Lunarcy

[Size9Hex]

Any of the neighbours would have though I was mad last night sitting montionless in the garden getting covered in frost. It was worth it though. First proper view of the moon with the new scope, following a few quick looks when I was in too much of a rush to savour it.

Have decided to start working through the Lunar 100 from scratch again following the upgrade from binos. Less of quick ticking exercise now, and more of a chance to enjoy a guided tour of the moon.

The moon was just over 10 days old. All observations with a 10 inch Dob, 25 and 10mm eyepieces for 48 and 120 magnification. Cold clear evening but seeing was a little wobbly.

L14 Sinus Iridum

The Bay of Rainbows. 236km crater, with partially missing rim.

10mm.

Overall impression was of a rocky coastline around a cove on Earth.This impression got stronger the longer I looked.

Just over half of the circular rim was missing under the waters of Mare Imbrium. I estimated maybe 200 degrees remained of the rim. The crater floor was mainly smooth, but also contained a number of long attractive wave like ripples rolling in from the sea. I saw one small crater (Laplace A, 6 miles) near the eastern end of missing wall.

There was a triangular shadow extending from the eastern cape (Promontorium Laplace) indicating in my mind a defined summit at this end of the rim. The wall curved around, initially appearing quite chaotic or broken compared to further west.  There were two small peaks just inside the crater floor, close to eastern wall here. I have since found two peaks which match, but they are unnamed on my map.

Following along the wall, perhaps 2/5ths of the way from east to west, was a prominent crater (Bianchini, 23miles). Halfway round, the rim became better defined, with a sharp thin bright line marking what appeared to be more of a knife edge ridge. The rim broadened out again further west still. I saw a curve of four points of light in the darkness behind the rim, suggesting higher summits lying out in the darkness. Later I noticed a fifth dot emerge into from the blackness and later still the dots began to grow and merge as the lunar dawn progressed.

A curved ridge (Dorsum Heim) snaked south from the western cape (Promontorium Heraclides) heading into Mare Imbrium through and past an elongated diamond of four craters: C. Herschel, Heis (both 8 miles), C. Herschel C (4 miles), and one other smaller unmarked crater.

L5 Copernicus

93km crater

10mm

Saw a flat crater floor with two prominent central peaks, plus a smaller third peak between. This middle peak became more obvious as the night got colder. The western peak seemed bigger and more complex than the eastern peak. Very hard to see exactly, but there seemed to be something to the south of the east peak. Two small dark dots perhaps. This coincides with slightly hummocky terrain on the map. A  line/groove curved south outside the crater rim towards a double crater that resembles a snowman (Fauth, 12km). To the west outside the crater, the ground was hummocky, with the hummocks arranged into an unlikely but attractive ring shape.

25mm

The two larger peaks were still visible in centre of the floor.

Many rays extending from the crater, but shorter and more chaotic than the elegant long bright straight rays elsewhere on the moon. Looked like a disorganised splat. The rays wiggled and dribbled to the north like water running down a window. To the south and east, they resembled sheets of wind blown dust. The rays were brighter than sea to the north, and brighter still than the darker bruised looking terrain to the east and south.

Later I noticed (probably back in the 10mm) a north to south trail of what looked like footprints (a good dozen small craters in a line with some overlapping). These were east of the main crater leading to a ghostly crater about one Copernicus diameter to the east. I can't imagine how such a linear chain of craters might have formed. The ghostly crater looked like the faint stain on a drinks coaster.

L54 Hippalus Rilles

A series of rilles concentric to Humorum basin, 240km long.

10mm

Hard work. Spotted three rilles initially across a flat region between Hippalus and Campanus craters. North and south of this region required a bit more effort to see. The outer rille dissected a small crater to the north of this region. Another (more central) rille curved more sharply west here but it wasn't apparent that it was connected at either end to the other rilles so it could have been a fourth distinct rille. Back to where I spotted the initial three, the outer and central converged in mountainous terrain to south. The inner rille intersected a pin point crater, unlabelled on the map. I wasn't able to follow the inner rille through the mountains to the south although the map shows that it extends in that direction. Between the central and outer rilles, I saw a pair of small slightly elongated hills like an equals sign.

The eastern extent of Mare Humorum was also visible with long beautiful features that looked like wave sculpted sand on a beach.

L69 Copernicus Secondary Craters

25mm

The main crater (Pytheas, 20km) was visible and stood out as notably brighter than others in area.

