The week of September 28 – October 4 takes us from Day 18 to Day 24. This week we will highlight the moon crater Aristoteles, visible on Tuesday night close to the terminator.
Aristoteles: [NE/D11; L=17°E] Close to the terminator this evening, there is an eye-catching pair of moon craters, Aristoteles and Eudoxus. Aristoteles is a complex moon crater with terraces, but in place of a central mountain it has a couple of small off-center peaks that are poking through the lava plain on its floor. The substantial ejecta blanket to the north of Aristoteles clearly shows radial structure, and if you catch it in the early morning sunrise it will look like many points of light peeking through the shadows. Aristoteles adjoins the moon crater Mitchell to its immediate east. The pair violates the standard rule that smaller, younger craters are superimposed on top of larger, older craters. Can you tell that the younger (and larger) Aristoteles is intruding onto Mitchell (which is older and smaller)?
OF ADDITIONAL INTEREST IN SPACE
On Wednesday, the Pleiades are 1° south of the Moon.
On Sunday, Saturn is at opposition, rising at sunset.
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It is highly recommended that you get a copy of Sky and Telescope’s Field Map of the Moon, the very finest Moon map available for use at the telescope. It is available for $10.95 at www.skyandtelescope.com and on Amazon. All features mentioned in this blog will be keyed to the grid on the Field Map and will look like this: Plato: [NW/D9]
Credits:
Courtesy of Gray Photography of Corpus Christi, Texas
Lunar photos: NASA / USGS / BMDO / LROC / ASU / DLR / LOLA / Moon Globe. Used by permission
- Petavius: Floor-Fractured Crater on the Moon - October 12, 2026
- Rimae Sirsalis – One of the Longest Rilles on the Moon - October 5, 2026
- Moon Crater Aristoteles Adjoins the Moon Crater Mitchell to its Immediate East - September 28, 2026