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Lunar X

StarSapling

By StarSapling
in Observing - Lunar

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StarSapling

StarSapling

Posted
Posted

I've read and heard about the Lunar X for years, but I just never seemed to be observing when the terminator was in the right location to give a good view of it.  I knew where it was located, and occassionaly I'd see part of it, but I never saw the whole thing.  That changed last night:  I was doing a quick scan of the terminator before I turned in for the night, and there it was plain as day.  Very interesting how the crater rims come together to form this feature.

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Joves

Joves

Posted
Posted

I've had a similar experience, but in reverse. The first night I ever heard of the lunar X, I casually had a look through my scope and bam, there it was. Marvellous sight. I figured, "Well, it's very nice, but certainly no challenge!"

I have not been fortunate enough to have ever seen it again since :)

Talk about right place, right time!

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

Posted
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Never seen it myself. What i have seen very often and enjoy is a couple of crater rims around the very edge of the Moon which are only partially lit up by the Sun and they appear to be floating in space totally detached from the Moon itself.

I'm sure most Moon observers know what i mean.

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  • 4 weeks later...
PeterW

PeterW

Posted
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Popped out with refractor for the first lite lunar view in ages... What do I see.. The X! Spotted it a few times now, never deliberately. Also managed rimae tries ne'er which is never caught before!

Good evening

PeterW

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  • 4 months later...
Silveradogold

Silveradogold

Posted
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I have only really taken images once in my life and by coincidence caught the Lunar X. It never gripped me, i,aging. It felt like the camera was hogging the scope!

post-17776-133877448998.jpg

post-17776-133877449025.jpg

Wow.... I like these pictures.....

Clear Skies ----- Silveradogold :laugh:

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Skylook123

Skylook123

Posted
Posted

I thought I'd ramble a bit about a new observing goal, Lunar-X, and my first try at it.  First, some preamble.

Although we live in Tucson,  Arizona, my wife Susan’s family has a reunion picnic every summer in Northern Ohio, Lake County east of Cleveland.  She goes every summer; her mother is 95, there were 17 aunts and uncles in earlier times, and my wife has 55 first cousins.  This is a big event. I usually don't go due to work, but now that I'm retired, no more excuses.  I needed to go back just to prove I existed.  Since we had a lot to do back there, we were planning on six weeks and driving, so I took my 10" SCT and several Mallicam instruments since some of the family members wanted a telescope experience.  We were able to get a couple of public events together, but the weather was abominable.  Here I was, thinking I'd avoid the monsoon season back home, but we only had about five usable nights in five weeks.  Two nights before we left, I saw that there was a Lunar-X prediction and I thought I'd try to see and image it, never having done so.  The night was perfectly clear!

Then I checked on the predicted time for Lunar-X, the artifact of a pair of intersecting ridges on the moon that are only visible for a few hours in terminator each month, on the website

http://www.eyesonthe...oon/LunarX.aspx

and saw that on the last clear night we would have before leaving, Aug 21, it was scheduled for 20:30 EST, a good time.  But I forgot to add Daylight Saving Time, and it was really going to begin its appearance at 9:30 PM, so I spent an hour in the cold and bugs with nothing happening.  It was 49 F, when usually in August it would be low 70s, and I hadn’t brought a jacket! But I was seeing the X start to become visible at 9:30 PM, so I waited a bit more and took the final images (10" SCT at f/5, Mallimcam Xterminator, three frame average at 1/4000 sec) at 9:45 PM.   It would have been much better at 10:45 PM, but I was freezing and the mosquitos were still active (they laughed at insect repellent; they used it for dessert) so I packed it up for good, loading the setup into the car for our departure in two days.  Next try will be Sept. 20, around 7 PM Tucson time.

The final image I took is below, still too embedded in terminator.  But now I have a quest; try to get a good image of the Lunar X and the Lunar V above it.

post-11779-0-47490900-1441906213_thumb.j

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  • 5 weeks later...
Silveradogold

Silveradogold

Posted
Posted

It just takes a little planning, like in the previous images it really is quite obvious and you cant really miss it.

I sketched it a couple years ago and it was cool watching the lunar X appear and then disappear over time. :)

Very good sketch....

Clear Skies ----- Silveradogold :laugh:

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