As the month goes on, the moon is seen as 4 different cycles. It starts as new, to a crescent, to half of a moon, to a football shape, and then to a full moon. After that, it goes backwards from football, to half moon, to crescent, to new. You can find what the moon is doing now by looking at an almanac or calender.



Unless it is a full moon, then you it will look like only part of it is there, because you can only see the bright, sunlit part of the moon. Right where the bright part and the dark part meet is the Terminator. That is where you want to look if you want to see some amazing details. If you use higher powered binoculars, the area by the terminator line can be seen very easily. This is where you will see a large amount of mountains, deep plains, and gigantic craters that go on forever. The farther from the terminator line you move, the terrain becomes seems softer. Landscape looks very rigid at the edge when it is close to the bright area. The sun creates the impression that all of the mountains and craters are actually bigger than they seem.

The image of the moon constantly changes. As the terminator line moves across the surface of the moon night after night, the light changes what we can see, and new details become lit by the sun or disappear into darkness. Try to look at the same area every clear night for two weeks. Crators will look like dark pits at the lunar sunrise, change shape as the Sun moves over the moon, and then look like a little tiny dot once the moon becomes new.

You'll be able to view the moon a lot better if you can place your binoculars on a bipod or tripod so that they stay still. When you are viewing stars, use, lower powered binoculars so you can see as many stars as possible in your field of view. The Moon is so big though so it doesn't really help when looking at it. When viewing the Moon, get a pair of binoculars with a very high magnification as long as you brace your binoculars by using a bipod or tripod to give you still views. Higher powered binoculars will give you great views with a tripod. When you have learned how to aim and focus binoculars, you will be amazed how much time you will spend gazing at the moon's beautiful features.