Cracking Lunar Views Tonight

[John]

It's chilly out there and the seeing is a little unsteady at times but the Moon is wonderfully illuminated this evening.

I've found 240x - 265x provides the crispest views with my 12" dob this evening. Lots of lovely details seen including 8 Plato craterlets, the central rille in the Alpine Valley, quite a length of the Hadley Rille (including the bit adjacent to the Apollo 15 landing site), the parallel streaks ("tyre tracks") running through the crater Messier, a rather less than Straight Wall (Rupes Recta), Rima Birt and many more. The Sinus Iridium was particularly beautifully illuminated appearing as a great hooked promentary right on the terminator with the chaotic interior slopes a jumble of jet black shadows.

Lovely stuff !!

The scope is getting frost covered now for the 1st time this Winter but it's still well worth being out there.

[avtaram]

Had the Mak 127 out tonight after what seems like an eternity.

Fantastic views along the terminater especialy Sinus Iridum and the Jura mountains that seemed to form a bridge along the edge.

Avtar

[Scooot]

I was looking at it with the little Frac, obviously couldn't see your level of detail but it was a superb crisp view. With the 24 panoptic I could just about see Aldeberan and some of the Hyades in the same field. As you say, lovely

[Yearofthegoat]

Had my little Heritage 90 Mak out tonight - first time it's had a proper session - and the views of the moon were indeed great.

Even the kids were amazed at the 'bumps'!

It froze over after a few hours though - must make a dew shield.

[laudropb]

Sounds like you had a very enjoyable session. It's one of my favourite phases to view, but unfortunately I am clouded out here.

[Chris]

The sky and Moon looked good when walking back from work at 9pm, but now I'm ready to get the scope out it's overcast

Still, I'm glad you and others are having a good run of it John.  

[Paz]

It was a god night for looking at the moon - I was out for a while also. I was trying to spot the Hadley crater and rille, but although I know I had the exact spot found I couldn't make out either. I hadn't had time to put the scope out to cool down so had to make do with blurring from tube currents.

Euclides and the Rriphaeus Mountains looked good and were the best sight of the night for me, very well defined and framed on all sides by flat terrain.

There was a deep crater on the terminator at the northern end that kept getting my attention -looking at the maps afterwards it must have been Anaxagoras or possibly Scoresby.

I had started off looking at the semi circle of craters inside Clavius in the south and they were the last thing I looked at before I packed up. It didn't look the same the second time, I guess because of the shadows moving in only a short period of time.

[Paul73]

Sounds great. Just finished family & work stuff for the day.

2 hours kip then the last couple of hours DSO hunting for the month.

Paul

[Stu]

Sounds like a great session John, and I've had a good few hours tonight, like you largely on the moon. Seeing was pretty steady down here tonight, and the view through the Tak were very sharp and punchy. Lovely detail up to x210 or so, x240 at times with the Nag zoom.

I think 3 Plato craterlets if I'm honest with myself, thought I might have got 4 but not certain. A host of other detail on show obviously, Clavius was looking particularly nice I thought.

Pretty chilly out there, frost on the scope and eyepieces by the time I started packing away, but just great to be observing again!!

[John]

Nice going Stu - glad you got out

I think 3 Plato craterlets if I'm honest with myself, thought I might have got 4 but not certain. A host of other detail on show obviously, Clavius was looking particularly nice I thought.

 

Of the "big 4" craterlets, two are very close together so can appear as one elongated one. I reckon you got 4

[Tomjo59]

Some good seeing here last night - managed to see craterlets A, B, C, and D quite easily in Plato, and in moments of steady seeing, glimpses of E.

Still trying to see the central rille in the Vallis Alpes though! One day perhaps.

Great views of the terracing in crater walls, especially Copernicus.

Best views were obtained at a magnification of x262.

[Astro Imp]

Great report John and you answered one of my questions, if it was possible to see the rille in the Alpine Valley, obviously it is.

[paulastro]

Great description John and some good observing being done - I almost feel I was there!  Thank you.

[John]

Great report John and you answered one of my questions, if it was possible to see the rille in the Alpine Valley, obviously it is.

Thanks - that rille needs good seeing and reasonably high power. Most of the time you just get glimpses of bits of it during the pockets of really good seeing, which is how things were last night. There are some crater chains on the valley floor that can fool you into thinking they are the rille too, just to add to the fun

[Stu]

Thanks - that rille needs good seeing and reasonably high power. Most of the time you just get glimpses of bits of it during the pockets of really good seeing, which is how things were last night. There are some crater chains on the valley floor that can fool you into thinking they are the rille too, just to add to the fun

What's the minimum aperture you've seen it in John, and is it only on one or two nights around the correct phase that it's visible?

The seeing was really good for me last night, quite unusually so.

[Astro Imp]

Thanks - that rille needs good seeing and reasonably high power. Most of the time you just get glimpses of bits of it during the pockets of really good seeing, which is how things were last night. There are some crater chains on the valley floor that can fool you into thinking they are the rille too, just to add to the fun

Thanks for responding John.

[John]

What's the minimum aperture you've seen it in John, and is it only on one or two nights around the correct phase that it's visible?

The seeing was really good for me last night, quite unusually so.

The 12" dob Stu. I've tried hard with the ED120 and a few other scopes but the 12" is the one that did it. I'm sure others with sharper eyes than me have seen it with smaller apertures though. The illumination / phase does seem to make a difference probably with a 48 hour "window" in the illumination cycle being the most favourable. There looks to be a bit too much light on the valley floor this evening but I've got the ED120 rather than the 12" dob so that might be it.