Scientific observation of the MOON

 Not all lunar observation

took place in the last century . . .

About 2,500 years ago

a Greek Philosopher

Anaxagoras opined that the

moon's light came from the sun;

about 2,200 years ago

Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer,

figured a way to measure the

distance from Earth to the Moon.

about 2,000 years ago

a Syrian philosopher, Posidonius,

explained the effect the moon has

on tides.

During the Renaissance (c. 1609)

the Italian polymath - scientist

Galileo Galilei, used a telescope

to study the moon.

in 1645 HEVELIUS, a pioneer

of moon mapping, charted more

than 250 formations on the moon.

in 1850s, the first pictures of the moon

were taken by William Bond and

J. Whipple in the United States.

in 1920s, a French astronomer,

Bernard LYOT, concluded that

the moon's surface was made of dust.

____________________________

the first lunar landing was in 1959 :

The SOVIET SPACECRAFT

Luna 2 

was the first spacecraft to make a

soft landing on the moon