Moon Exploration Tools

Rik Hill, a frequent poster of beautiful lunar images to the Sacred Space Astronomy community, spoke to Warren Astronomical Society on March 2, 2026. During his talk, he mentioned several useful online tools for exploring the Moon. I outline a couple of the tools Rik mentioned here, and a couple others I knew about too!

Lunar/LROC Quickmap

Lunar/LROC is a web-based, zoomable Moon map; you start viewing the full disk of the Moon, and you can mouse-wheel zoom all the way down to the boulder at the top Tycho crater’s central mountain! You can spend hours scrolling over the Moon, looking at surface features – I even found a crater chain!

There are several named destinations you can fly-to, including: craters, rilles and Apollo landing sites.

Website: https://quickmap.lroc.im-ldi.com

This Lunar map features over 1.2 Petabytes of data; you can explore Wide Angle Camera global mosaics and Narrow Angle Camera observations. It also features data from Clementine, Chandrayaan-1, and Kaguya missions.

Hidden away in a three-dot menu at the top-left I found similar maps for Mars, Mercury and Venus!

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Virtual Moon Atlas

The other tool Rik mentioned is the Virtual Moon Atlas, a downloadable app for Windows and Linux. This tools allows you to actually study the Moon – it has scientific overlays and data from several different missions. Surface features can be searched, and many have a Wiki.

The app has a historical textures overlay with drawings from several astronomers throughout the centuries – I just love this!

Website: https://ap-i.net/avl/en/start

NASA’s Moon Phase and Libration Page

I’ve been using this site for years; it brings up an image of the current phase of the Moon, with tons of data in an info panel. You can change the date and time to whatever you wish, and toggle north/south up, for you preferred hemisphere.

You can click on the image to download a high-resolution TIFF image, with surface features labeled – which is great for observing!

Scrolling down the page, there are an absolute ton of downloadable images, animated diagrams and videos. The site has a very nice set of images of the named phases with images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; you can download huge 3K x 3K images, suitable for large-scale printing and plastering on classroom walls!

Website: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5587 – Hey! LROC is mentioned on this page!

NASA Daily Moon Guide

I ran into this site while searching for a video on NASA’s Moon Phase and Libration page; NASA’s Daily Moon Guide has an interactive map for observing the Moon each day of the year, with suggested observing targets for unaided eye, binoculars and telescopes.

Website: https://science.nasa.gov/moon/daily-moon-guide

I was pleased to see that the video I was looking for was highlighted on the Daily Moon Guide. This video shows Lunar libration – an apparent “wobbling” motion of the Moon which allows observers on Earth to see about 59% of the Moon’s surface over the course of a month.

Astronomical League Moon Observation Programs

If you’re going to be looking at the Moon anyway, you might as well get an observing award for it!

The Astronomical League (AL) has several different Moon Observation Programs, requiring observing of targets you might take for granted, in different lighting conditions with eyes-only, binoculars and telescopes. Observations must be logged and submitted to the AL. One program requires you to sketch the Apollo landing sites – which is pretty cool!

Lunar Observing Program
Lunar II Observing Program
Lunar Evolution Observing Program

Website: https://www.astroleague.org/

Association of Lunar & Planetary Observers (ALPO)

ALPO is an international organization devoted to study the Sun, Moon, planets, asteroids, meteors, and comets. Their goals are to stimulate, coordinate, and generally promote the study of these bodies using methods and instruments that are available within the communities of both amateur and professional astronomers.

The ALPO collects and analyzes observations of various Solar System bodies and associated phenomena and publishes detailed reports concerning these bodies in its quarterly publication the Journal ALPO, otherwise known as The Strolling Astronomer.

Website: https://alpo-astronomy.org

Moonbase Alpha (Game, 2010)

Moonbase Alpha is a simulation video game based on potential Moon base programs. It was developed in conjunction with NASA Learning Technologies. The game was released on July 6, 2010, as a free download on Steam. At the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference in 2010, the game won the top honors in the government category of the Serious Game Showcase & Challenge.

Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/39000/Moonbase_Alpha

Note: This has nothing to do with the TV series Space: 1999, which had a Moonbase named Moonbase Alpha.

Lunar Horizons (Game, 2024)

Lunar Horizons is an educational Fortnite Creative map created by Epic Games, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Hassell. Launched in April 2024, it tasks players with building a lunar habitat at the moon’s south pole while learning about space exploration and ESA missions. I played this mission, and it was actually pretty cool!

Article: ESA launches Lunar Horizons Moon mission game in Fortnite

NASA Eclipse Website

Your one-stop site for dates and times of solar and lunar eclipses. Lunar eclipses have a PDF with timings and graphics showing how the Moon will move through Earth’s shadow, and a map of where the eclipse will be visible. Solar eclipses have a GIF with timings and a graphic showing the path of totality across the Earth.

The site also lists planetary transits across the Sun for centuries into the future; the next Mercury transit will be in 2032, the next Venus transit won’t be until 2117. I was lucky enough to see the last of each of these events!

Website: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Eclipse Web Site

Total Lunar Eclipse Seen From the Moon

Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lunar lander captured this image of a total lunar eclipse as seen from the Moon’s surface. Taken on March 14, 2025, the image shows the Sun about to emerge from totality behind Earth. I was quite literally bouncing around the house when I first saw this image!

Article: NASA Science Data Received, Blue Ghost Captures Eclipse From Moon

Moon Posts by Rik Hill