Weekend promises a stellar shot of the moon
Gaze at the moon this weekend to see some marvelous views of major craters.
How well do you know the geography of the moon? This weekend brings a great chance for you to brush up on your lunar knowledge.
Starry Night Education points out that when the moon rises each night this weekend, we Earthlings can view a great angle of these jumbo lunar craters: Plato, Archimedes, Copernicus, Ptolemaeus, and Clavius.
The diameters of these impact craters simply astound the mind: the smallest listed here, Copernicus, ranges at 58 miles across, while Clavius stretches out to an impressive 140 miles in diameter. Can you imagine the meteor that caused such a formation? To top off the spectacle, you may also see the Rupes Recta (Straight Wall), an epic cliff to the south that stands 68 miles long and nearly a thousand feet high.
The educational group indicates that the absolutely best views of the moon (which rises at 9 p.m.) should occur when it sets to the south, mostly toward the earliest morning hours before sunrise.