Berliner Mond-Atlas

A third edition of the Berliner Mond-Atlas published in 1989 is bound in a ring binder.  The photos of the Moon's surface were taken between 1964 and 1967 and cover almost all lunar phases, from less than 1.9 days to age of 27.9 days.

The idea of ​​photographing the moon in all phases arose from the observation practice of the group of Berlin moon observers at the Wilhelm Foerster observatory in Berlin. The Bamberg refractor of the observatory (12-inch telescope) turned out to be the ideal instrument with its focal length of 5 m, which focally displayed the moon at a size of 5 cm. Adolf Voigt built a camera for 6x6cm roll film that could be attached to the telescope and thus captured the entire moon image. The use of yellow-orange and red filters made it possible to reduce the brightness of the sky. In collaboration with Hans Giebler, Voigt was able to record a total of 31 phases of the moon between 1964 and 1969 and compile them in the Berlin moon atlas, which depicts the phases of the moon with their shape changes progressing from day to day. It starts with the moon age of 1.9 days and ends with the moon age of 27.9 days. It thus covers almost an entire lunation. With its phases reaching down to the narrowest crescent moon, the atlas not only makes it easier to recognise individual objects, but also to follow the constant changes in the view of the moon formations caused by the changing incidence of light.

The photos are marked with numbers 1-31 and are numbered according to the terminator moving across the lunar disc. The closeup photos additionally have a letter A, B or C added to indicate whether south, middle or north parts. The back of the photos also contain physical data such as the terminator, moon age, libration of the moon and the date when the picture was taken. Compared to the previous editions, most of the photos of the third edition were augmented with semi-transparent overlay sheet with marked positions and names of the craters and other features (see f.e. photo #6). Moreover, images 17, 24 and 28 were replaced by better quality images obtained more recently. The previous sheet 32 has been omitted. The newly added sheets 32 and 33 show two consecutive views of the far side of the moon, taken by Lunar orbiter probes.