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The article discusses research on the Moon using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) by scientists including Tim Glotch, Justin Hagerty, and Jessica Sunshine. Information is provided on findings related to silica-rich mounds on the basaltic maria, lunar impact craters, and water on the moon. Other topics include the discovery of mercury and silver in lunar water, wrinkle ridges, and the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) impact.

The article discusses the Moon and its subsurface geology, noting topics including the nature of the Moon's core and mantle, its volcanic history, and the Moon's water content compared to the Earth. Planetary scientist Alan Binder is cited regarding the less-than systematic approach to Moon research that has followed the Apollo space program of the 1970s. INSET: The Moon's Structure.

Investigates eight geological oddities on the Moon and ponders the mysteries of their formation. Messier and Messier A craters; Rheita Valley; Crater Linne; Alpine Valley; Straight Wall; Rumker plateau; Reiner Gamma; Crater Wargentin.

Excavated by violent impacts, layered with flows of lava and softened by a relentless rain of meteorites, the lunar surface displays a geological past over four billion years old that moon scientists (selenographers) study using data from Apollo missions.

The small group of planetary scientists at the Lunar Curatorial Facility at the Johnson Space Center in Houston will tell you that not only haven't the Moon rocks revealed all their secrets, but also much of what was learned about the Moon from early studies of the rocks is either wrong or incomplete.

The article discusses the lunar exploration programs of Japan and China. Each country launched its first lunar-bound space vehicle in the fall of 2007. The article describes many aspects of each mission; both were designed to collect surface and geologic information and measure space conditions between earth and the moon. It explains the derivation of names used in each program including Japan's Kayuga spacecraft and China's Chang'e-1 program. INSET: What's in a name?.

The article discusses the Lubiniezky region, an area located near the Bullialdus crater in Mare Nubium on the Moon which contains ghost craters which were filled with basaltic lava. The area was photographed by the U.S. National Aeronautics & Space Administration's (NASA) Ranger 7 lunar probe in 1964. The author also looks at ring dikes, rafts, and arroyos in the region.

The article provides information on the formation of lunar features visible through telescopes including the Sinus Aestuum lava pond, the Mare Orientale impact basin, and the Cauchy Domes shield volcanoes. Multiple photographs are provided which show craters including the Aristarchus Crater, the Atlas and Hercules Craters, and the Kepler Crater.

The article discusses 10 features of the Moon worthy of observation by amateur astronomers. Features mentioned include Tycho Crater, said to be one of the Moon's most famous features, the mountain range Montes Apenninus north of the center of the Moon, and Mare Humboldtianum, whose visibility is subject to the Moon's oscillatory motion called libration.

The article discusses the Moon and the features that can be seen without a telescope in January 2010. According to the author, January is a good month to take advantage of visible features and presents his formula for testing the visual acuity of observers. Details of the author’s exercise which include four levels of observing skills and various features for viewing, such as warm-up, level one (beginner), and level two (intermediate), are presented.

A glossary of jargon related to astronomy is presented, which includes ultracool star, lunar swirls, and metastable liquids.

The article notes that not all of the Moon's seas are easily visible. Some lie buried beneath the lunar plains, covered by debris from later impacts. Large, dark sheets of basaltic lava cover a sixth of the Moon's nearside. While some craters pock the maria, on the whole, they lie largely undisturbed because no big impacts have struck since the lava ceased to flow around two billion years ago. However, the visible maria are not the only ones the Moon has: in several places, ancient layers of lava lie buried by later deposits. Lunar scientists term these old lava sheets cryptomare. One patch of cryptomare lies near the large crater Schickard in the southwest part of the nearside, where sunrise occurs a couple of days before Full Moon. The largest crater in the field, Schickard, has a diameter of 140 miles. Craters five to ten miles across pepper the western part of Schickard's floor. With high magnification during moments of good seeing, you can spot even smaller ones in its eastern and northern sections. Besides the craters inside Schickard, note the many similar-size ones to the west.

