How to See the Proposed Carroll Crater

Carroll is a lunar crater provisionally named by the Artemis II crew in honor of Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife Carroll Taylor Wiseman. (The name has been submitted to the International Astronomical Union, the entity responsible for naming planetary features.) It can be seen from Earth in backyard telescopes if you know where and when to look. Two maps on this page show its location near the western limb of the Moon's near side, and a table lists the dates of especially favorable librations.

Carroll is located at 18.633°N, 86.533°W. Although small (6 kilometers or 4 miles wide), it is relatively young and surrounded by bright ejecta that make it easier to find. It is in sunlight from Full Moon through the thin waning crescent just before New Moon, but it may be best seen in the early morning hours beginning at the Third Quarter phase, to take advantage of diurnal libration. At Third Quarter, the Sun is high over Carroll's neighborhood, so finding it relies on albedo features rather than shadows. Crater hop starting at Grimaldi, a prominent dark patch near the equator and just off the western edge of Oceanus Procellarum, and move north through Riccioli, Hedin, and Glushko, all of which have easily recognizeable features.

A few days before New Moon, long shadows in Carroll's neighborhood make nearby craters easier to identify. Look for the equal-size pair of craters Cardanus and Krafft and take a short hop northwest to the nearby bright patch of ejecta.

Because Carroll is so close to the western limb of the Moon, its visibility depends crucially on lunar libration in both longitude and latitude. The following table lists the dates of the most favorable libration conditions through the end of 2029. If the Moon isn't above your horizon at the listed times, the libration will still be favorable up to a day before or afterward.