Just Half An Hour On The Moon!

[cloudsweeper]

I haven't done any observing for over three weeks, so the sight of the Moon, waxing, just past 50%, got me outside again.

Close to the centre, I spotted a nice little chain of four craters south of Hipparchus.  They decreased in size going east, starting with Halley, then Hind.  I decided to concentrate on those alone.  At x85 in the 8SE, the Moon was very sharp and clear, with some shimmering revealing slight turbulence.  And since it was only 8.30pm, the Moon was not too bright for comfort.

Increasing the mag to x113 by swapping the ES 24/68 for the ES 18/82, I was surprised not to be able to see the full lunar diameter when the TFOV should have been about the same.  Then specs off, problem solved - the ES 18/82 has about 5mm less eye relief!

By 9.00pm the clouds stopped play, but I was glad to have fought off the creeping apathy and had 30 minutes of enjoyment.

Doug.

[John]

Nice report Doug !

I had a little session like that a night or two ago. Keeps the spirits going

[Knighty2112]

Nice going Doug. I was trying to observe the lunar X last night. Managed about a minutes worth of a glimpse of it through high cloud, before even more clouds piled in the way to obscure it. The X was very prominent  in my 10mm EP none the less. Would have liked more than the minutes worth of observation though.  

[cloudsweeper]

7 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

Nice going Doug. I was trying to observe the lunar X last night. Managed about a minutes worth of a glimpse of it through high cloud, before even more clouds piled in the way to obscure it. The X was very prominent  in my 10mm EP none the less. Would have liked more than the minutes worth of observation though.  

I didn't do so badly then Gus!  After I packed away, the Moon - but now much brighter - emerged again just before disappearing behind trees.

With seasonal and meteorological setbacks, this pastime certainly tests us!

9 hours ago, John said:

Nice report Doug !

I had a little session like that a night or two ago. Keeps the spirits going

Sure does John!  Even the briefest of sessions usually provide some reward and learning!

Doug.