The annual Moon-watch night is 19 September 2026, first-quarter phase. Space.com aims readers at Montes Apenninus and Rupes Recta on the half-lit disk near Sagittarius.
Wood's Space.com guide posted 19 September 2026 at 14:00 UTC and marks that evening's first-quarter disk as the annual lunar observing night. The disk glows on the southern horizon near Sagittarius. The date is the annual NASA observing night. The phase is first quarter.[1]
On the listed map, Montes Apenninus sits roughly 20 degrees north of the Moon's equator along Imbrium's southeast shore, 600 kilometres across and as high as 5 kilometres. Rupes Recta, called the Straight Wall, lies in southeastern Mare Nubium. Space.com also names Eratosthenes, Tranquility Base and Mare Crisium. Those sizes are in the Space.com copy.[1]
The copy is a target list for NASA's yearly look-up night. It is not a new mission result, a new landing, or a new instrument paper. Readers looking for a flight announcement will not find one here. The card reports the targets as listed for that first-quarter evening.[1]
