Week 01
☀
New moon over the Riphaeans.
The terminator dragged a thin grey lip across Mare Cognitum. Seeing was 7/10. Owls answered the bell at 04:12.
- Rise
- 05:42
- Set
- 17:19
- Illum
- 1.2%
Mare Frigoris — the cold sea
Sinus Iridum — bay of rainbows
Tycho — bright ray crater
A working almanac, hand-kept.
Twelve weeks of weather above the Sea of Tranquility, transcribed by correspondents and verified against the observatory ledgers in Flagstaff, Sutherland, and Mauna Kea.
Week 02
☽
Earthshine on the dark limb.
A ghost of a moon held inside a sliver of moon. The old name for it is the new moon in the old moon's arms.
- Rise
- 07:03
- Set
- 19:48
- Illum
- 14.7%
Week 03
☾
First quarter, knife-edge clean.
Aristarchus shone unreasonably bright. Two correspondents reported a transient glow; the bureau records it without comment.
- Rise
- 12:21
- Set
- 00:02
- Illum
- 50.0%
Week 04
☽
Waxing gibbous, ringed in cirrus.
The 22-degree halo arrived at 21:40 and stayed until the wind shifted. Frost on the eyepiece by midnight.
- Rise
- 15:08
- Set
- 03:41
- Illum
- 82.4%
Week 05
◉
Full moon, the Beaver.
Full enough to read by, sharp enough to cast hard-edged shadows on the lawn. Geese, audible, north-south.
- Rise
- 17:55
- Set
- 06:30
- Illum
- 100%
Week 06
☽
Waning, soft as graphite.
The Apennine shadow stretched seventy kilometers and dissolved at the foot of Eratosthenes by sunrise.
- Rise
- 20:42
- Set
- 09:18
- Illum
- 74.1%
Three expeditions in good standing.
Field reports from members in long-form. Hover an entry to read the cover note. Every dossier is dated, signed, and dust-free.
-
A · 014
The South Polar Ledger
Shackleton — Malapert
04 — 18 Mar
In review
Six nights of low-angle seeing along the southern rim, with notes on the persistently shadowed crater floors and the rumour of water ice beneath them. Includes a hand-traced photometric strip.
-
A · 015
A Walk along the Hadley Rille
Mons Hadley — Apennines
21 Apr — 02 May
Filed
Two correspondents retraced the Apollo 15 traverse from orbit, sketch by sketch. The rille narrows to thirty meters at its terminus, narrower than any record we hold.
-
A · 016
Counting the Bright Rays of Tycho
Tycho — Mare Nubium
14 — 28 May
Open
A patient survey of the longest crater rays in the visible hemisphere. Photographic plates show one ray reaching 1,500 km — far enough to graze the Sea of Serenity at full moon.
A cartograph for the patient.
Drag the slider to walk the terminator across the near face. Each minute of arc is roughly thirty kilometers on the lunar floor.
07°N · 12°E
Maria (basaltic plains)
Highlands (anorthosite)
Recent ray craters
An index, kept by hand.
Every named feature we have logged this season, sortable by latitude or letter. Click a row to reveal the bureau's short note.
A quiet dispatch, monthly.
No banners, no banners. One letter, posted in the first week of every lunar month, with field notes and a single hand-drawn plate.