The moon has captured the human imagination since time immemorial, with generation after generation looking up at it and wondering what it would be like to be there. Just a few centuries ago, many astronomers thought the moon was much like our own planet – complete with vegetation and perhaps even life. And only 70 years before the Apollo 11 moon landing, science fiction writer HG Wells, who made so many accurate predictions about the future, imagined it as being inhabited by an extraterrestrial civilisation of insect-like creatures in his book The First Men in the Moon.

So it’s no wonder that half a billion people across the world tuned in to see for themselves what it was like to be on the moon when Neil Armstrong took his first small step on it exactly 50 years ago today. The footage unveiled a world starkly different to the one in our imagination – a grey and arid landscape, with no insect in sight.

But the old picture of the moon, full of oceans and rainbows, lives on – for example in lunar cartography. Names of features such as the “Sea of Clouds” (Mare Nubium), “Bay of Rainbows” (Sinus Iridum) and “Marsh of Sleep” (Palus Somni) are still being used today. This doesn’t mean that the maps, which are just as colourful as they sound, are scientifically useless. Thanks to the Apollo missions, geological maps of the moon have in fact helped transform our understanding of the moon.

If this still isn’t enough weekend moon reading for you, check out some of the other stories The Conversation has published as part of our global series To the moon and beyond. Find out how the Apollo crews miraculously survived threatening space radiation, whether your mobile phone could take you to the moon and why it would have been impossible to fake the footage of the moon landings.

Also have a listen to our podcast series, which was featured on BBC Radio Podcast Hour this week. From how the world reacted to the moon landings and why they generated so many conspiracy theories to the moon’s role in future of space exploration, this series features top experts from around the world.

This week we also learned why leadership experts think Boris Johnson, the leading candidate for prime minister, lacks both character and competence. And if you’re looking for a drink to go with your weekend reading, try pink wine – it’s increasingly fashionable.

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