Night Views
History
Moon
Lunar 100
Our Operations
Comets & Asteriods
Arp Galaxies
Messier Objects
Moon & Planets
NGC Objects
Objects With Common Names
3towers Observatory Lunar 100/Lunar Features

The Lunar 100 was created by Charles A. Wood who states: "The Lunar 100 list is an attempt to provide Moon lovers with something akin to what deep-sky observers enjoy with the Messier catalog: a selection of telescopic sights to ignite interest and enhance understanding. [It is]... a selection of the Moon's 100 most interesting regions, craters, basins, mountains, rilles, and domes."

Woods challenges "...observers to find and observe them all and, more important, to consider what each feature tells us about lunar and Earth history."

To find out more about the Lunar 100 see the Sky & Telescope web site at: http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/article_1199_1.asp.

The Lunar 100 features are arranged from the easiest to view to the most difficult. The Moon itself is L1. L2 is Earthshine, and L3 represents the dichotomy between the Lunar highlands and the Lunar Maria. While the Lunar 100 are concentrated all on the nearside of the Moon, they can not be seen in a single night or a single month. Some of them require special lighting conditions or phases of the Moon, and others, in addition, require very favorable librations of the Moon to bring them into view. The Lunar 100 is an observing list. However, the equipment at the 3towers Observatory was used to image the Lunar 100, mainly using the web cam techniques detailed.


Lunar Feature Lunar Age in days (rounded down) Thumbnail Image Comments
71. Sulpicius Gallus dark mantle 8 days The bright crater at bottom center is Menelaus. North of it is Bessel. Sulpicius Gallus is the crater West of Menelaus and half shadowed. Most of Mare Serenitatis is seen in this image.
71. Sulpicius Gallus dark mantel 9.7 days  
71. Sulpicius Gallus dark mantle 18 days  
72. Atlas dark-halo craters 4.5 days  
72. Atlas dark-halo craters 7.6 days  
72. Atlas dark-halo craters 9.7 days  
72. Atlas dark-halo craters 16 day Hercules is the crater with a small inner crater.  Atlas is next to Hercules and has dark spots.   Endymion is the large, flat crater Northeast of Atlas.
73. Smythii basin 4 days  
73. Smythii basin 5 days Mare Smythii is on the Eastern edge of the Moon. Langrenus is the large crater with central peaks.
73. Smythii basin 14.3 days Mare Smythii at Full Moon.
74. Copernicus H dark-halo impact crater 10 days The tiny crater Southeast of Copernicus with a dark halo around it is Copernicus H. Directly South of Copernicus is the double crater Fauth and Fauth A.
74. Copernicus H dark-halo impact crater 11.7 days  
74. Copernicus H dark-halo impact crater 21.7 days  
75. Ptolemaeus B 8 days The largest craters are from top to bottom, right to left are Hipparchus, Albategnius, Ptolemaeus, and Alphonsus. In the floor of Ptolemaeus is the small crater Ammonius and North of Ammonius is a saucer like depression which is Ptolemaeus B.
75. Ptolemaeus B 8.0  days  
76. W. Bond 8.1 days W. Bond is the large flat crater with a small inner crater. 
77. Sirsalis Rille 13 days  
77. Sirsalis Rille 13.1 days

 
78. Lambert R 22 days Below center is the crater Pytheas and above center is Lambert. Lambert R is a "ghost" crater South of Lambert. Euler is near the left edge, Timocharis is East of Lambert, and Eratosthenes is at the lower right hand corner. 
78. Lambert R 23 days Lambert is below center with a large "ghost" crater just South of Lambert.
79. Sinus Aestuum dark-mantle deposit 9 days  
79. Sinus Aestumm dark-mantle deposit 21.7 days  
80. Orientale basin   14.7 days  
80. Orientale basin and Western Limb of the Moon at Full Moon   14.7 days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LA - Lacus Autumni; MC - Montes Cordillera; LAe - Lacus Aestatis; MR - Montes Rook