The Moon has been one of the most fascinating celestial bodies in the heavens. Not only is it our closest natural neighbour, it is also consequentially the best resolved object. With a small telescope we can see majestic mountains that have remained unchanged for at least 3 billion years.

How did astronomers figure out the height of the mountains and depths of the craters on the Moon before the space age? This page offers a taste of how they thought and logically deduced the methods that are still being used today, even on other moons of the solar system.

The method presented here is split up into 9 steps to make the calculations easier to digest. For all complex mathematical calculations, there exist very simple steps along the way. The tenth and final page presents some of the results that I have personally calculated using my own images in order to better verify this specific method.

For this method, the feature Promontorium (Cape) Laplace on the corner of Sinus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows) will be used.