Last year there was a National Observe the Moon Night in the USA. This year it's going international.

September 18 is a Saturday night, so why not have a get-together with friends? If bad weather means you miss the Moon, at least you can have a good party! If anyone has a telescope, that's great, but probably you have binoculars�or could borrow some. (It's what I use.)

Or maybe there's an organized event going on near you. Map of International Observe the Moon events

I'll also be posting an Absolute Beginners article on observing the moon, as well as other useful material in the coming days.

NOTE: This event took place on September 18, 2010. If you follow the thread, you'll see that I've added a short report on some of the events that took place. But remember you don't need a special night to observe the Moon.

Here's what the Moon will look like on September 18th. You will need an Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to see it.

The Moon on September 18, 2010

My latest article is Absolute Beginners - Moonwatching. Using the above map you'll see that the craters Copernicus and Tycho should be visible. Can you remember where Apollo 11 landed? It will also visible on Saturday night.

Lots of people will be watching the Moon around the world. Some will be photographing it. But in Ireland Deirdre Kelleghan will be drawing it. Here's a sketch she did of the full moon.

Sketch of full Moon by Deirdre Kelleghan

If you are artistic, you might like to try sketching the Moon. Here is Deirdre's Lunar Drawing Tutorial. And don't get discouraged if your drawings don't look like this--remember Deirdre is an experienced amateur astronomer, as well as an artist.

The Sydney Observatory in Australian says Deirdre Kellaghan's Moon drawing is upside down! I guess so are the others I've recommended to you.

For those of you in the southern hemisphere - who probably feel you're left out (sorry!) - here is what the Moon should look like on September 18th where you are.

The International Observe the Moon Night had events in many different countries, despite a good deal of bad weather.

One group in Turkey made the Moon part of a celebration of Eid Mubarak, an important Muslim holiday. In Kingston, Jamaica, as a bonus, they saw the International Space Station peeking through gaps in the clouds. In Sao Luis, Brazil, they had a lovely warm clear evening and over four hundred people looking at the Moon through a telescope.

In Accra, Ghana, they had a good turnout for an event at the Ghana Planetarium with a mix of families and university students and others. In Ireland seven events were planned and all were � not completely surprisingly � clouded out. Much of New Zealand had foul weather, but in Levin they held the indoor part of their event and those who came out enjoyed it. In Erbil, Iraq, it seemed that bad weather would spoil the evening, but finally the Moon came out and everyone enjoyed seeing it through telescopes.

In Dinant in the Ardennes in France, they used a telescope to work out a distance in one of the Moon's craters. They did well and came very close to the known figure. There were so many events across the USA and Canada that I couldn't begin to mention them. But if you're interested in these and other reported events, have a look here: International Observe the Moon Night - Reports

If you want to observe the moon, here is article to help you get started.

We take the Moon for granted, because it's so close to us and easy to see. But it's a beautiful and interesting object as it goes through its monthly changes. If you use a pair of binoculars, you can learn to recognize many of its main features. Some of them are visible without binoculars too. Absolute Beginners - Start Moonwatching