Dawn Moon

[Mak the Night]

I got up early and managed to set up my 90mm Mak to observe the Moon from about 04:55 to 05:40 BST. It was past Transit (04:05) and the seeing was average with some wispy cloud at first. The cloud cleared a little and towards the end of the session had gone.

The Moon was Descending, Waning Gibbous with an 18.2% illumination at an altitude of of 17.9° when I began observing. Azimuth 13.2° for a distance of 397,602 km in Ophiuchus.

Terminator shadows were very well defined, the Hercules crater was easily recognised and I had expected it to be good. The real surprise was Janssen which was very prominent. I concentrated around the Terminator as the western side of the Moon wasn't so distinct, especially as it got lighter. Aristarchus was quite bright but Schroter's Valley was less easily discerned. Plato was very clear and defined too, as was the Mare Imbrium.

I used magnifications of 33.3x, 40x, 53x, 59x and 66.6x as conditions fluctuated.

[laudropb]

Nice report and presentation.

[Mak the Night]

51 minutes ago, laudropb said:

Nice report and presentation.

Thanks, I just wished I'd got up earlier lol.

[Astro Imp]

Nicely reported, you caught some interesting features and did the right thing to concentrate around the terminator where the light and shade make those features stand out.

 

[Mak the Night]

12 minutes ago, Astro Imp said:

Nicely reported, you caught some interesting features and did the right thing to concentrate around the terminator where the light and shade make those features stand out.

 

Thanks, the Terminator was the only logical choice really as the sky was getting lighter blue by the minute lol.

[Mak the Night]

Well, I ended the day as I started and observed the rising Moon at 01:00 BST to 02:15. 307.3°SE, altitude 3.2°, Sagittarius.

There was some noticeable atmospheric boiling at that altitude, as to be expected. Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catherina were quite outstanding with Terminator shadowing and the central mountain in Theophilus was quite distinct.

I observed at 40x, 53x and 66.6x until the cold and lateness got to me lol. I used a 90mm Omegon MightyMak (f/11.3) with 25mm Vixen NPL, 19mm TeleVue Panoptic and  15mm Antares UPL eyepieces.

[Mak the Night]

Mountain in Theophilus taken from Apollo 16 (NASA)

[Special K]

Looks an awful lot more rugged from the Apollo perspective!  Nice information and report, thanks.

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, Special K said:

Looks an awful lot more rugged from the Apollo perspective!  Nice information and report, thanks.

Thanks. That is one cool photo isn't it? It wasn't quite like that looking through my little Mak lol.

[Mak the Night]

I viewed the rising Moon at around 01:40 - 02:40. It was quite dramatic to see it rise over the horizon through trees above some hills a kilometre or so distant.

Observation started at an altitude of 2.2° at azimuth 305.1° SE in Sagittarius. Moon was 392, 636 km distant. Illumination 71.4%, Waning Gibbous.

Although there was atmospheric boiling early on the seeing improved and magnifications of 40x, 53x, 66.6x, 100x and eventually 111x were achieved (90mm Mak).

Terminator shadows were very defined around the Montes Caucasus and the western Sea of Serenity. Eudoxus and Aristotles were easily seen.

Further south the craters Werner, Apianus and Aliacensis were quite prominent and easily observed.

[Mak the Night]

Although cloud inhibited much more than around 40 mins observing, when I finally got a break around 02:30 it was quite decent seeing and I got a relatively clear magnification of 100x as a maximum.

Moon at 304.3° SE, 3.1° altitude, 387,718 km distant, 61.4% illumination, Waning Gibbous.

Mare Imbrium was very clear, with Aristillus and Autolycus quite distinct. Archimedes was also almost as prominent. Montes Teneriffe and Mons Pico were nicely illuminated.

To the south of the Sinus Medii the central mountain of the Albategnius crater was very well defined and Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel easily determined.

[Mak the Night]

Observed from about 03:00 to 05:00. Azimuth 289.8° to  324° SE , altitude 2.3° to 15.5°, Capricorn, illumination 50.8% - 49.9%, Ascending Last Quarter. Transparency was not as good as last night but I did get up to 125x magnification, although main observing magnifications were between 53x and 66.6x.

Good Terminator shadows as a whole. Tycho very distinctive with central mountain readily apparent. Maginus also well contrasted. Eratosthenes was very prominent with its central mountain also very visible. Just to the right of Eratosthenes the peaks of Mons Wolff were reflecting quite brightly with the main bodies of the mountains shrouded in darkness.

Omegon 90mm Mak, f/11, 19mm TeleVue Panoptic, Plossls, Masuyama clones and a Hutech 18mm orthoscopic. A Baader Neodymium filter was threaded in the diagonal nosepiece for most of the observation.

[Mak the Night]

Started observing at 04:00 for about an hour, Ascending Waning Crescent, 39.6% illumination, azimuth 298.8° SE, altitude 5.9°, Capricorn. Magnifications ranged from 33.3x through 52.6x to 100x. Transparency was below average but mostly cloud free until the end of the session. 90mm Mak, Baader Neodymium in diagonal for entire session.

Philolaus in the north polar region was easy to see, Bianchini (Sinis Iridum) was unusually bright, well defined and clear. Copernicus was expectedly well defined although even at 100x the internal mountain formations were only hinted at.

Moon at 04:30 BST (above)

Reinhold and Lansberg were clearly visible. Bullialdus was much brighter and more pronounced than I expected. In the southern highlands Longomontanus was quite spectacular.