The Moon is just barely into its waxing gibbous phase, 8.7 days from new, just 1.1 days after the
first quarter. The terminator, the sunrise line,
defines the left-hand edge. North is to the top. Three dark maria dominate the upper right,
from top to bottom Mare Serenitatis, Tranquillitatis, and Foecunditatis; Crisium appears at
the far right edge, while Imbrium (and the large crater Archimedes)
at upper left are just creeping into sunlight. Mare Nectaris
is just below Tranquillitatis, while Mare Australe appears at the
lower right lunar edge. The southern hemisphere is filled with craters,
the mosrt famed of which is the relatively new crater Tycho (about a quarter of the
way up the terminator), which is also just seeing sunlight after a long cold lunar night. Imbrium
is defined by the circular Apennine "mountains," which make the impact basin's
outer wall.
|