THE photograph showing THE MOON AT FIRST QUERTER,one week before a full moon.Some of the largest features are labelled,and many of these can be identified with the naked eye.Binoculars or a small telescope will show many more.
The word MARE means SEA in latin.Astronomers once thought that the MOON was Earth like.but these dark areas are in solidified lava which flooded into giant impact creaters ,formed when the moon was young.The MARIA have rather fancitful names :'Ocean of Stroms" . while mare serentiatists is the " Sea Of Serencity".The craters are named mostly after famous astronomers of the past.
The visibility of lunar features depends on the phase of the moon ,At full moon ,for example ,the surface appears very bright and some features are hard to see.When the moon is less bright and the angle of light from the sun causes features that face of earth to cast shadows (as in the photograph) many more features can be seen.
