The Moon: Our Natural Satellite

The moon, our satellite, is a star that still holds so many secrets! Here almost full, we call this phase "gibbous moon", the moon always offers us the same face to observe. Do you know how to determine if the moon is waxing or waning? They say that the moon is a liar: if the crescent takes the shape of a C then it is waning while a crescent in D indicates that it is waxing.

Our moon is the fifth largest satellite in our solar system. It is in synchronous rotation around our planet which implies that it always presents us with the same face. Its creation is still quite mysterious. It is thought to be the result of a collision between a large asteroid and the Earth and whose matter expelled into space would have slowly accumulated giving birth to this star. The dark parts are volcanic seas that cover a large part of the visible face and would come from the heat following the impact and the accretion around our planet. Conversely, the far side is more marked by craters caused by meteorites and other small objects. The many impacts are due to the fact that the lunar body is devoid of a dense atmosphere and magnetic field, which makes it vulnerable and does not allow to slow down what is heading towards it.

It was in 1959 that the first object made by humans reached the moon thanks to the Soviet probe Luna 2. This was followed by the first American moon landing on July 20, 1969 and many other human visits with the Apollo missions. The moon is regularly the subject of the sending of new probes and several space organizations from different countries aim to set foot on it again.

Equipment used:
- Skywatcher 80ed Evostar
- ZWO 533mc pro
- ZWO 120mm mini
- EQM-35 Pro
- Asiair plus
- EFW
- EAF
- OAG
- Stacked with Siril and PixInsight
- Processed with PixInsight
- Finished with Lightroom