Chasing Galileo – sketches of the nine-day moon

nine-day moon

Lunar creature features

Rabbit on the full moon

Night owls can enjoy the nine-day moon – it’s up all night long. In my sketch, the magnificent crater Copernicus is visible on the sunlit side of the terminator – on the right side of the lunar center. It looks so insignificant right now, but at full moon, its spendid ray system is a naked-eye delight! Tonight you see the deep crater floor half lit by the sun. Here’s a closeup of Copernicus sketched through a larger telescope at higher magnification (185x versus 19x on these full disk drawings) on nearly the same day of the lunar month.

From now until full moon, the dark lunar mare start to resemble creature features. I see half of the rabbit on the moon in my sketch. Mare Fecundatis and Mare Nectaris make the ears and Mare Tranquillatis (the Sea of Tranqulilty) makes a cute little bunny head. You can see other creatures in my February 2009 What’s Up podcast about the moon, linked below.

As we near the full moon, the sun angle is more direct and crater wall shadows disappear. There are some other craters on the terminator tonight, which will reveal their amazing ejecta rays in a few more days when the moon is full. Towards the left edge of the terminator, Tycho is half lit now, but at full moon, its rays extend 1000 km. The spectacular walled plain Clavius is just starting to reveal its beauty. Through a telescope, when the entire crater is visible, you’ll see a dozen smaller craters on its floor.

My What’s Up Podcast, July 2007: The phases of the moon

My What’s Up Podcast, February 2009: Galileo’s and other first views of the moon through a telescope

My photo of the nine-day moon