10mm

Saw one pin point crater to north (unlabelled) almost touching the main crater. One more slightly larger crater Pytheas A, 4 miles) to the west separated by one diameter.

Although off target, I also noted the three craters to the north (Euler, Lambert, Timocharis) reminded my of the shape of the Andromeda constellation.

L6 Tycho

102km crater.

25mm

Extensive rays, although with the evening getting late, I didn't follow them all closely. Central peak visible. Tycho was more prominent than surrounding craters despite not being the largest, and it had more obviously defined walls with a stronger contrast of light and shadow.

10mm

Didn't note much more than in the 25mm. Perhaps this crater is more interesting for the rays than the crater itself.

L9 Clavius

245km crater.

25mm

Noted it was the largest (non-sea) crater I could see in the south. Lovely curving line of bubbles of five craters of increasing size across the floor of the main crater. The largest of these (Rutherford, 48km) had a central peak. There was some texture around the third crater but I couldn't resolve it. There was a satellite crater (Porter, 51km) in the north east of the main crater wall.

10mm

The texture around the third bubble became clearer. One satellite crater to the east and a couple of hummocky hills to the west. I saw mottled terrain in the south of the main crater floor. Dozen of extremely small craters. The inside of crater wall to the east looked much like a land slip on Earth. Steep walls perhaps.

With the moon having now dipped behind the roof of the house, I put my wrecked night vision to good use on a couple of DSOs.

Orion was superb. Extensive wings, with a blue tinge. Can't wait to see it higher in the sky on a moonless night.

I found the Crab Nebula too, but it was rubbish.

Also spotted two shooting stars: a small one in Cepheus, and a slightly brighter one from Orion.

[Astro Imp]

Great report Paul, the moon is a terrific object for detailed observation, the more you look the more you see and the lunar 100 is well worth spending time on.

BTW what moon atlas do you use?

Good luck and clear skies.

[Knighty2112]

Great report Paul. Sounds like after all those views you would have been well and truly chilled and frosty!

I was looking through my ST120 frac to the west of Tycho at the Palus Epidemiarum area. Stayed out for an hour only until I got to chilly. Hainzel looked weird half in and half out of shadow.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

If this be madness, there is method in it!

Nice report of a very methodical session.

[Size9Hex]

Great report Paul, the moon is a terrific object for detailed observation, the more you look the more you see and the lunar 100 is well worth spending time on.

BTW what moon atlas do you use?

Good luck and clear skies.

Thanks Alan. You're spot on. I couldn't believe how much there was to see, with more and more things registering as I looked. It was absolutely brilliant.

I was using the following to indicate which features were near the terminator: http://www.spacegazer.com/Documents%5CAstronomy%20Projects%5CLunar_100_map.pdf

I used Moon Globe on iOS and also the PDF on the following page to identify features: http://www.astronomylogs.com/pages/moon.html

The last two are in miles and km respectively, which is a little confusing.

I thought all the above were good, and I can't complain for the price! Interested whether you have other recommendations though.

[Size9Hex]

If this be madness, there is method in it!

Nice report of a very methodical session.

Thanks. I often enjoy a general relaxing look around, but last night there was so much to see and I had no idea what pretty much any of it was. It was all totally new, so it was nice to put names to a few things. It was also exciting to see how much I could extract from the detail after a few months with just binos. Probably got a bit carried away...

:-)

[Size9Hex]

Great report Paul. Sounds like after all those views you would have been well and truly chilled and frosty!

I was looking through my ST120 frac to the west of Tycho at the Palus Epidemiarum area. Stayed out for an hour only until I got to chilly. Hainzel looked weird half in and half out of shadow.

It was a cold one wasn't it! Hope you had a good session too. I recall seeing (roughly) that area as a confusing jumble of contrast, and stayed slightly towards the daylight side as it seemed easier to make sense of what I was looking at (if that makes sense).

[Astro Imp]

Thanks for the info Paul, I do have Lunar Field Atlas but prefer Virtual Moon Atlas:- http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualmoon/ , I guess it's a case of using what you're familiar with.

[Size9Hex]

Thanks for the info Paul, I do have Lunar Field Atlas but prefer Virtual Moon Atlas:- http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualmoon/ , I guess it's a case of using what you're familiar with.

Thanks for the tip. I've download it. Looks good.

[laudropb]

Very full and detailed report. Your enthusiasm shines through. The Lunar 100 is great fun and a really good way to learn your way around the Moon. Good luck in completing it.

[Jambonature]

thanks for the report, was very interesting you read...