2003-04-12 | 22:20 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | A nice elongated mountain with a bit of shadow coming off it. |
| Rupes Altai | About 7 days old | 57 | 2002-08-15 | 21:30 CDT | 7 days | Home in Austin | With 48x power, it's a nice and somewhat easily visible "bump" next to Crater Catharina. At 133x, it's a lovely sight of the craters and the Rupes. The bend in the Rupes is easily visible, although not quite as long as the chart indicated. |
| Rima Hyginus | About 7 days old | 33,34 | |||||
| Villis Schroteri | About 14 days old | 18 | |||||
| Villis Alpes | About 14 days old | 4,12 | |||||
| Rupes Recta | About 14 days old | 54 | |||||
| Crater Picard | About 4 days old | 26 | |||||
| Crater Furnerius | About 4 days old | 69 | |||||
| Crater Petavius Wall | About 4 days old | 59 | |||||
| Crater Messier/Messier A | About 4 days old | 48 | |||||
| Crater Proclus | About 4 days old | 26 | |||||
| Crater Fabricius | About 4 days old | 68 | |||||
| Crater Plinius | About 7 days old | 24 | 2002-08-15 | 21:50 CDT | 7 days | Home in Austin | With 48x, it's a lovely clear crater with a nice peak and shadow. However at 133x, the seeing was rather poor. |
| Crater Mitchell | About 7 days old | 5 | |||||
| Crater Cassini A | About 7 days old | 12 | |||||
| Crater Manilus | About 7 days old | 23,24 | |||||
| Crater Gemma Frisius | About 7 days old | 66 | |||||
| Crater Davy | About 10 days old | 43 | 2003-04-12 | 22:50 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | I couldn't find it at first at 48x power, so I switched to higher power (133x) and was able to find it along with the adjacent Davy A crater. Both of them together look like an apple with a fat stem. |
| Crater Pitatus | About 10 days old | 54,64 | 2003-04-12 | 23:00 CDT | 10 days | Home in Austin | Somehow I got a better view of this at 48x rather than 133x overall. I also got new view of Crater Hesiodus and together they resmeble the Mandelbrot's Set. |
| Crater Billy | About 10 days old | 40 | |||||
| Crater Fra Mauro | About 10 days old | 42 | |||||
| Crater Clavius craterlets | About 10 days old | 72 | |||||
| Crater Hippalus | About 10 days old | 52 | |||||
| Crater Herschel, J. | About 10 days old | 2 | |||||
| Crater Schickard | About 14 days old | 62 | |||||
| Crater Reiner Gamma | About 14 days old | 29 |
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