WAXING GIBBOUS MOON 9.5 DAYS OLD, 1.9 DAYS SINCE FIRST QUARTER
The Moon is in its waxing gibbous phase, 9.5 days from new. The terminator, the sunrise line,
defines the left-hand edge. North is to the top. The volcanic plain of Mare Imbrium dominates
the upper lefti, ringed at the top by the lunar Alps, at the lower right by the Apennines.
Mare Serenitatis and Tranquillitatis are down and to the right of it,
Foecunditatis below them. Mare Crisium is near the right edge, while
Mare Nubium is at the terminator below center. In the far north lies Mare Frigoris.
The huge crater Clavius, some 200 kilometers
across, is near the bottom, the young crater Tycho above it. In the northern hemisphere, Copernicus
is just coming into view to the left of prominent Eratosthenes. Note Plato in the lunar Alps.