Welcome to my lunar gallery depicting one complete lunar cycle or lunation. As much as the moon may hinder us most evenings with its brilliant light, it represents a constant source of countless features by which one can spend a few hours reinventing. Aside from representing our one and only moon, it also marks our first conquest with travel beyond this planet. The sequence below is an attempt to document the complete "metamorphosis" of the moon from the start of lunation to the end in daily increments.

Note: Many references to the moon such as "selenographic coordinates" are based on the root word "selene" which, of course, refers to the goddess "Selene" in ancient Greek mythology, daughter of Hyperion and Theia and whose siblings included Helios (Sun) and Eos (Dawn). As indicated by the author's photo of the 4th century BC amphora on display at the National Archaelogical Museum in Athens, Greece, Selene was often depicted with a lunar crescent above her head while riding a chariot drawn by winged horses.

Note: The notion of a lunar day is somewhat misunderstood and misused. The proper analysis and definition is based on the lunar terminator and not on the 24-hr day on earth. For example, if the moon is exactly seven days old today at 18:00:00 UT+2, it will NOT be exactly eight days old at 18:00:00 UT+2 tomorrow since the moon will have moved along its orbit about the sun and the perspective of the lunar terminator and its longitude will be under/overestimated! The images below are based on the proper definition of lunar day and great care, effort and analysis has been exercised to produce this series!