The article provides details about the northeastern shore of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. These highlands on Mare Imbrium are the Montes Alpes, the lunar Alps. Unlike Earth's tectonically created mountains, however, the Alps form part of a gigantic crater rim: the boundary of the Imbrium basin, created when an asteroid struck the Moon 3.85 billion years ago. The Apennines that lie to the southeast of Imbrium also belong to its rim, as do the Montes Carpatus on Imbrium's southern side. North of the Alps, a slender dark strip called Mare Frigoris divides this stretch of lunar mountains from heavily cratered highlands running to the North Pole. The lava of Frigoris fills a trough, part of the multi-ring structure surrounding Imbrium and most large impact basins. The highest peak in the Alps is Mont Blanc, which stands 11,800 feet above Mare Imbrium. Note that this mountain is called "Mont" not "Mons" Blanc, as you might expect. This peak was named for its earthly counterpart. The "front range" of the Alps is steeper than the backslope, just as the interior walls of craters show steeper slopes compared to their exterior ejecta blankets. East from Plato lies the famous Alpine Valley (Vallis Alpes), which carves a 120-mile path in the mountains from Imbrium to Frigoris. Like Plato, Cassini postdates the Imbrium basin and has seen modification. This 35-mile-wide crater contains two smaller impact craters dropped into its lava filling, which stands higher than the mare outside. Also, the lava that filled the Imbrium basin has truncated Cassini's ejecta blanket. Thus the crater's original morphology has been lost. What Cassini probably looked like when fresh can be seen in a glance at Eudoxus, a 42-mile-wide crater northeast of Cassini.

Mare Tranquillitatis will live forever in the annals of exploration, thanks to Apollo 11, which made the first manned lunar landing on its southwestern surface in July 1969. However, to most backyard lunar observers, Tranquillitatis is one of the duller maria to view, with less topography than others. Tranquillity Base, where Apollo 11's astronauts landed, lies on the southern part of the mare, near the impact crater Moltke (4 miles wide), which is surrounded by a white halo of ejecta. No easily visible landmark stands close to Tranquillity Base, but if seeing allows, look for the trio of small (1- to 2-mile-diameter) craters named Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin. Rocks brought back by the Apollo 11 astronauts sampled two lava flows, one dated at 3.84 billion years old and the other 3.57 billion. The different ages show the volcanic process that filled the Tranquillitatis basin took at least 270 million years. The sculpture of the hills around Dionysius comes from the Imbrium basin to the northwest. Debris shooting from the Imbrium impact site on low trajectories scoured the terrain deeply. The 2- to 3-mile-wide Rima Ariadaeus, however, cuts across the Imbrian sculpture at an angle. If the rille was produced by a basin impact, as geologists think likely, then the yet unidentified basin lies near the center of Oceanus Procellarum, which was filled by lava many eons ago. The ancient crater Julius Caesar (56 miles) has been heavily reshaped by Imbrian ejecta (the lighter material in the crater's southern half) and by mare flooding. East of Julius Caesar, the crater Sosigenes (11 miles) lent its name to a set of rilles resembling off-road tire tracks. They were caused when the mare lava sheets settled and fractured.

The article provides observations about the Montes Apenninus on the Moon. This rugged chain marches in a curving line for 370 miles along the southeastern edge of Mare Imbrium and ends at the magnificent crater Eratosthenes. The Apennines are a relic of a benchmark event in lunar history--the impact of an asteroid 3.85 billion years ago that blasted a basin 720 miles across and 35 miles deep. On the boundary of the mare, the front side of the Apennines slopes gently at a 20° angle. The back side of the range falls away even more gradually, its foothills melding into the lava flows of Mare Vaporum. The tallest peak in the Apennines is Mons Huygens, which is located near the center of the mountain chain. It stands 14,500 feet above the mare. Extending from the Apennines toward the flooded crater Archimedes is an area of light-tinted plains embedded with rough terrain -- the Apennine Bench.

The article offers information on the 59-mile wide crater Posidonius on the moon along with information on lava-filled interior sports cracks, jumbled peaks that poke up from the floor, an off-center craterlet, and bright segments where the walls have slumped inward.

Reports on a study based in crustal thickness data from the Clementine mission which confirms the theory that the dark basaltic flows on the Moon's nearside are due to the thinness of the crust. Lack of ancient lava flows in the Moon's farside.

