The Astronomer's Lunar Atlas and Explorer is primarily designed to be used while observing the moon using a telescope. Therefore the interface is designed using red on a black background to preserve night vision. The moon is also shown upside down compared to the way it is seen with the naked eye or through binoculars in the northern hemisphere. This is to match the inversion that most telescope optics cause. It is commonly accepted to display lunar maps in this way.

The Tool Bar
The main controls appear in a tool bar at the bottom of every screen within the Lunar Explorer. The tool bar consists of the Filter and Grids controls, the Exploration Menu as well as the Reading Light switch.

• Filter Control
  The brightness of the moon image can be adjusted with the filter control. Each circle represents a darker filter that you can apply to the moon image. A darker filter might be used as the selected phase is more full to protect night vision while observing. The first empty circle turns this feature off.
   
• Grids Control
  Each circle represents a different informational overlay, including compass points and Latitude and Longitude. The first empty circle turns this feature off.
   
• Exploration Menu
  The exploration menu is the main navigational tool. This pop-up menu changes the type of lunar feature currently being explored. Changing this value will navigate to the selected section.
   
• Reading Light
  The small red circle on the right end of the tool bar toggles the reading light. This causes the entire screen to light up red, making the monitor into a handy reading light during outdoor observing. Just rest the book on the keyboard and angle the screen slightly downward.

The Different Modes
The moon has countless individual features. Several maps show over 32,000 craters alone. To complicate matters further many features also intersect or overlap one another. In an attempt to narrow the scope the interface has been divided into modes. Each mode focuses on a single or a small group of feature types, such as Mare (seas) or Montes (mountains).

Exploring Lunar Features
Each mode is prefaced with a brief description screen. Click the 'Explore These Features' button for a list of individual features. The darker inactive or 'grayed-out' entries are located on the far side of the moon and are not visible from the earth. If the mouse is passed over an active entry name the feature will be highlighted on the moon image. Likewise, if the mouse is passed over the feature on the moon the feature name will be highlighted in the list. When either is clicked a small pop-up window will open containing information about the selected feature. The 'Text Only Version' button at the top of the list will open a detailed table of all the listed features along with assorted information.

How to Use the Explorer
New users can use the Astronomer's Lunar Atlas and Explorer as a tour guide to take a tour of the Moon. The Exploration Menu menu is organized from the top downward, with the larger, older or more basic features at the top.

More experienced users can use the Exploration Menu to jump right to the feature type of interest.

Copyright © 2003 by Brian Patrick Mucha