Another lunar first

[Peter Drew]

Walking to my car this evening to drive up to the observatory I noticed the ISS rising in the West. Being aware that it has been making some close passes to the Moon recently I waited to see how close. To my delight it passed across the face of the Moon about 1/3 down from the top. This was at 8.55pm, had it been 20minutes later I would have been looking at it with a 20". Speaking of which, the immediate views of the Moon looked very promising, Gassendi being the main object of interest displaying intricate floor detail. However the seeing for some reason suddenly deteriorated with everything coming to the boil. Turning the dome to reveal Jupiter showed that the poor seeing was general, difficult to see even the main belts at times, however in brief moments of better seeing I noticed a silvery point of light near the bottom as seen in a Newtonian accompanied by a black shadow, a bit like a black and white double star. The seeing worsened again and by the time it improved the Moon was well clear of the planet. Despite the conditions, a good start to the night. 

[Astro Imp]

Nice report Peter, like you I spent ages observing Mare Humorum and particularly Gassendi. I saw more detail than I can remember seeing previously. I too was disappointed in the views of Jupiter but I was viewing partly over neighbouring roofs.