It is said that the moon never changes, and in fact, from our earthly viewpoint that is essentially true. However, its appearance continually changes as the sun slowly rises, passes above the lunar surface, and finally sets about two weeks later.
These two pictures, taken 24 hours apart, illustrate how dramatically the moon’s appearance can change as the sun gradually rises above it. The left one showed the rising sunlight just touching the rim of the large crater, Clavius, as well as the rims of two other small craters inside Clavius. By the next day the floor of the crater is well seen along with many other smaller craters inside of Clavius. The two small carters seen on the left image almost look like a pair of glasses, so the changing illumination of the sun can create quite a spectacle.
I took these photos using a friend’s telescope in 2004. They were featured in “LPOD,” Lunar Photo of the Day, in October of the same year. See: https://www2.lpod.org/wiki/October_8,_2004. Also, it will soon be featured in a German amateur astronomy magazine: “Astronomie, ” for a second time.
#moon #lunarphotooftheday #LPOD #clavius
Eskildoodle Photos and Feelings 