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Taken with my new telescope and my Iphone held up to the eye piece

So I went to Reapercon last year for the first earlier this year. Had a great time, learned a lot and hung out with some of the coolest people. What I didn't do was enter the paint contest. Remember the picture or all of the forumites holding their trophies and certificates and medals? I wasn't in there, I was taking the picture. So klarg and Cash and Monkeysloth bullied me and had me swear upon pain or stealing my booze (they said they would release my Kraken) and made me promise to enter something next year. So I will. But me being me, I don't intend to make it easy on myself. Oh no, I'm way too much of a masochist for that. So not only am I going to enter, I'm going big. How big you ask? Well, it's going to be my first contest entry of any type. My first resin miniature to boot. My first display base too. Hmm, still too easy. I know, 'll make it a tribute to a forum member. Which one? Let's go with the Forum Mascot! What kind of display base; dungeon, dumpster, stanky sock pile? Hell no! Surface of the moon baby! While I just may be clinically insane, I'm not stupid. I'll need help along the way. Not only with pulling this off but keeping me motivated during the practically guaranteed disasters that will occur along the way. Feel free to comment, brainstorm and critique. It's practically impossible to hurt my feelings. I'm my own harshest critic. Buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride. Here's the basis for the figure; sixteen wondrous pieces of resin. I'll need a sharper knife.

Sigh, so I'm working on a writing project and I've created a world without a moon, with lesser tidal effects. But, up until recently I hadn't really thought about the climate aspect. How concerned should I be about how our moon stabilizes our tilt and the whole season thing? Would it be unrealistic to have a habitable world without a moon? Would the climate and axial tilt vary over millions of years, or within a year? Or something else entirely. Any astronomers, etc out there with ideas? thanks in advance!!

A tiny sliver of NASA's budget supports a wee little webpage called The Astronomy Picture Of the Day. As with all things NASA an acronym results: APOD. If you missed the eclipse, they did not: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140416.html But do click on the link for the caption, explanation, and further links --- for the sake of SCIENCE. Moving on to April 17th: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140417.html This took a day or two for someone to composite. But, again, do click on the link for the caption, explanation, and further links --- for the sake of SCIENCE. Also look for the very subtle " > " link on each APOD page, which will take you to the next day. April 16 to 20 have just been particularly cool. (Your tax dollars zapping the moon with a laser, how cool is that?) Here is the April 20 image hidden with spoiler tagging: ...but again I recommend checking out the original. (BTW, The original image often will link to a high-res version.)