The article discusses the number of targets available for observation during a First Quarter Moon, or half Moon. The author notes the craters and mountains that can be seen along the length of the terminator, which is a boundary between day and night on the Moon, such as a geological feature, called Lunar X. He discusses the first time he observed Lunar X and the best times for viewing it in September 2012.

The article looks at articles in the journal "Nature" by scientists Lars Borg, Martin Jutzi, and Erik Asphaug on the origin of the Moon. Borg studied isotopes of neodymium and lead in samples of ferroan anorthosite, lunar rock formed from magma, to determine the age of the rock. Jutzi and Asphaug used a simulation to study the giant-impact hypothesis and found that in a slow collision between the Moon and another body the material could cause the thickened crust on the far side of the moon.

The article discusses research reported by scientist Ian Garrick-Bethell and team in the November, 2010 issue of "Science" on formation of the highlands on the far side of the Moon.

The article discusses research papers published in the October 22, 2010 issue of the journal "Science" on lunar mineral data collected by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was used to compile data from the crash of the Lunar Crater Remote Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Centaur rocket into the lunar crater Cabeus in October 2009.

The article discusses features of the lunar surface that can be seen on the evening of March 22-23. Astronomy observers can see the lunar Apennine Mountains in the first Quarter Moon. As the sun rises over the mountains, they cast a long shadow which reveals the mountains to be three miles high. As the sun's shadow curves, observers can see the Caucasus Mountains and the Mare Imbrium, which is an impact feature created by when an asteroid hit the Moon.

The article discusses one of the most striking geological features on the Moon called Mare Serenitatis, which is also known as the Sea of Serenity. The formation is a long wrinkled ridge called the Dorsa Smirnov, also called the Serpentine Ridge. According to the author, it can be seen when the sun rises over the region. Topics include details regarding the topology of the Dorsa Smirnov, including its crater Posidonius, and when the best time to view it is.

The article reports on features of the lunar crater Petavius that will be observable on certain days in August 2009. Normally-obscured features that will appear due to advantageous angles of sunlight include peaks at the center of the crater, a rille connecting the crater's northeast and southwest rims, the eastern rim of the crater, and a valley adjacent to it.

The article reports on researchers' belief that the Moon had a spinning liquid iron core with a strong magnetic field when it was young. The basis of the discovery upon the analysis of an ancient rock collected by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmidt during the final lunar landing in 1972 is noted, mentioning that the rock contained the imprint of the Moon's ancient magnetic field.

The article reports that a ray of sunshine will be visible on the Moon's Maginus crater on December 5, 2008. Details about topography of the Maginus crater and a photograph of the crater are provided. Information about sunlight rays, ejecta rays, and the best times to look for the sunlight ray on Maginus is also included.

The article discusses the discovery of water in samples of lunar volcanic glass. Scientist Erik Hauri of the Carnegie Institution for Science used mass ion spectrometry to measure the water content in the lunar samples. Also mentioned is the possibility that ancient water may be frozen on the Moon's poles.

The author describes some of the geological formations that can be seen on the surface of the Moon during the month of February 2008. The locations of several craters, volcanoes and ridges are described with instructions on how to find them when observing. The author also explains some of the objects that can be seen right where the light and dark sides of the Moon meet.

The article explains that during December of 2007 there will be an opportunity to view a mountain located on the far side of the Moon. This is caused by the Moon's position as it lies north of the ecliptic. As a result, some geological formations will come into view for several days. Due to the Moon's brightness, the author suggests the use of a filter while observing through a telescope.

The article reports on the success of images taken of the lunar surface by the European Space Agency's SMART-1 satellite. The images will be used to create a historical understanding for the formation of the Moon's basins, among other geological structures. These images are so clear and accurate because of the satellite's position and the use of sunlight.

The article describes the volcanic structure called Marius Hills that can be observed when the sun rises to light them up on the surface of the Moon. This collection of volcanic cones was created by an area of gas-rich magma. The author described the surface of the moon in this particular area and when it is best viewed as the Moon comes out of the New Moon phase.

