First quarter Moon

We organise Moonwatch weeks from time to time when the Moon is in a good position to be observed going through its range of phases, starting with a crescent just after sunset and ending just a couple of days before full Moon, and is easy to observe in the early evening after school.

You might think that the best time to observe the Moon would be when it's full, because there's more visible, but actually it's much more fun to look at it when the shadow line (called the terminator, but nothing to do with those movies!) is visible. Then, you can see the craters and mountains much more clearly because of the shadows they throw across the surface, while at full Moon all you see is different shades of brightness – much more boring.

What can we see on the Moon?
The last Moonwatch week was held in November 2010, and we've left the pages in place as the same details apply during most months at some time. There, you'll find details of the major features visible on the Moon on that date. You can see the features we mention with even a small telescope, such as the 60 mm telescope distributed to nearly 1000 schools during the International Year of Astronomy, 2009.