What a privileged era we live in. For thousands of years, we could only wonder in fascination about the nature of our moon. Until finally, on the shoulders of giants, we ventured on a giant leap and took a first small step on its surface.
The year was 1969.
Click below to learn about our Moon's volcanic features, such as the Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis), the Sea of Serenity(Mare Serenitatis), prominent impact craters such as crater Tycho and crater Copernicus and also the first mission to land on the Moon, Apollo 11 on 1969 and the following missions, Apollo 12, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 on 1972.
You don't need a telescope to observe some of the most prominent features of the moon. It might seem like a barren place, randomly filled with holes here and there(our ancestors speculated it was made out of cheese) but in reality it's an exciting place that tells us a lot about the beginnings of our solar system. Without water or an atmosphere to erode it's surface, it has remained mostly unchanged for billions of years.
It makes a difference to know what you are looking at, so I've prepared for you a guide that shows you the names of craters and other features that you see on this painting, as well as it's locations. I hope that next time that you look at the moon, you'll be able to recognize the places that I show you here, you'll be able to look at a particular spot and say: "Right there!, that's where we landed when we first left earth."