The article focuses on the lunar crater Bürg which can be found northeast of Mare Serenitatis during the month of February 2007. It is 25 miles wide and is located between the larger craters Eudoxus and Hercules. The Bürg crater has terraced walls, a floor over a mile deep and a prominent central peak.

This article reports that scientists studying a lunar caldera named Ina say it has vented gas in the last 10 million years and may be doing so today. Professor Peter Schultz thinks a rush of gas from deep within the Moon vented through Ina, scoured surfaces, and exposed fresh rock. He'd like to see professional and amateur astronomers start a coordinated observing campaign to search for such activity.

The article discusses meteors and moons visible in August 2006. The Perseids will peak August 12/13, but be obscured by the bright Moon. The flooded Le Monnier crater will be visible on the shore of the Mare Serenitatis, along the Moon's Taurus Mountains. After the full moon, wrinkle ridges like the Dorsa Smirnov, running along the Mare's eastern edge, will be visible.

The article features a January 14 image of the moon's De Gasparis Crater, which was taken by SMART-1, the European Space Agency's spacecraft. The photograph displays rilles that crisscross the crater surface and form a trench. The image allows astrogeologists to state definitively that the crater must have formed before the rilles.

Previews the observation of meteors and moons for September 2005. Description of minor meteor showers early in the month; Tips on locating Mount Hadley and other features on the Moon.

This article reports that a piece of breccia from the Moon found in Africa has the youngest date known for a lunar rock: 2.865 billion years. This is several hundred million years younger than any mare basalt and about a billion years younger than any lunar rock of its kind. The baseball-size meteorite, Northwest Africa 773 [NWA 773], contains breccia, rock fragments welded by impact. The largest chunk, though, is olivine gabbro, analyzed by a team under Lars Borg. "We found that NWA 773 has the youngest crystallization age for any lunar material," says Borg. The Moon may have younger rocks, he notes, but they have not yet been found.

The article provides details about observing galaxies, nebulae, and other stellar activity when there is a Full Moon. The sky actually turns a deep blue during the three nights surrounding the Full Moon, if you're not under the amber canopy of urban glow. The best telescopic resolution couldn't determine what lurked among those craters and mountains. Throughout the ages, one aspect of the Moon could be explored by anyone with eyes: its motion. This single natural body that revolves around our world remained fascinating for that reason alone. The Moon doesn't orbit our planet's center, but a spot just a thousand miles beneath Earth's surface. When the Moon is almost overhead, as it will be at midnight December 25/26, the exact spot it orbits lies a thousand miles beneath your feet. The Moon is the only known body that moves through space its own diameter each hour. With a 2,160 mile width and an average speed of 2,287 mph, it's easy for an observer to predict where it will be throughout its nightly journey. The Full Moon is 450,000 times dimmer than the Sun. It grows brighter, however, when it's higher because it's then closer to you by a few percent, and also because its light then passes through up to 13 times less air. It's brighter when the air is dry also. All these conditions come together late this month.

The article mentions how a meteorite found in Oman in 2002 can be traced back to the Imbrium basin and the crater Lalande on the lunar nearside, say scientists who studied the meteorite's isotope chemistry. The researchers, led by Edwin Gnos (Bern University, Switzerland), found the meteorite consists of impact-melt breccia, a common lunar rock type built from fragments of other rocks welded together by shock. The meteorite contains more thorium than any lunar rock known.The study shows the meteorite's rocky material formed in a gigantic impact that occurred 3.909 billion years ago. A fourth impact (so-far unidentified) came less than 340,000 years ago and threw the meteorite into space.

Presents a list of resources useful in the study of astronomy. Recommendation of the book 'The New Solar System' by J. Kelly Beatty; Consideration of review articles on gamma-ray bursts by Peter Mészáros; Internet sites that detail the aurorae in Alaska; Survey of lunar geology by Don E. Wilhelm in the book 'The Geologic History of the Moon'; Others.

Presents observations about the positions of various meteors and moons as of January 2004. Consideration of the annual shower of the Quadrantid meteors; Characteristics of the Vallis Rheita in the southeastern lunar highlands; Reference to the eclipses that will occur during September 2004; Transition associated with rare occultations, eclipses, and transits.