  Let S be an orientable, finite type surface with negative Euler
characteristic. The augmented moduli space of convex real projective structures
on S was first defined and topologized by the first author. In this article, we
give an explicit description of this topology using explicit coordinates. More
precisely, given every point in this augmented moduli space, we find explicit
continuous coordinates on the quotient of a suitable open neighborhood about
this point by a suitable subgroup of the mapping class group of S. Using this,
we give a simpler proof of the fact that the augmented moduli space of convex
real projective structures on S is homeomorphic to the orbifold vector bundle
of regular cubic differentials over the Deligne-Mumford compactification of the
moduli space of Riemann surfaces homeomorphic to S.
