Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Friday, March 23rd. The Sun will rise at 7:40. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 7:59. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 2:53 tomorrow morning.

This evening the Moon will be at nearly first quarter and the terminator will be at the edge of the Sea of Serenity or Mare Serenitatis, with the morning Sun shining on its ramparts. Through binoculars or the naked eye the scallop shell shaped sea will be visible at the upper right part of the moon, the man in the moon’s left eye as he is facing us. In telescopes the moon will be inverted and even also reversed, so Serenity could appear in any other quadrant depending on what your telescope does to the image. There are two large craters above or north of Serenity if looking at them with a non-inverting telescope. The nearest to Serenity is Eudoxus, and the farther one is Aristoteles, named after Aristotle.

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

Addendum

Tonight’s Moon with the Sea of Serenity and two isolated large craters. 9 p.m., March 23, 2018. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.

Image of a scallop shell rotated to match the Sea of Serenity. Credit Wikipedia user Kevmin. (Creative Commons)