How it looks on the Moon

I have made a footprint.
It is my finest work.
There is no wind here to rub it out.
It will outlast your entire family.
Somebody has left a machine over there.
People came, before your grandparents were grown.
They took the top half home and left the bottom half standing — with their own footprints beside it.
Why is it all grey?
I was promised cheese.
Rock and dust.
The glow you see from your window is only reflected sunshine.
The dark patches are seas. That is why they are so flat.
There was never any water. It is old lava — it ran flat and set hard.
The first people to look through a telescope saw dark smooth patches and guessed water. The name stuck.
…So they are called seas and they are not seas.
The Sea of Tranquillity, the Sea of Serenity, the Ocean of Storms — and not one of them ever held water.
Not one of them.
Apollo 11 put the first people on the Moon, right there in the Sea of Tranquillity.
And the white streaks are scratches in it.
Tycho’s rays, Spark.
…Not scratches. Splashes.
One asteroid made that crater, and threw all of this out across the Moon’s face.
Still lying exactly where it landed. And that flat dark circle to the north is Plato.

Can we see the Moon tonight?
It only hides for a few days around new moon.
Look along the lit edge — the shadows are longest there and every bump shows up.
Most nights, from anywhere in the world.
Where to find the Moon, and when
What the shading meansClose
Where the Earth is clear, it climbs high in the sky. The darker it gets, the lower it stays. Where it is black, it never comes up. No shading at all: it does not matter where you live.
What do I need to see the Moon?
You can see it with just your eyes.
Binoculars with 10× magnification show it, if you rest them on a fence or a wall.
A 150 mm telescope is what shows it properly. This picture is about 80× — which is what that telescope gives on a good night.

Can we see the Moon tonight?