Vast dark areas - the basaltic maria, or lunar "seas" - fill huge depressions in the lighter-hued and more heavily cratered lunar highlands, or terrae.

To modern astronomers, the real importance of the moon lies in the fact that human beings not only have visited its surface but also brought back lunar rocks for study. Between 20 July 1969, when astronaut Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, and the final Apollo mission in 1972, about 700 pounds of rock and soil samples were brought to Earth. These moon rocks contain information not just about the moon but also about the formation of our solar system. Their chemical composition allow us to determine their age, through a technique similar to Carbon-14 dating. So far, the oldest rocks found in the lunar highlands date to 4.4 billion years ago, the time when the moon first formed.

	Gassendi Large circular crater in the Mare Humorum region featuring interesting rilles and an impressive two-peaked central mountain		Crescent Moon Mosaic of a pretty crescent Moon at dawn		Hadley Rille My favourite place on the Moon. 50-mile long sinuous rille in the Apennine mountains
	Albategnius Crater formation with damaged high walls in the Ptolemaeus crater region		First Quarter Moon View of the 8-day-old Moon		Lunar Eclipse Photos of the March 2007 Lunar Eclipse viewed from North London
	Nearly full moon Digital camera colour shot		Straight Wall 300-meter high fault in Mare Nubium		Copernicus Crater in Mare Insularum
	Mare Nectaris Dark lava-filled basin with relatively few sizeable craters		Schroeter's Valley Impressive rille which winds across the moon surface for 100 miles		Two-day-old Moon The two-day-old Moon is illuminated by Earth shine
	Clavius Dark lava-filled basin with relatively few sizeable craters		Hevelius Large circular plain in the West		Atlas Circular crater North-East of Mare Serenitatis
	Mons Hadley 14,500ft mountain in the morning Sunlight, casting its shadow across the Palus Putredinis marsh		Hyginus Rille Extensive rille located East of Mare Tranquillitatis region		Lunar Mountains Mosaic of the Caucasus and Apennine mountains
	Perigee Full Moon Large full Moon at perigee - photograph taken hours after a Lunar eclipse		Phocylides Crater trio in the South-Western quadrant of the Moon		Mersenius Rille 140-mile long rille system just West of crater Gassendi