A trip to the moon

[acr_astro]

Hi,

yesterday afternoon, the sun was shining and only some small clouds were in the sky. So I hoped that I could visit the moon in the evening - which came true:

Telescope: Martini 10" Dobson
Eyepieces: 16mm Maxvision 68°, 7mm TS HR-Planetary, 5mm Skywatcher Planetary
Books und Software: Reiseatlas Mond, Der Moonhopper, Carte du Ciel
Place: home terrace, Dusseldorf Region, Germany
Time: 10.01.2014, 1830-2230 CET
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After the scope had cooled down, I started at half past six when the moon had come far enough to see it from the terrace. A rough overview with the 16mm Maxvision showed the terminator right beside Clavius in the south. But mainly it was the Mare Nubium which I payed attention tonight. I changed to the 5mm Planetary eyepiece.
The dark shadows inside the craters Bullialdus and König (near the terminator) and the almost invisible crater Kies with its smaller Krater Kies A.

A little bit east of Bullialdus I could see a small chain of little craterlets which went from Gould to Gould B. South of it I noticed the Rima Hesiodus which guided me to Hesiodus itself and Pitatus with its rimae.
I went further to the east and reached a very small crater which looked to be somewhat "embossed" - Wolf T. It appeared a bit as if it was a flat plateau rising from the surface. THis was the first time I saw those ghost craters like that.
I left the Mare Nubium and went towards Copernicus which looked really great. In the book "Der Moonhopper" a chain of craterlets near Stadius had been recommended. I could see easily the chain with the craterlets P,R,E,S F and T.
Further north in Mare Imbrium, the bright spot of Mons La Hire appeared out of the dark.
I moved the Dobsonian once again back to Clavius to test the resolution of my scope tonight. The smallest craterlet I could spot was the craterlet Clavius DA (as per sources on the internet having a diameter of about 2.6km). A bit more to the north, the sun rose on the central peak of Longomontanus, located in the SW-area of the black bottom of the crater.

Unfortunately high clouds had appeared so the contrast was quite bad now. But I could see a large halo of about 45° diameter around the moon.
Finally I had a quick glance on Jupiter with the 7mm planetary eyepiece which showed the GRF and all four galileian moons. Time for cleaning up.

Conclusion:
First time in a new area on the moon and high clouds aren't just annoying. The large halo was very impressive. And finally: I need a new note and sketching book - the old one is now full.

Clear skies!

Achim