The Moon on April 15, 2024

As my wife and I were watching baseball this evening, I was getting a little restless. A clear sky and a half-illuminated Moon shining high in the sky were calling louder than watching guys hit a ball around a field, so I decided to head out with the 1962 Questar to have a look.

It turns out my timing was just right. It’s first quarter tonight. Right around that time, the Lunar X and the nearby Lunar V are visible if you time your observing session just right.

Here is that same image but with two red arrows pointing out the Lunar X (bottom) and Lunar V (top).

The visual effect is caused when the lunar terminator, where night turns into day on the Moon, is positioned just right so that Sun’s light hits certain features on the Moon in just the right way.

I rarely have enough forethought to plan my lunar observing sessions for seeing the Lunar X and V, so it’s always a pleasant surprise to see these features when I have my first look through the eyepiece.