Exploration of the Moon Exploration of the Moon The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made an impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of exploration had been observation from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes; having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his
Solar eclipses on the Moon the surface appears not just black but red and brown (according to the Danjon scale) because the only sunlight available is refracted through the Earth's atmosphere on the edges of the Earth forming an atmospheric ring as it is shown in the sky in a painting by Lucien Rudaux. During eclipses with long totality, temperatures plunges but not in many parts of its mares especially Oceanus Procellarum and Mare Tranquillitatis, and mid to large craters (especially with basalt floor) mostly in the middle portion of the Moon, some young craters and a few distant large craters, notably Tycho (being located