The P in LPOD nominally stands for Photo, but also People, for every lunar image, map or globe ever made was from the hands, eyes and brains of dedicated people who used a telescope or built a spacecraft. Here is the first of a series of occasional LPODs about people currently studying the Moon, or their classic predecessors. Raffaello Lena and his colleagues have elevated amateur lunar studies to the professional level. Over the last decade the Geologic Lunar Research Group that Raf founded has produced dozens of published studies of lunar domes, faults and transient phenomena. Raf has been interested in the Moon since he was 10 years old and has progressed from a small Newtonian telescope to high quality scopes (6” Maksutov Cassegrain and a 5” refractor). He is also the leader of the editorial board of Selenology Today, a journal that has produced the highest level of amateur lunar studies since the 1800s when gentleman scientists mapped the Moon. Like all amateurs, Raf has a reallife job in a different field. He has a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Rome and works  on food safety. And whenever possible he listens to jazz and explores Italy’s volcanoes and mountainous geology.

Chuck Wood