a whole weekend to observe our satellite through the telescope

Take a little height and observe the Moon: this is what the French Astronomical Society is offering, which is organizing its new edition of “On the moon again” June 14, 15 and 16. More than 400 observation sites have been set up with glasses and telescopes through which the general public is invited to come and discover or rediscover our satellite.

Whether in the city, on the banks of a river or in the middle of a village, the invitation is the same everywhere: to put one eye on the instrument, and let yourself be carried away by the show. “We will actually be able to walk on the surface of the moon”summarizes Sylvain Bouley, president of the Astronomical Society of France.

“It’s absolutely incredible to move the telescope and be able to follow what we call ‘the terminator,’ the part between light and shadow.”

Sylvain Bouley, president of the Astronomical Society of France

at franceinfo

“This is in fact where we have the most marked reliefs”, explains Sylvain Boulet.“When we walk with the telescope along the terminator, we really have the feeling of being in lunar orbit. When we observe the moon with the naked eye, we see a very clear but very flat Moon, without relief, but when we look through the eyepiece we have an almost terrestrial world appearing before our eyes.”

To make this journey even more concrete, tiny pieces of the Moon will be made available to the public, to add touch to sight. “We work with a meteorite hunter who found lunar meteorites. When he saws them, there is dust, we collected this dust and therefore all the people who come to the sites will be able to touch the lunar dust at the same time and observe lunar landscapes.”

The map of observation sites is available on the OnThe Moon again website and all the information also available on the website of the Société astronomique de France.