The Mare Crisium basin, during the Waxing Crescent Moon

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 Back on Sunday, November 7, 2021, the Moon was in its Waxing Crescent Phase. After taking a photograph of the Moon and the Planet Venus together, I captured a few photographs of just the Moon, to show more detail in its surface. The most prominent feature that is seen in the photograph is the Mare Crisium, a basin on the Moon's surface.

Mare Crisium during the Waxing Crescent Moon

The Waxing Crescent Moon with 13.5% illumination
The Mare Crisium is seen along the dark and light edge of the illuminated surface.

At the time I took the photograph, around 6 PM EST, the Moon's illumination was 13.5%. With this level of illumination, the Mare Crisium had just become fully visible on the Moon's surface. According to NASA, the Mare Crisium is about 3.9 billion years old, and is 740 km (460 miles) wide. While the Mare Crisium looks to be rather flat in the photograph, NASA states that it is about 1.8 km (1.1 miles) below the Moon's lunar datum (the Moon's sea level). It also reaches to a height of 3.34 km (2.1 miles) above the lunar datum. 

Photograph taken on November 7, 2021, from Syracuse, New York.

Comments

  1. Shelly GNovember 25, 2021 at 3:33 PM

    Beautiful capture and really interesting info! I guess I have been too lazy to research what I am looking at.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom G.December 3, 2021 at 10:30 AM

      Thanks, Shelly. I kept thinking that the Moon looked like the Death Star, which made me curious as to what the large circular object was.

      Delete

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