Double Kick Drum Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 An apology to all my DSO hunting friends. I have sold out. After just a handful of hours with the fuzzies over the past four months, I spent a slightly hazy Moon-filled night with some of the more local objects.13 - Egeria was a reasonably easy star hop from Iota and Kappa Ursae Majoris and despite the less than helpful conditions was not too troublesome in identifying at magnitude 10.3.I spent a few moments with Jupiter. Two moons were on each side of the planet and were fairly evenly spaced. No sight of the GRS but three bands were easily visible.I left the 5mm X-Cel eyepiece (127x) with a 25% neutral density filter in and moved on to the Moon and spent some time identifying some of the landmarks close (or thereabouts) to the terminator. I started at Mare Ibrium, punctuated to the South by a perfect view of Copernicus. Moving slightly away from the terminator and North was Eratosthenes and the Apennine mountains but a much feinter halo Stadius was also possible to make out. I also identified Archimedes, Eudoxus, Aristoteles and Plato before finishing with Mare Frigoris in the North.The next leg of identification started from Mare Nubium, Ptolemaeus and moved South to Tycho and Maginus.I concluded the night with Mare Serenitatis, Tranquilitatis and Vaporum and some of the more obvious signpost craters. Menelaus was nice and lead to a reverse "horn of Africa" which pointed to Plinius (named after the Younger or Elder?). Bessel was quite easy to see against the smooth backdrop of the Sea of Serenity as was Manilius, farther South and closer to the terminator.I appreciate that many of these aren't particularly challenging but I have never bothered logging / reporting them before and I have to start somewhere. I will have to add the lunar 100 to my signature, I guess.____________________________________________________________Observing Session: Tuesday, 19th February 2013, 19:00 hrs to 20:35 hrs GMTVLM at Zenith: 4.5 ishNew - Revisited - Failed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Scunthorpe Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Very nice report, and thats alot of green!Thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevUU Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Hey, looks like we both had the same idea at the same time )Glad you got something out of the haze. Do you think you'll continue with lunar observing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rory Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 we've all gone lunar ! actually i really enjoyed observing around the terminator amongst the shadows.looks like youve another list started there matey . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan potts Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 DKD,Nice report and makes me want to spend a bit of time on the Moon. Interesting on Jupiter, the 3 main belts have been up for all to see for some time. The forth one that is normally as bold as brass is still there but I can't see it every night. The other night I got seven belts that I could see clearly, that included clear lines of the polar regions.Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Kick Drum Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 DKD,Nice report and makes me want to spend a bit of time on the Moon. Interesting on Jupiter, the 3 main belts have been up for all to see for some time. The forth one that is normally as bold as brass is still there but I can't see it every night. The other night I got seven belts that I could see clearly, that included clear lines of the polar regions.Alan.I did get a hint of one of the poles (slightly darker if anything) but wasn't totally convinced and so didn't count it.Hey, looks like we both had the same idea at the same time )Glad you got something out of the haze. Do you think you'll continue with lunar observing?I actually quite enjoyed it but will only go back to the Moon if I feel deprived of observing opportunities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevetynant Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Nice one DKD - What do you do when the moons flooding the night sky - observe the moon. I barlowed a 5mm lens the other night - the depth of the craters you could see was absolouely amazing.I haven't got any moon maps but it sounds like the next thing to get going with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Scunthorpe Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 The Moon gets quite bad rep because it drowns out the dimmer objects. But it really is beautiful if you spend the time looking at it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_j_lyons Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 This is a great time to be observing Luna.Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cotterless45 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Afraid that I have a go at Moon when it bleaches out the rest of the sky. It's quite satisfying to id craters and landing sites. The wrinkle ridges , rills and ejecta certainly make for a unique landscape. Certainly not my favourite object !Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.h.f.wilkinson Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Nice report. I occasionally look at the moon, and have got 50 of the Lunar 100. It is a good way not to get frustrated by the moon. I started out on asteroids recently (only got two). I should have a look at Egeria once the sky clears again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Kick Drum Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 Nice report. I occasionally look at the moon, and have got 50 of the Lunar 100. It is a good way not to get frustrated by the moon. I started out on asteroids recently (only got two). I should have a look at Egeria once the sky clears again.The trouble with Asteroids is you need at least two clear nights (preferably close together to compare to the same FOV) to record their movement. Their stellar nature gives nothing away and so I have placed reliance on other sources.Of the seven I have seen, five are purely based on CdC and Stellarium maps. Only Vesta and Hebe have been positively identified in the traditional way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark at Beaufort Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 DKD well done on your decision to study the Moon.I attended a lecture at Astrofest a few years back when Charles Wood (Lunar 100 fame) gave an interesting talk on why we should observe the Moon rather than these faint fuzzies.I have enjoyed observing the Moon more recently because I purchased some binoviewers to use with my 4" APO frac. These give a fantastic 3D image and I have therefore tried to view more of the Lunar 100 list. Although I had the original Hatfield Lunar atlas I have since obtained the SCT version which together with Virtual Lunar Atlas makes it easier to plan an observing session.I know we moan when the Moon is too bright so we cannot observe DSOs but observing the Moon and studying the more difficult features keeps our interest alive.Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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