Our closest celestial neighbour has kept us company for at least four billion years and has entertained our imagination in a variety of ways. It certainly has been involved in our maturation as a species with man's first step on a body beyond our planet during the latter part of the twentienth century and will, inevitably, be our first stop prior to any sort of manned travel to a further celestial body such as Mars. The moon has been a great source of education about our own planet's evolutionary history; it has entertained many inquisitive minds from earlier cultures and generations about the universe in general and man's role in particular; it has enriched the minds of young children taking their first look through a telescope and continues to impact our lives in ways we may or may not readily recognize including tidal forces and various natural rhythms and cycles.

Following the sun, our moon is the most dominant and widely recognized celestial body which accompanies us from month to month in a rythmic cycle involving its ever-changing phases but constant view due to the fact its rotational period about its axis is virtually identical to its rotational period around our planet. When these two dominant bodies align themselves relative to earth, we are treated to stunning eclipses where day becomes night (solar eclipse) and the moon undergoes metamorphosis in both its phase and colour (lunar eclipse). Our first look through a telescope ("first light") is usually at the ever-present moon whose rich physical morphology provides stunning and breathless views even at modest powers.