Saturday Night, 22 Sept 2007

[Talitha]

Scope: 90mm ETX RA

Magnifications: 90, 125 and 252

Well, the seeing wasn't the best due to the Moon's low altitude, but favorable NW libration made up for it. The most obvious advantage was the way it opened crater J. Herschel up, giving it a much rounder appearance than usual and exposing the oatmeal-like floor to a better viewing advantage.

There's a 'peninsula' extending SW of Sinus Iridum, and at the bottom of this peninsula are two pearl-like domes known as Gamma and Delta Gruithuisen. (Elevations on the lunar surface are given Greek alphabet designations, accompanied by the main local crater's name.. in this case, crater Gruithisen.) Zeta Gruithuisen is another elevation below Gamma and Delta, but it's rough and doesn't have that pearly gleam.

There's another elevation in the area, located east of crater Aristarchus. It's called Mons Vinogradov and is also known as Beta Euler because it's an elevation near crater Euler. While mentioning elevations, let me recommend two more which are very interesting when on the terminator. They're about ½ way between Autolycus and Mons Hadley, and are named Beta and Gamma Autolycus. They're very nice features but are often by-passed because of the grandeur of the surrounding area. Worth a look, though.

Getting back to Saturday night, Aristarchus was just coming into daylight and the roughness of the surrounding glacis was very pronounced. There was a dark line encircling the outer eastern wall, running parallel with the top of the rim but about 1/3 of the way down. It looked like it might have been the very top of the glacis layer and was very noticable at 90x.

Anyone who's looked towards Gassendi has probably seen Letronne, which is about the same size as Gassendi and north of it, resting on the shore of Oceanus Procellarum. Letronne is a severely flooded crater whose southern shore is, in my opinion, one of the most graceful landscapes on the lunar surface. Study it for a while some night and see what you think.

North of Letronne (and about the same size) is a cute little formation I've always thought looked like a surprised face. The components are:

Flamsteed P – ghost crater whose outline is the shape of the face.

Flamsteed D and K – small craters which make the eyes.

Flamsteed – small crater whose shape indicates the open-mouthed 'Oh!'

Also notable is the fact that Surveyor 1 landed northeast of Flamsteed K on June 2 1966, becoming the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on another world. (Janis Joplin joined Big Brother and the Holding Company 2 days later, and the #1 hit that month in the UK was Frank Sinatra's Strangers In The Night, followed by the Beatles' Paperback Writer. )

Rupes Liebig was easily seen on the western shore of Mare Humorum, but I had to work hard to get a glimpse of Rimae Mersenius. Further down, Schiller hovered on the NE edge of the Schiller-Zucchias Basin, which is #59 on the Lunar 100.

Moving far into the fully illuminated portions of the lunar surface, I was very surprised to see that three of the higher sections of the Apennines still cast slight shadows.. Mons Ampere, Mons Huygens, and Mons Bradley.

I couldn't see any trace of Rupes Recta (Straight Wall) no matter how hard I tried. It might have been rendered invisible under full sunlight, or maybe the turbulence masked it.

Luna soon moved into the treetops, ending my brief hour with her.

Thanks for reading.

[The Warthog]

Very nice report. There is so much stuff up there that I don't even know about, and you are seeing it with a smaller scope than I was using. :insects1: I've seen Gassendi, and probably saw Letronne, but didn't pay sufficient attention.

I think when the moon fairies come out to play in daylight, they delight in hiding some of the stuff we want to see, and making it look like turbulence. The Appenines must have some pretty vertical slopes to still cast shadows.

I remember when Strangers in the Night came out. Also, a few years later, Janis Joplin did her acapella hit, Seven-inch Frac:

O, Lord, won'cha buy me a seven-inch frac,

My friends have reflectors, they're holdin' me back...

[Talitha]

Thanks WH. The lunar surface can seem pretty intimidating, but after a while it's like navigating your own neighborhood. And no matter what aperture you're using, it helps when the moonfaeries forget to hide things.

Seven-inch Frac:

O, Lord, won'cha buy me a seven-inch frac,

My friends have reflectors, they're holdin' me back...

:laughing3: Excellent! :thumbup:

[Naz]

Most of us curse the Moon for spoiling the views of DSO, you and WH are showing us to look at our nearest neighbour in a different light, excellent report Talitha.

naz

[Talitha]

Thanks Naz!

I enjoy deep-sky diving too, and have always wondered why people insist on cursing Luna every month. She's obviously not listening (and I doubt she ever will), so what's the point?