Moon Maps

Are you looking for a map of the Moon? As it turns out, there are plenty of resources on the internet that show the Moon’s topography, geology, and map out it’s many interesting surface features – such as craters, volcanoes, and surface rilles. These maps are the result of decade’s worth of satellite and telescopic imaging, lunar landing missions, and even manned missions to the Moon. The exploration is ongoing, and more data pours in with every passing year!

And it just so happens that we’ve compiled a list for your convenience and viewing pleasure. Below are a short collection of websites that provide comprehensive and even interactive maps of the Moon, as well as access to archival images and thousands of pictures of the surface. Click on the links and prepare to do a little exploring of your own!

• Observatorio ARVAL – This map of the Moon shows the location of all the seas and major craters on the surface of the Moon.
• Google Moon – This is one of the coolest tools you can use to see a lunar map. It has the locations of all the Apollo landing sites.
• USGS Moon Maps – The USGS has released a series of topographical maps of the Moon, and various images returned from the Clementine and other missions. If you want data… here’s where you’ll find it.
• Albedo Map of the Moon – Here are some maps of the Moon built up with 50,000 images gathered by the Clementine mission.
• Maps of the Moon – A collection of mosaic, labelled, and color-coded topographic maps provided by Professor Seligman (BA Astronomy and Physics, MA Astronomy, from UCLA).
• Moon-Edu – A resource collection of Moon interactive maps, images and sky-watcher/moon-watcher guides, provided by Wikispaces.
• Consolidated Lunar Atlas – an online collection of Lunar resources maintained by The Lunar and Planetary Institute, a research institute that provides support services to NASA and the planetary science community.

We have written many articles about the Moon for Universe Today. Have you ever wondered how long it takes to get to the Moon? And what is the distance to the Moon? You can also learn more about the Phases of the Moon, several Interesting Facts About The Moon. There’s also a really interesting article that answers the question, How Did the Moon Form?

For more information and resources about the Earth’s Moon, be sure to check out the websites of the various federal space agencies that helped contribute to our growing understanding of it. These include NASA’s Solar System Exploration, the European Space Agency’s The Moon – Our Neighbor and Destination: Moon, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Lunar Exploration Program.

You can also listen to a very interesting podcast about the formation of the Moon from Astronomy Cast, Episode 17: Where Did the Moon Come From?