This resource pack replaces Minecraft moon with real-life Earth moon in extreme 4K resolution. It also changes its shape into a round one. The actual dimension of one lunar phase is 5120x5120 pixels, though the actual Moon is about 3000x3000 pixels in size. By default it appears slightly bigger than the vanilla moon due to difference in proportions within the file. This resource pack was created by its author as an addon to the AstroCraft mod to enhance its experience.

Suggested use

This resource pack is intended by the author to be played with AstroCraft mod:

Which can be found here

AstroCraft mod allows for the spyglass zoom of up to 500x, which gives the best and most immersive experience in viewing the moon's surface. Pack has also been developed by the author with this mod enabled and all the gallery images were taken using it. It's also recommended as it easily allows for the apparent size of the moon to be adjusted in the configs, letting players enlarge or shrink it to their needs (note that this may cause issues with the edges of the moon not properly obstructing the view of the stars).

Apart from its original use, this resource pack will work perfectly with any mod that allows high-degree of zooming. All you need to do is to be able to zoom in sufficiently on the moon in the sky to see all the detail. The real-life moon this pack adds adds will still look amazing on vanilla night sky with default skybox.

Although suggested, in the end you don't need AstroCraft or other similar mods to enjoy the beautiful moon textures. Though keep in mind that without support from mods, you won't be able to fully utilize this resource pack and all that extreme resolution will likely be wasted.

Real-life Moon in 4K resolution!

All extreme-resolution textures used in this resource pack have been taken from NASA's official database, more precisely, its Scientific Visualization Studio:

View Moon Phases Loop released by NASA

Thanks to NASA's database, pack not only has access to incredible textures, it also features proper depth of lighting visible during various phases. Since lunar surface isn't smooth sphere, sun casts unevan shadow around its terminator, exposing slopes and darkening the basins behind them. As far as the resource pack author's knowledge goes, this is the only resource pack that takes into account uneven terrain of the Moon during its phases. Other similar mods have simple "smooth" shadow for its phases.

CHECK GALLERY SECTION FOR IN-GAME IMAGES.

Compatibility & technical stuff

By the author's intention, resource pack was made on Minecraft version 1.20.1 and is officially compatible with all recent Minecraft versions of 1.20 and newer. Since the pack only changes one feature of the game, it is compatible with earlier versions of Minecraft too, probably even as far down as Minecraft 1.5 when moon's texture file was moved to environment folder.

This resource pack only changes single single texture - moon_phases.png - changing its resolution to feature 8 images of 5120 px each. As such, this pack should be compatible with any resource mod that doesn't change how the moon looks like in-game. If you run this pack alongside other packs that change the night sky, you may want to make sure the 4K Realistic Moon is loaded after them, so that it doesn't get overwritten.

Author's note

This is my first resource pack that I have made and I have made it with personal use in mind. It's also my first Minecraft-related release ever. I am sharing it because I want other people to also be able to enjoy my passion for astronomy. I hope you like it and find it very useful for your own modpacks and servers. Enjoy!