03/10/2014 – Ephemeris – Observing the Moon tonight and the crater Copernicus

Ephemeris for Monday, March 10th.  The sun will rise at 8:03.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 38 minutes, setting at 7:42.   The moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 5:04 tomorrow morning.

The moon has certainly changed appearance since  I last talked about it last Thursday.  It’s gone from a fat crescent to its gibbous phase.  Gibbous by the way means hump-backed.  Near the sunrise terminator can be seen the great crater Copernicus on the left side of the moon.   This crater is 56 miles in diameter and the crater floor is two miles below the top of the crater rim.  It has a three central peaks and the interior of the crater walls have slumped causing terracing.  All these are easily seen with a small telescope.  The crater has been dated to less than a billion years old, and it has a spray of ejecta around it that is roughly circular and can best be seen at full moon when the crater is washed out due to lack of shadows.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The Moon at 10 p.m. on March 10,2014 pointing out the crater Copernicus. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.

Copernicus from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University