Cruise the Lunar Surface

[Astroman]

I'm fairly suprised there are no posts on this forum. I'd have thought there'd be a better chance of seeing the Moon from moister climates, and Luna would be a popular target. Must be mistaken.

I'll kick it off with a little story about what I did at this year's Grand Canyon Star Party. (The Grand Canyon Star Party is an annual week-long event in which amateur astronomers from all over the US set up telescopes during the busy tourist season at, duh, Grand Canyon National Park and show as many people as possible the night sky and the wonders contained therein. It's teriffically rewarding and we manage to turn several hundred people into skygazers.)

The last three days this year presented us with a new Moon which, on the last night, did not set until 10:30 pm. I decided to do something new this year, after having tried something similar the night before, in which, late at night, a gentleman and his friend had asked to see the Veil Nebula. Since the Veil covers so much area on the sky, I set one end of it in the wide angle eyepiece and slowly turned the declination knob so as to "scan" the length of one section, then the other. The reaction I got was great! They were both completely amazed at the extent and details visible along the way. The next day I decided to try it on the Moon for the public.

After checking it out myself, I'd line up the terminator at high power at one pole and slowly scan to the other pole with the Dec knob. I'd describe what they were to be seeing as I went. "Ok, we'll start at the southern highlands. Watch for the old, beat up craters, mountain ranges and ridges. Now, see the central plains and the subtle hills and well defined, new craters on the floor of the maria. We'll get to a mountain range with high peaks, pass on to another plain with a nice, curved ridge and a crater to the east. Notice the shadows on the edges of the cliffs, and the rolling hills behind. Now, on to the northern pole where there's a bunch of big craters and another mountain range..." The people were captivated, and many demanded a return journey to the south pole. They literally had no idea how much could be seen in a telescope on the Moon! As I spoke to one woman at the eyepiece, her husband asked her if she could actually see all that stuff. She answered an emphatic "Yeeeaahh!"

Many folks (we had as many as 75 telescopes set up on several nights) had seen the Moon, but others had just set up a wide view of the entire disk. I gave them a flyover, and a description, of the most interesting edge of our satellite. One they won't soon forget. It was great!

[AndyMac]

What a great story Astroman - and very inventive. I've never heard of that being done before (thanks also to NGC6992-6995 for giving you the idea)!

This is the sort of innovation that helps turn ordinary members of the public into avid sky gazers!

Don't forget that this forum is still in its infancy. I think that is the main reason that this section had yet to be 'christened'. Nicely done, Sir!

[OXO]

Thanks for sharing that experiance Astroman, if there's one thing that can get the public's attention it's the good old moon. Your story reminds me of the time i too shared the glory of our satalite to the public(locals).

If i remember correctly it was Astronomy Week last year, a friend had borrowed me there video projector and Video camcorder and decided to have some fun at my partner's soical club.

Setup an 8" reflector on driven mount outside the club polar aligned the scope for tracking placed the camcorder over a eyepiece and used the video out of the camera to go into the projector.

Picked a tall wall about 20yrds away and beamed live images of the moons terminator onto it. It was a fantastic sight seeing the crater's so large live on a wall.

This soon got a reaction from the people walking there dogs that night and people bagan to come and ask what i was doing(i thought oh dear now i am in for it) i told them i was checking out the moon and camera. They were so interested in the moon they asked friends to meet up by the scope.

After 20mins of setting this setup up i had about 55 members of the public inc my wife and her friends viewing the moon projected on the wall. Shouting at the top of my voice the names of craters and alps etc etc.

I will never forget what an awsome night that was and hopefully they wont too. Come to think of it i had one chap come round to my house asking for advise on buying a telescope and he took up this hobby just because of the night's viewing.

James