Guide to the Lunar 100 Including FREE Downloads

What appeared as a giant blob in the sky to a young me. I was shocked when I lent into the eyepiece for my first view of the moon. After this first time, I observed the moon when I was a child, and I have been fascinated by all aspects of the moon. I found that there was a challenge to see surface features. Now, who doesn’t love a challenge? The challenge is called the Lunar 100, which challenges you to find 100 surface features on the moon.

Now, I feel this taught me lots of different skills in finding objects in the night sky; it was also enjoyable. Some surface features were easy to find, and others were more of a challenge.

As much as I enjoyed my mission to find the Lunar 100, help was not widely available, and now I’m a little (lot) older. I compiled my complete guide to the Lunar 100 to help you along the way.

I have broken the guide into four sections, with FREE downloadable ebooks and no opt-in required. Within this guide, I will also link out to some great resources to help you with your quest to find the lunar 100.

Lunar 100 Finder List

The lunar 100 list is what we’re challenged to find on the surface of the moon.

I have included the list sorted from 1-100 like above and sorted by moon phases.

Columns Explained

# – Lunar 100 Number
Name – Lunar Craters Name
Description –
Lat – Latitude
Long – longitude
Diam – Diameter
Rükl Chart – Number on the Rükl Chart
Waxing Phase
Name – Waxing Phase Name
Day(s) – Waxing Phase Day(s)
Waning phase
Name – Waning phase Name
Day(s) – Waning phase Day(s)

The finder list should give you the details to pinpoint your target on any given day.

Also, our post should help you find objects using coordinates for the Lat and Long section. The Rükl Chart refers to the column on the luna Rükl Chart map here. It is an excellent resource that helps you pinpoint some of the lunar 100. All the other columns should be pretty self-explanatory.

Moon Locator Charts

We have gathered detailed images from NASA and pinpointed each of the Lunar 100 features. Each Lunar 100 feature is shown in its best lunar phase to view it.

You can combine the Locator chart with the Lunar 100 Finder List above to give a visual view of the features to help you find the features you are looking for on any given night.

Moon Calendar

The lunar calendar will help you pinpoint what phase the moon is currently going through. I have given the dates that the moon will be in New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, Third Quarter. You will then be able to work out what day/phase easily.

Astronomy apps can give you the current moon phase if you prefer a handy solution.

Lunar 100 Checklist

Keeping track of the Lunar 100 features, you find in an organized journal motivated me to continue searching.

I have already filled out all the names of the 100 lunar features and their description for you to fill in the Date seen, Moon phase Name/Day, Equipment used, Notes.

The description section, I feel, was a big help as I could cross-reference if what I found was the item I thought it was.

Conclusion

The joy of finding the Lunar 100 is excellent and took me a few years as the weather is not always our friend.

I hope that you find the resources that I have linked to, and my FREE PDF’s are a big help to you. If you need any help or feel there is somewhere to improve the files, just drop a message below.

If you need help picking the Best Telescope to See the Moon or if you want to use the Best Dobsonian Telescope, which will offer a great view, our site is here to help. The moon is not the only target in the sky and we have guides for observing every planet through a telescope with all the help you will need.

Good luck on the hunt for the one hundred features you can do it.