To the moon, Alice!

"The Moon for all her light and grace,
Has never learned to know her place."

- Robert Frost

If you are like most of us, then you rue the days when the moon is full. It washes out all those lovely faint fuzzy objects that we strive so hard to see. Rue no more! The Astronomical League’s Lunar Club is for YOU! Those moonlit nights may be great for walks in the park or strolling along the beach with your hun’, but you could be out all night with your true love, your telescope (just kidding, or am I?). 

The list consists of 100 things to find on the moon. Some are naked eye, some are binocular objects, and some need a telescope. If you are one of those people who need instant gratification then this club is for you. If you’re lucky and persistent, the whole thing can be done in one month, weather permitting. 

The naked eye features include very new and very old crescents and things like the Rabbit in the Moon, and various Maria. The binocular objects include some additional smaller features and a whole bunch of craters. The telescope objects include all kinds of valleys and mountains as well as another whole bunch of even smaller craters. 

The observations are broken into groups best seen around 4 days, 7 days, 10 days, and 14 days. But some of the objects are real challenges. The toughest ones for me were: the Waxing Crescent Moon within 40 hours of new and the Waning Crescent Moon within 48 hours of new. The challenge here is that these are only available 1 day a month. It took me 7 months for a clear night to catch a glimpse of the waxing crescent. Another challenge is finding those objects that aren’t on your lunar chart. For example, Petavius Wall was not in my Norton Star Atlas. So what’s an astronomer to do? I found a convenient site that has just about every feature imaginable and its coordinates. The site is: http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/ Choose the Moon, and then the type of feature you are looking for. Once you have the coordinates you can find it on a standard map of the moon’s surface.

The Lunar Club is another certification that is designated for beginners. For now… To the moon, Alice!