Lovely phase but none too steady !

[John]

Doesn't the Moon look lovely tonight ?

One of my favourite phases with Plato, the Apennines and the Alpine Valley beautifully illuminated in the northern lunar hemisphere and the Straight Wall, Birt and Rima Birt at their best in the southern. Copernicus is full of shadow and structure like a baleful eye staring back at me from the centre of the disk and very close to the terminator. Loads of other stuff as well but as the magnification creeps up, the unsettled seeing intrudes.

I'm sticking with 180x as a max at the moment with the Tak 100. It's capable of much more under more settled seeing but there are no benefits to be gained from really pushing things tonight it seems.

A good night for lowering the power, widening the view and seeing how the larger features fit together and how the shades and tints are splashed around the terrain 

 

 

[Stu]

Cloudy here John, but glad you are getting some good views

[Mark at Beaufort]

Yes doing the same John. I am using the Heritage 130P again on its original mount.  I have been using the book by Charles Wood - 21st Century Atlas of the Moon. Starting with Clavius moved down the terminator through the Mare Nubium  (checking out the Straight Wall and Birt). I could not make out the Birt Rille - shows the quality of your Tak100. Then onto Fra Mauro and Copernicus and ending with Plato.

[John]

21 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

...  I have been using the book by Charles Wood - 21st Century Atlas of the Moon...

So have I !

It's an excellent resource, full of interesting bits and pieces of information and it invites you to think about what you are observing as well

 

[xtreemchaos]

 great report John, I got a qwick look and it was fazing bad so didn't bother with any pics. its got better as I'm just looking at the orion neb and can see 4 stars in the trapezium and there quite sharp, using the 102f11 and 2x balow and baader mark 4 zoom, theres also a nice blue bit of neb showing. I'm going to take some pics ,I carnt resist. clear skys charl.

[johnfosteruk]

Just come in from a session here John and it wasn't that bad. I pushed it to 250x then did some imaging. Good times

 

[scarp15]

Short period with 16x70 binoculars, monopod whilst sat on the yard bench, very fine display, as you describe, pivoted by that staring baleful eye that is Copernicus.

[Piero]

Finished working 20min ago, but it is a bit too late for me to take the telescope out . It is clear right now though..  

Glad to read that a few have been observing the Moon tonight. It is very beautiful.  

[Subdeo]

Glad you had some good views. I was doing some lunar viewing over here last night on this side of the pond as well. Loved the terminator right across  that large mare (Ibrium, I think). I even saw particularly pronounced shadows of the crater walls. Quite lovely. I plan on pulling the scope out again tonight as soon as night falls over here. 

[John]

32 minutes ago, johnfosteruk said:

Just come in from a session here John and it wasn't that bad. I pushed it to 250x then did some imaging. Good times

 

It's actually improved a bit here now. I'm just browsing round some nice double stars and open clusters in a relaxed way now. No pressure - just "gazing"

[Littleguy80]

Nice write up  I had a quick look at M31/M32, Cat’s eye nebula and M42. Very enjoyable. I’ve been pondering a Moon book to encourage more serious observation so will be looking up the Charles Wood book  

[johnfosteruk]

3 minutes ago, John said:

It's actually improved a bit here now. I'm just browsing round some nice double stars and open clusters in a relaxed way now. No pressure - just "gazing"

I'm just processing my haul then off to bed for an early start tomorrow

Enjoy your session

 

John one night went a-gazing

For groups of stars in the sky

The standard he had been appraising

And found the quality high

 

John, a different one this time

Affixed a camera to his scope

Captured images of the Apennines

And went off to bed for a mope

 

 

[John]

Nice poem John !

[RobertI]

9 hours ago, John said:

So have I !

It's an excellent resource, full of interesting bits and pieces of information and it invites you to think about what you are observing as well

 

Added to my Christmas list, thanks for mentioning it! Looks like a very useful reference for observing and interesting read on cloudy nights. Need to pay more attention to the moon rather than just considering it an inconvenience to my deep sky observing.

[domstar]

Very nice to read especially as I was looking at the same things between the clouds. I'd never seen the Alpine valley before and (maybe a day late) I spent some time on Mons Hadley.

[Mark at Beaufort]

17 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

I’ve been pondering a Moon book to encourage more serious observation so will be looking up the Charles Wood book  

Neil you might find it useful especially if you fancy following the Lunar 100 list - Charles Wood produced the list for Sky and Telescope and the items are listed in the book. 

http://www.astrospider.com/Lunar100list.htm

http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Lunar+100

 

[Littleguy80]

29 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Neil you might find it useful especially if you fancy following the Lunar 100 list - Charles Wood produced the list for Sky and Telescope and the items are listed in the book. 

http://www.astrospider.com/Lunar100list.htm

http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Lunar+100

 

Thank you, Mark! I actually made a start on the Lunar 100 last month. I did go searching for a book on the Lunar 100 but didn't find anything suitable. Will add that book to my Christmas wish list  Thanks again.

[Paz]

I was moon is watching last night and found myself focussing on Copernicus, as you say it was like a black hole in the moon - the rim was lit but the floor and central peak still in total darkness.