Lunar Explorations

The search for change on the moon – a search in vain.



People have often fancied that the moon was an active world, even harboring life. Many observers, both professional and amateur, have believed that they stumbled onto visual evidence suggesting changes occurring on the moon, perhaps from vulcanism, perhaps due to life.

Feature: Observation Notes: Map (PDF)
1. Between the craters Walther and Gauricus. Best seen: April 12 (morning); and April 28 and April 29 (evening), 2023.


2. Gassendi, crater. Best seen: April 1 & 2 (evening); and April 15 (morning), 2023. 
1. 1671. Several times, Giovanni Domenico Cassini thought he saw a misty formation, perhaps a cloud.

2. 1776. English astronomer William Herschel imagined that the shading variations on the crater floor were caused by the changing shadows of a vast forest containing trees that were several times taller than those on Earth.

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3. Hevelius, crater. Best seen: April 4 & 5 (evening); and April 16 (morning), 2023.

4. Alhazen, crater. Best seen: April 22 & 23 (evening), 2023.
3. 1787. German observer Johann Hieronymous Schroeter suspected that a volcano had recently formed in the Hevelius crater.

4. 1791. Schroeter saw changes in the definition of the crater that he thought were possibly due to mist or vegetation.

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5. Two-thirds of the distance from Eratosthenes to Schroeter in Sinus Aestruum. Best seen: April 12 (morning); and April 29 (evening), 2023.

6. Sinus Iridum. Best seen: April 1 & 2 (evening); and April 13 & 14 (morning), 2023. 
5. 1822. Bavarian observer Franz von Paula Gruithusien saw the layout of a great lunar city, Wallwerk.

6. 1837. During the Great Moon Hoax, newspaper writer Richard Adams Locke reported that rational beings were said to live there.

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7. Messier and Messier A, craters. Best seen: April 7 & 8 (morning); and April 24 (evening), 2023. 

8. Cichus, crater in Mare Nubium. Best seen: April 13 (morning); and April 29 & 30 (evening), 2023. 

7. 1855. Some observers, led by the renowned observer the Reverend Thomas William Webb, saw a change in their respective configurations.

8. 1859. Rev. Webb thought it had enlarged its diameter since Schroeter observed it seventy years earlier.

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9. Fracastorius, crater. Best seen: April 8 & 9 (morning); and April 25 (evening), 2023.

10. Plato, crater. Best seen: April 12 (morning); and April 29 (evening), 2023. 
9. Circa 1870. French astronomer Jean Chacornac. Fragmentary walls are believed to have formed from oceanic erosion.

10. 1869. English amateur astronomer William Radcliffe Birt encouraged his colleagues to closely examine the flat floor of Plato for any signs of change.

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11. Linne, small crater. Best seen: April 10 (morning); and April 27 (evening), 2023. 


12. Hyginus N, near crater Hyginus along Rima Hyginus. Best seen: April 11(morning); and April 27 (evening), 2023.
11. 1866. Johann Frederich Julius Schmidt, followed by others, thought that crater Linne had been damaged or transformed.

12. 1877. Hermann Klein, Director of the Cologne Observatory, found a dark patch near the Hyginus crater, one that hadn’t been visible in earlier observations.

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13. Theophilus, crater. Best seen: April 9 (morning); and April 26 (evening), 2023.

14. Plinius, crater. Best seen: April 9 (morning); and April 26 (evening), 2023.
13. Circa 1900. Suspected snowstorms on the central peak were glimpsed by William Henry Pickering.

14. Circa 1900. Suspected snowstorms on the central peak were glimpsed by William Pickering.

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15. Alphonsus, crater. Best seen: April 11 & 12 (morning); and April 28 (evening), 2023. 

16. Bullialdus, crater. Best seen: April 2 (evening); and April 14 (morning), 2023. 
15. Circa 1900. Pickering attributed indistinct, dark areas on the crater floor to changing vegetation. He believed that he also saw snowstorms on its central peak.

16. Circa 1900. Suspected snowstorms on the central peak were glimpsed by William Pickering.

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17. Mons Pico, lone mountain. Best seen: April 12 (morning); and April 28 & 29 (evening), 2023.

18. Montes Recti, straight mountain range. Best seen: April 12 (morning); and April 30 (evening), 2023. 

17. Circa 1900. Suspected snowstorms on the peak of this isolated mountain were glimpsed by William Pickering.

18. Circa 1900. Some observers saw it as an artificial construct. Suspected snowstorms were glimpsed by William Pickering.

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19. Eratosthenes, crater. Best seen: April 12 (morning); and April 29 (evening), 2023.

20. O’Neill’s Bridge, a mistaken formation. Best seen: April 7 (morning); and April 24 (evening), 2023. 

19. 1924. William Pickering interpreted shading changes on the crater floor as being due to vegetation growth and migrating swarms of insects.

20. 1953. New York Herald Tribune science editor John J. O’Neill reported that he observed a twelve-mile-long natural bridge at the edge of Mare Crisium near the intersection of Promontorium Olivium and Promontrium Lavinium, just east of Proclus crater. Some believed it to be artificial, others saw nothing.

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Resources:

Moore, Patrick, Guide to the Moon, 1953, Eyre and Spottiswoode Publishers

Webb, Rv. TW, 1962, Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, 6th revision, Dover

Sheehan, William; Dobbins, Thomas, 2001, Epic Moon, Willman Bell

Wood, Charles A., The Modern Moon, 2003, Sky Publishing

Rukl, Antonin, Field Map of the Moon, 2005, Sky Publishing

Birren, Peter, Objects in the Heavens, 2011, Birren Design