Lunar Explorations (Observing Challenge)
Frances AzarenDuring every Global Astronomy Month (GAM), AWB shares a series of observing challenges, developed by John Goss and The Astronomical League for astronomy novices to seasoned pro's. Some of these challenges can be completed in one night while others encourage participation for the full month.
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The Search for Change on the Moon – A Search in Vain.
People have often fancied that the moon was an active world, even harboring life. Many observers, both professional and amateur, have believed that they stumbled onto visual evidence suggesting changes occurring on the moon, perhaps from vulcanism, perhaps due to life.
| Feature | Best Observing Dates | Observation Notes |
| Between the craters Walther and Gauricus. | April 2 and 3 in the evening sky; and April 14 and 15 in the morning sky. | 1671. Several times, Giovanni Domenico Cassini thought he saw a misty formation, perhaps a cloud. |
| Gassendi, crater. | April 5 in the evening sky; and April 16 and 17 in the morning sky. | 1776. English astronomer William Herschel imagined that the shading variations on the crater floor were caused by the changing shadows of a vast forest containing trees that were several times taller than those on Earth. |
| Hevelius, crater. | April 19 in the morning sky. | 1787. German observer Johann Hieronymous Schroeter suspected that a volcano recently formed in the Hevelius crater. |
| Alhazen, crater. | April 8; and April 27 and 28 in the evening sky. | 1791. Schroeter saw changes in the definition of the crater that he thought were possibly due to mist or vegetation. |
| Two-thirds of the distance from Eratosthenes to Schroeter in Sinus Aestruum. | April 3 and 4 in the evening sky; and April 14 and 15 in the morning. | 1822. Bavarian observer Franz von Paula Gruithusien saw the layout of a great lunar city, Wallwerk. |
| Sinus Iridum. | April 5 and 6 in the evening sky; and April 15 and 16 in the morning sky. | 1837. During the Great Moon Hoax, newspaper writer Richard Adams Locke reported that rational beings were said to live there. |
| Messier and Messier A, craters. | April 9, and 10 in the evening sky, and April 27 and 28 in the morning sky. | 1855. Some observers, led by the renowned observer the Reverend Thomas William Webb, saw a change in their respective configurations. |
| Cichus, crater in Mare Nubium. | April 4 and 5 in the evening sky; and April 15 and 16 in the morning sky. | 1859. Rev. Webb thought it had enlarged its diameter since Schroeter observed it seventy years earlier. |
| Fracastorius, crater. | April 11 and 12 in the morning sky; and April 29 and 30 in the evening sky. | Circa 1870. French astronomer Jean Chacornac. Fragmentary walls believed to have formed from oceanic erosion. |
| Plato, crater. | April 3 and 4 in the evening sky; and April 14 and 15 in the morning. | 1869. English amateur astronomer William Radcliffe Birt encouraged his colleagues to closely examine the flat floor of Plato for any signs of change. |
| Linne, small crater. | April 1 in the evening sky; and April 12 and 13 in the morning sky. |
1866. Johann Frederich Julius Schmidt, followed by others, thought that crater Linne had been damaged or transformed. |
| Hyginus N, near crater Hyginus along Rima Hyginus. | April 1 and 30 in the evening sky; and April 12 and 13 in the morning sky. |
1877. Hermann Klein, Director of the Cologne Observatory, found a dark patch near Hyginus crater, one that hadn’t been visible in earlier observations. |
| Theophilus, crater. | April 11 and 12 in the morning sky; and April 29 and 30 in the evening sky. | Circa 1900. Suspected snowstorms on the central peak were glimpsed by William Henry Pickering. |
| Plinius, crater. | April 11 and 12 in the morning sky; and April 1 and 30 in the evening sky. | Circa 1900. Suspected snowstorms on the central peak were glimpsed by William Pickering. |
| Alphonsus, crater. | April 2 and 3 in the evening sky; and April 14 and 15 in the morning sky. | Circa 1900. Pickering attributed indistinct, dark areas on the crater floor to changing vegetation. He believed that he also saw snowstorms on its central peak. |
| Bullialdus, crater. | April 4 and 5 in the evening sky; and April 15 and 16 in the morning sky. | Circa 1900. Suspected snowstorms on the central peak were glimpsed by William Pickering. |
| Mons Pico, lone mountain. | April 3 and 4 in the evening sky; and April 13 and 14 in the morning sky. | Circa 1900. Suspected snowstorms on the peak of this isolated mountain were glimpsed by William Pickering. |
| Montes Recti, straight mountain range. | April 4 and 5 in the evening sky; and April 14 and 15 in the morning sky | Circa 1900. Some observers saw it as an artificial construct. Suspected snowstorms were glimpsed by William Pickering. |
| Eratosthenes, crater. | April 3 and 4 in the evening sky; and April 14 and 15 in the morning sky. | 1924. William Pickering interpreted shading changes on the crater floor as being due to vegetation growth and migrating swarms of insects. |
| O’Neill’s Bridge, mistaken formation. | April 10 in the morning sky and April 27 and 28 in the evening sky. | 1953. New York Herald Tribune science editor John J. O’Neill reported that he observed a twelve-mile long natural bridge at the edge of Mare Crisium near the intersection of Promontorium Olivium and Promontrium Lavinium, just east of Proclus crater. Some believed it to be artificial, others saw nothing. |
Resources:
Guide To The Moon
by Moore, Patrick
Publication date 1953
https://archive.org/details/guidetothemoon032170mbp/page/n1
Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes
by Thomas William Webb
Publication date 1859, 6th revision, Dover
https://archive.org/details/celestialobject02webbgoog/page/n11
Sheehan, William; Dobbins, Thomas, 2001, Epic Moon, Willman Bell
http://www.willbell.com/history/Epic%20Moon.htm
Wood, Charles A., The Modern Moon, 2003, Sky Publishing
Rukl, Antonin, Field Map of the Moon, 2005, Sky Publishing
Birren, Peter, Objects in the Heavens, 2011, Birren Design
http://www.birrendesign.com/astro.html
