BBC Sky at Night

Use Moon shadows to measure crater peaks

Practical astronomy projects for every level of expertise

The lunar surface is at its most striking when there are well-defined shadows. As well as being visually pleasing, the study of shadows cast by lunar mountains and craters can tell us a lot about these features. When we see a lunar crater from above it’s easy to think that the crater wall is uniform around the entire perimeter. However, if we look at the shape of the shadows cast by a crater wall, we can get

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