Scope: Bresser Sirius 70mm/900mm

Lenses: H20, H12.5, 2xBarlow

Location: Back Garden

Visibility: Good

Light Pollution: Low - Sunset

A look out my window today showed me the stunning sight of the thin crescent moon over Venus. This is the moment we have been waiting for, so my wife and I rushed to the garden for our first look at the moon.

An awe-inspiring sight, seeing the moon under magnification makes it seem more real somehow; it really is a giant sphere of rock marked with craters not a little glowing disc which slides about the sky...

We had fun viewing the Moon at various magnifications, at minimum magnification (45x) the moon just fit in the view. At 140x we could make out mountain peaks illuminated beyond the terminator. Being so near to sunset the features of the moon were thrown into stunning, sharp relief making it easier to see depth in craters and on mountains. It was difficult for us to work out what part of the moon we were viewing, being unfamiliar view lunar viewing and with so little of the moon illuminated but at a guess we may have been viewing Langrenus crater and Mare Spurmans. Hopefully we can work this out when viewing the Moon later this month as it waxes.

The Moon at last.