NASA ‘International Observe the Moon’ Saturday 19th September 2026.
On Saturday 19th September, people in something like seventy countries will go outside and look at the Moon.
In London, it will be scraping along ten degrees above the horizon( one fist held at arm's length) half-lost in the murk. In New York, about two fists.
On Look At Me Now Headland at Emerald Beach, it will be two and a half degrees off straight up.
That is not a boast about the Tour on Sat Sept 19th.. It is just where we happen to live.
But it does mean that for ‘International Observe the Moon’ Night, the Coffs Coast has one of the better seats on the planet, and we will be up on the headland for it from 5:30pm, weather permitting
Bookings are essential.
The right Moon, not the big one
NASA has run ‘International Observe the Moon Night’ every year since 2010, and it is always timed to the first quarter rather than the full Moon.
This surprises people.The Full Moon is the one that photographs well on a phone, and through a telescope it is a disappointment: bright, flat and shadowless, like a dinner plate under a floodlight.
First quarter is the opposite.
The terminator ( the line dividing lunar day from night) runs down the middle of the disc, and the sunlight arrives almost sideways.
Crater rims throw shadows across their own floors.
Mountain peaks catch the light while the valleys beside them are still black.You stop looking at a picture of the Moon and start looking at a landscape.
The Moon reaches first quarter at 6:43am on Saturday morning, so by evening it is a shade past half lit, which is about perfect.
It is overhead at 6:01pm, twenty minutes after sunset, and it does not set until well after 1am.
Whenever you step outside on Saturday night, it is up there.
What you are actually looking at
The dark plains on the Moon are the ‘maria’ (Latin for "seas") mistaken by early astronomers for seas - and still carrying the names they gave them.
Mare Crisium, the Sea of Crises, is small and round and sits right on the edge of the disc.
Mare Tranquillitatis, the Sea of Tranquility, is where Apollo 11 put down in July 1969 and Neil Armstrong reported: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
It is one thing to know that story.
It is another to be looking at the spot while somebody tells it to you.
BTW
We thought we could have some fun with AI for images..(below)
Shame they are looking away from the Moon?
Be with us on Saturday 19th to experience it yourself.. NO AI or Screens needed!
There is the line of craters and mountains along the terminator, which is the part where people tend to go quiet.
Most people arrive intending to tick the Moon off …..and move on to ‘more interesting things’
Most are still at the eyepiece a good while later.
It’s a view that (to use a well worn turn of phrase) never gets old.
Where the thing came from
The Moon is an oddity.
It orbits the only planet we know of that supports complex life, and it is far larger in proportion to it’s parent than a moon has any business being.
The best explanation we have is that a Mars-sized body (Theia, named for the Titan who mothered the Moon goddess) hit the infant Earth about 4.5 billion years ago and threw a streamer of molten material clear, which then pulled itself together into what we now look at.
That was early in the Hadean Eon, when the Earth had just about managed a crust but was still too hot for oceans.
Everything since, tides and a good deal of biology besides, has run to its rhythm.
Not bad for debris.
One honest warning
A half-lit Moon sitting on the bright part of the Milky Way, (which is exactly where it will be on Saturday) washes the Milky Way out completely.
If deep sky and the galactic core are what you are after, come back around the new Moon on 11 October and we will sort you out.
Otherwise, there is ALWAYS something to gaze upon in our wondrous Night Sky.
We know. That’s why we operate year round.
Starry Night Tours will also now run from Tuesday to Saturdays for the School holidays, starting on Sept 22nd
Saturday Sept 19th belongs to the Moon, and it has earned it.
Your Guide, Gordon, welcomes any & all Questions!
When: Saturday 19 September, from 5:30pm
Where: Look At Me Now Headland, Emerald Beach
Bring: A warm layer. Clear skies, and it drops to about 10°C
(We supply the Hot Chocolate & binoculars)
Kids: Very welcome (it is the first night of the Queensland school holidays!)
Note: If the weather turns we will let you know, and you will not be out of pocket.
The Moon will be back.
