If you look high into the southern sky tonight (February 24), you’ll see the Moon shining near the stars in the constellation Taurus, just hours after reaching waxing stage. Its right half bathes in sunlight, and its left half hides under a cloak of shadow.
With the naked eye, moon disk It is visible in half-light due to the soft light emitted by 1,000 blue-white stars. Pleiades star cluster The open cluster shines at an angle of just over 10 degrees to the lower right (about the width of an outstretched fist). Find the “V” shape approximately the same distance away from the lower left of the moon. star It represents the face of the great bull in the open star cluster of the Hyades. Taurusthe red star Aldebaran serves as the red eye of the horned beast.
JupiterMeanwhile, further to the west it will be visible as a steady point of light among the stars. Gemini. Below, near the horizon, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, shines in the constellation Canis Major, and Orion lies between Sirius and the moon.
Tonight, the half-lit Moon is scarred by the dark basaltic plains of lunar maria, darkening the silvery beauty of the sunlit portion of the moon’s disk. These giant landforms look even more imposing when viewed through 10×50 binoculars, but they are essentially scabs that formed billions of years ago when chunks of liquid lava flooded open wounds left by humans. asteroid Strike before hardening in extreme space environments.
A 6-inch telescope can further reveal the moon’s violent history through the craters that line the jagged lines that separate day and night, called terminators, near the first quarter phase.
If you look 10 degrees down from the moon’s equator, you’ll see three giant impact sites on the Terminator. The northernmost of the three is Ptolemy. A walled plain 95 miles (153 kilometers) wide, named after the ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. earth-Center model universe.
Below are the smaller Alphonsus and Alzaquer craters. Scoping further south along the Terminator reveals three more fascinating craters: Pulbach, Regiomontanus, and Walther. The broken ridges of these craters cast dramatic shadows within. Note the strange triangular shadows cast by the central peaks of the Walter, Alphonsus, and Alzaquer craters.
Need to increase the magnification? Then why not check out our picks? best telescope and binoculars for viewing the night sky?If you are a photographer looking to capture the ancient splendor of Earth’s natural satellites, why not check out our photography? A guide to capturing the moonalong with our choices, top camera and astrophotography lens.
Editor’s note: If you’d like to share your photos of the moon with Space.com readers, send your image, comment, name, and location to spacephotos@space.com.