The Moon

Full moon on 30.October 2012, Vixen R200SS, Canon 60Da.

Occultation of Mars, Orion 80mm ED, Canon 20D, on 24. December 2007. Bad conditions, strong wind and drifting clouds.

Almost occultation of Saturn, 200mm lens, f/5.6, 1/250, Canon 20D, on 2. February 2007.

The moon at Perigee. Televue 4" APO, on 8. September 2006. Canon 20D.

Orion 80mm ED. On 14. April 2005. Canon D60.

The moon diving into the threes. On 22. May 2004. Canon D60.

Moon on 24. August 2005 with Orion ED f/7.5 and ToUcam II Pro. 25 images stacked. Poor conditions.

"Holding the moon..."

The moon 14% enlighted on 24. March 2004. Canon D60 on Vixen R200SS. The dark side of the moon is enlighted by light reflecting from earth, called "earthshine".

The moon 82% enlighted on 2. March 2004. Canon D60 on Vixen R200SS.

Facts about the moon

The moon has a diameter of 3476 km, this equals a third of our earths diameter (12742 km). Earth do have a quite big moon, according to its own size. If we compare with Mercury (4840 km), the ratio between moons and planets is very dull. Mars is not that bigger, with a diameter of just 6790 km. Jupiters largest moon Ganymedes has a diameter of 5000 km, larger than Mercury.
Our moon have a density of 3.342g /ccm, earth 5.517 (g/ccm). The average distanse to earth is 384400 km. At its closest meeting (perige) the distanse is 356430 km, while its 406720 km at apoge. The moon seen at apoge is therefore 1.2 times larger than at perige.
The size of the moon on the sky is comparable to a 5mm disk at 57cm distanse. The moon actually fits inside the Pleiades (M45)!
Our moon moves around the earth at an average 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes and 11,5 sec. But because the earth also orbits the sun, the sideric time will not end at the exact same lunar phase. One synodic month (from a lunar phase to the exact same one revolution later) is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2,8 sec.
Do you know that a day on the moon lasts for 709 hours? The sun is above the horison for 355 hours, followed by an equal long night. Because the axis of rotations is perpendicular (same as the sun), day and night are equal in lenght on all locations.
Becaus of a phenomenon called liberation, it's actually possible to see 59% of the lunar surface.