“The Moon Observer’s Guide” by Peter Grego
Published in 2004 by Firefly Books, it weighs in at 186 pages.
Of all the Observing Guides in the Lunar Library, this one is the one most easily slipped into a pocket and carried out to the telescope. While covering a lot more than what is visible on any particular night, it is the way the book covers the advancing Sun that provides its utility.
The first chapter provides an overiew of the different ‘geo’-logical processes,such as scarps and rilles, and how they shape what one sees when observing the Moon. The second chapter visits the Moon in space, its orbit around the Earth, and some of the effects for those of us here on Earth. The third chapter covers the many different types of equipment that can be used to stare at the Moon in a much more intimate way than the usual glance skyward. Binoculars are a good way to get started, though it helps to have a holder to keep them steady. Moving on to telescopes, well, you’ve got refractors and reflectors and Cassegrains and Maksutovs and you know what? If you are really interested in using a telescope then you need to hook up with your local astronomy group and get some good information. Be careful how you spend your money, because a crappy scope can be very discouraging, and you are going to be spending a fair amount for a decent one.
Then we get to the Moonwatching. The Moon is sliced into 16 longitudinal sections, and we start at two days after the New Moon, when the first little bit of the surface is visible. A large number of craters are identified, but not so many as to be too busy. The drawing is very nicely rendered by John Murray of Philip’s. It’s available in a larger format as part of Firefly’s MoonWatch pack (which also includes a copy of this book).
A small graphic at the beginning of each new day highlights which particular slice is being shown. So that the image is not to small it is chopped in the middle and shown on facing pages. An easy tendency in observing guides is to recite a litany of features that have become visible from the prior night, and it is difficult not to do so. The most significant disadvantage is when there is a lot of detail for any particular day, and one finds oneself paging back frequently to the image to get a sense of what the author is describing. Still, each section is short enough that it can be quickly read before heading into the darkness.
The author adds a lot of ‘geo’-graphical details in the descriptions, but not in the mellifluous way that Charles Woods achieves in “The Modern Moon”. After the face has been described, the author describes some techniques for recording one’s observations and how the different techniques capture certain features better. He cautions that practice is key, and to not be easily discouraged if one is fumble-thumbed and a poor artist (like me). In a larger context eclipses and occultations are discussed, and then the author visits the space age Moon. The Resource section is really nice.
Overall there are lots of nice photos and drawings of the Moon throughout the book that support the text. As noted, it is a handy size to drop into a coat pocket to take to the telescope, though the maps are presented with Lunar north up (which is often the case these days).
One thing the author does bring up that does bear repeating is to never, ever look at the Sun through a telescope, nor even the little alignment sight on the side. Mr. Grego suffered some optical damage in a moment of carelessness. Do not ever allow anyone to look through a telescope or binoculars at the Sun. Only ever do so in the presence of a veteran, typically associated with a local astronomy club, and who has a set of professional Sun filters. Because it is pretty cool to look at a set of sunspots real-time. Nevertheless, this is one of those situations where our tools can be very dangerous when used carelessly.
Thorough, aimed at the beginner, and a nice introduction to Moon observing, I’ll give this one a waxing three-quarter Moon.
Visit the Selenography section of the Lunar Library.
