The Moon is the most fascinating object in the night sky, and although less dramatic, it is often unobtrusively present during the day. With a small telescope tens ofthousands of features can be observed, some as small as a few kilometers across. Nowhere else in the universe can you see the nooks and crannies of another world. Nowhere else can you always observe changes due to shadows moving across a topographically exuberant landscape. The Moon can enthrall you for a lifetime. The goal of the 21st Century Atlas of the Moon is to help you find your way among its craters, clefts, volcanoes and mountains, and suggest features that are most appealing to search out, and why.
The 21st Century Atlas of the Moon will be useful especially to amateur astronomers while observing with their backyard telescopes, or when indoors when they want to identify and learn about features. It will even aid professional scientists who would like to gain a personal knowledge of the world they study remotely. Hopefully, the most important readers will be the inquisitive public. These are adults and children who are alert to the world they live in, who pick up shells at the sea shore, notice different types of clouds, can name multiple species of trees, flowers and birds, and who count the seconds following a flash of lightning. To these people the natural world is alive and full of fascination. The authors want to enlarge their realm of enquiry and awe to reach the Moon. It is always there, as it has been for 4.5 billion years, and it never ceases to pleasantly surprise us whenever we unexpectedly see it.