Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Thursday, February 10th.  The sun will rise at 7:50.  It’ll be up for 10 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 6:03.   The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 2:04 tomorrow morning.

The moon is just about first quarter.  When it’s out tonight it will be less than 6 hours from the actual moment of first quarter, that is when the moon is at a 90 degree angle from the sun.    In a small telescope a neat straight feature will be visible.  It is near the northern part of the moon, which is up to the unaided eye or binoculars and usually on the lower part of the moon when viewed in an astronomical telescope.  The straight feature is the Alpine Valley which cuts through the lunar Alps.  Mountain ranges on the moon are named for earthly mountains, though lunar mountains are usually the rims of lunar seas, which are really large craters.  The Alpine valley is 79 miles long and 7 miles wide.  It appears to be a fault line.

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

Extra

Alpine Valley on the moon

This is not a photograph! Image created using Virtual Moon Atlas by Christian Legrand and Patrick Chevalley.  A free program. http://www.ap-i.net/avl/en/start.