The Moon is the most familiar object in the night sky and the perfect starting point for any astronomer. Orbiting the Earth at an average distance of 384,000 kilometres, it is close enough to reveal extraordinary detail even through a modest telescope or a pair of binoculars — craters, mountain ranges, ancient lava plains and dramatic fault lines are all visible from your back garden.
Phases of the Moon Although the Moon always keeps the same face turned towards the Earth, it undergoes a continuous and very obvious cycle of change as it orbits us. A new Moon appears low in the western sky around sunset, and over the following two weeks it swells through crescent, first quarter and gibbous phases until it becomes the brilliant full Moon, rising in the east as the Sun sets. Over the next fortnight it passes back through the same sequence in reverse, becoming a waning crescent visible in the eastern sky before dawn. The complete cycle takes approximately 29.5 days
The full Moon is the most familiar sight in the night sky — but ask any lunar observer and they will tell you it is not the best time to look. Without shadows to reveal the landscape, the surface appears washed out and flat. Wait for the days around first or last quarter instead, when the terminator — the line dividing light from dark — brings craters and mountains to life in dramatic relief.
Planning your observing sessions around the Moon's phases is easy using moonphases.co.uk — a simple and useful UK-based resource showing the current phase and a full monthly calendar.
Craters and features The Moon's surface is dominated by thousands of impact craters, formed when asteroids and comets struck its surface billions of years ago. Because the Moon has no weather or tectonic activity to erode them, these craters are preserved almost exactly as they were formed. The large dark plains — known as maria, or seas — were formed by ancient volcanic eruptions that flooded earlier craters with lava. Alongside the craters, the Moon also has extensive mountain ranges thrown up by the same ancient impacts that created the basins the maria now fill. The curved ridge prominent in this image is the Montes Apenninus — one of the Moon's most dramatic mountain ranges, with peaks rising over 5,000 metres. This region was chosen as the landing site for Apollo 15 in July 1971, with astronauts David Scott and James Irwin exploring the foothills and the nearby lava channel known as Rima Hadley. It is a humbling thought that this view — visible from your back garden through a smart telescope — is the same landscape that humans once walked upon.
Lunar eclipses A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes directly between the Moon and the Sun, casting its shadow across the lunar surface. Unlike solar eclipses, which are visible only from a narrow track on the Earth's surface, lunar eclipses can be seen by anyone on the night-time side of the Earth when they occur. During a total lunar eclipse the Moon turns a deep red or orange colour — often called a Blood Moon — as sunlight is refracted around the edge of the Earth's atmosphere. They are spectacular events requiring no special equipment to enjoy safely.
The colours of the Moon The Moon appears grey to the naked eye, but through a good telescope — and more so with careful image processing — subtle colours become visible. Different rock types reflect light slightly differently, giving the ancient heavily cratered highlands a slightly different hue to the younger volcanic maria. These colour differences reveal the Moon's complex geological history and are one of the more surprising aspects of lunar imaging.
This image was taken by one of our members Mac using is Seestar S50 Smart telescope. To bring out the colours you see here the image was edited using apps on Mac's Iphone
The Moon and human exploration The Moon remains the only world beyond Earth that humans have visited. Between 1969 and 1972, twelve astronauts walked on its surface during NASA's Apollo programme — with Apollo 17 in December 1972 being the last crewed lunar mission until now. NASA's Artemis programme is currently working to return humans to the Moon, with Artemis II scheduled to carry four astronauts on a crewed lunar flyby in April 2026 — the first time humans will have travelled to the vicinity of the Moon in over fifty years. Keep an eye on our Space News page for regular updates.
