

With special maps of the limb and far side, LRO altimetry-based images of major basins and their mare ridge, and maps of the Apollo and Soviet landing sites, this guide offers a level of detail never before seen in an atlas of the Moon. The "Atlas "clearly provides unprecedented detail on more than one thousand named Moon features, while recommending additional features and images to observe. With over two hundred Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images, the highest quality images of the moon ever taken, this atlas illustrates the Moon in high resolution. It is both accessible to the novice and valuable to the expert. As an indispensable guide to telescopic moon observation, it can be used at the telescope or as a desk reference. The "21st Century Atlas of the Moon "is uniquely designed for the backyard, amateur astronomer. For many, simply noticing it is a pleasure, yet it is also a fascinating world of craters, mountains, and volcanoes worthy of a closer look. the absence of clutter does give a clear and pleasingly aesthetic picture of the moon's surface.On most nights and days, the Moon is visible somewhere in the sky.

The page of errata is initially worrying until one realises most of it are typos', misspellings or a small photo wrongly orientated. In that regard this atlas is no substitute for, say, the Times Atlas of the Moon. Nor handy page numbers at each of the photos' sides to indicate the next corresponding photo. The cuts to the photos' edges are quite severe as there is no overlap at all to orientate oneself with the next map along, which could be several pages further on, or back. One thing missing, though, for each map, is context. A glance at the cover will give you the idea. While the attendant nomenclature is concise so as not to litter the map with too many identifiers (the innumerable A, B's and so on, craters are not labelled) whereas the important reminders of what's-what are thoughtfully placed, often at a slant, to follow a form. The photos are crisp and detailed, with good shadow to better highlight the moon's features and gives a very fair indication of what the actuality is when the eye is applied to the eyepiece of a good telescope. The Atlas clearly provides unprecedented detail on more than one thousand named Moon features, while recommending additional features and images to observe. The 21st Century Atlas of the Moon is uniquely designed for the backyard, amateur astronomer.

On most nights and days, the Moon is visible somewhere in the sky.
