WAXING GIBBOUS NEAR-FULL MOON 14.4 DAYS OLD

moon The Moon (the southeastern quadrant seen here) is in its extreme waxing gibbous phase, 14.4 days from new and just 22 hours from full. Maria are in blue, craters in yellow. The terminator. the sunrise line, is at the far left edge, allowing an extreme view of cratering close to the far side. The dark crater at left is Grimaldi; Riccioli and Hevelius are right above it. More toward center, shadows disappear and craters become hard to see except the dramatic splash marks that render young craters very visible. Tycho is down toward the bottom, Copernicus up and a bit to the left, Kepler to the left of Copernicus. The splashes are really strings of secondary craters that darken with age.