5 Minutes with Luna

[StarSapling]

Last night was cloud covered except for the occasional cloud.  Normally under such conditions I would not even bother to try and observe, but I was jonesing for some Luna light, so I set up and hoped for a break in the clouds.  I had one and it lasted for about 5 minutes.

Usually the first thing I look for, when observing Luna with the 90mm f10 refractor, is to start off with 91x and see if I can detect any of the larger rilles which may be near the terminator at the time.  If I can detect the rilles, then I'll up the magnification to 142x, and, on rare occasions, to 182x.

This is what I observed in the 5 minutes I had last night.

Great views of portions of Rima Archimedes, Rima Bradley, Rima Hyginus and Rima Ariadaeus.  Glimpses of portions of Rimae Triesnecker.  No sign of Rima Hadley.

Wonderful view of Plato on the terminator, shadow filled with the western rim showing as an arc of isolated peaks.

Wonderful view of the Mount Bradley area of the Montes Apenninus with an almost 3-D effect.

[Scooot]

That was worth waiting for, a very satisfying 5 minutes by the sound of it. Are you sure they weren't computer minutes

[John]

The Moon was lovely last night and the seeing steady

[Pig]

I also love observing the Moon its one of my favourite targets and last night was a cracker, it is especially great to observe the termination during its various phases.   Its like our own little garden rockery. Lots of great detail to be seen.

[acr_astro]

Hi,

sometimes I just quickly grab the small 76/300 Heritage MiniDob when the weather is not stable. Cools down fast and sometimes it's really just for literally five minutes lunar observations.

Achim

[Highburymark]

Moon views in Oxfordshire on 27th were among best I've ever experienced. Absolutely stunning.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report! The moon can provide really exciting views