Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Thursday, March 10th.  The sun will rise at 7:04.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 6:41.   The moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 12:54 tomorrow morning.

The fat crescent moon tonight will be near the Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster.  The Pleiades can be seen above the moon.  They will make a very beautiful sight in binoculars.  They will be closest together near 2 in the morning.  Some years the moon will even pass in front of the stars of the Pleiades.  On the moon itself tonight, in binoculars, we can see the dark lunar seas of Crises, Fertility, Nectar, and Tranquility.  With a telescope the crater Theophilus is visible near the terminator, the sunrise line a bit below center of the moon.  It is a perfect circular crater with a central peak.  The best crater visible now.  That will change as the moons phase becomes fuller.  It will appear washed out and indistinct.  The moon needs shadows to delineate its features.

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

Blog addendum:

Pleiades and the moon 03/10/11, created using Cartes du Ciel.

Here’s a closer look at the moon courtesy of Virtual Moon Atlas.

Young moon with the crater Theophilus and four seas. From Virtual Moon Atlas