More Excellent Lunar Viewing

[John]

Moon looking great again tonight and higher in the sky.

Highlights so far have been the great crater Theophilus with it's fractured and complex central peaks - a classic "grand lunar crater" under this illumination. Nearby the interesting crater pairing of Isidorus and Capella. Similar in size, both of impact origin but very different, one with a flat, cratered floor and the other with a floor comprising mostly of a substantial conical peak.

Up to the north of Mare Serenitis, the very interesting crater Posidonius (see photo). This has a fractured floor which seems to have a tilted portion, raised on one side. I can see 2 rilles crossing the crater, one is the sinuous Posidonius rille and the other a thin relatively straight one passing close to the main crater in the floor of Posidonius, Posidonius A. The  much smaller Posidonius C crater also visible which seems to have pale materiel surrounding it. Good detail visible at high powers this evening.

 

[Ruud]

A magnificent time for the Moon. I viewed this scene today:

here's an annotated version:

Just like the real thing!

I'm just a visual observer. The images are from https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4604 (image 3358 for May 20, 2100 UT)

Check out https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4604 !

[Stu]

Yep, nice out there tonight. I agree John, Theophilus was excellent, four peaks and a lovely complex shadow in the Tak.

Posidonius was very striking, a dark rim and good detail visible, although I didn’t specifically check for/register the rilles.

[Trikeflyer]

Yes, great views of the moon last night in the SW equinox 120ED.  Probably some of the best i've seen.  The thing that stood out to me was the arago domes which I'd never really seen before.  Theophilus was of course great as was hypatia and isidorus and capella (as already mentioned). The nice thing was it was warm out as well!

Steve

[Stu]

23 minutes ago, Trikeflyer said:

Yes, great views of the moon last night in the SW equinox 120ED.  Probably some of the best i've seen.  The thing that stood out to me was the arago domes which I'd never really seen before.  Theophilus was of course great as was hypatia and isidorus and capella (as already mentioned). The nice thing was it was warm out as well!

Steve

Never heard of them before Steve, so thank you for that one.

Some info here for others previously in the dark like me!!  

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/a-little-guide-to-lunar-domes/

[Trikeflyer]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Never heard of them before Steve, so thank you for that one.

Some info here for others previously in the dark like me!!  

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/a-little-guide-to-lunar-domes/

My pleasure.  Nice pun - I'm definately an astronomer who's in the dark most of the time! 

I haven't seen them before but they are on the lunar 100 list number 32. The lighting was just right last night to pick them up. I think they are tricky in flat lighting.  Makes a change from looking at craters and got that nice warm feeling of satisfaction when I spotted them.  Now I'm on the hunt for more of the lunar domes....

Steve 

[CraigT82]

I had a really good look at Posidonius last night too.  I even attempted to sketch it but my attempt was dire and I reverted to snapping pics with my phone at the EP.

What really stood out for me was the 4 small peaks in a roughly semi-circular arrangement close to Posidonius A (on it's right in the attached pic in the OP).

I was observing from about 7.30pm in daylight and the seeing was decent, when I went back out at about 9pm it had gone all mushy.

[Littleguy80]

Had a really nice session looking at targets from the Lunar 100 list around Mare Frigoris and Mare Serenitatis. Lots of neat fault lines that I would have missed were it not for consulting the Lunar atlas. Rimae Sulpicuis Gallus was probably my favourite of these. The Valentine Dome was another highlight. It was much more obvious in the eyepiece than on the atlas, at least under red light! It was a "keep it simple" night. I only brought my orthos out with me. I settled on the 6mm BGO, at 200x, as giving the best views for the conditions. Red light shot of my "work area"

[CraigT82]

1 hour ago, Littleguy80 said:

Lots of neat fault lines that I would have missed were it not for consulting the Lunar atlas

Can I ask which Lunar Atlas it is you have there?  I'm in the market for one... fed up with the rubbish selection of lunar maps available for android phones!

 

 

[Littleguy80]

17 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Can I ask which Lunar Atlas it is you have there?  I'm in the market for one... fed up with the rubbish selection of lunar maps available for android phones!

 

 

21st Century Atlas of the Moon by Charles Wood (https://www.amazon.co.uk/21st-Century-Atlas-Moon-Charles/dp/1938228804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526999829&sr=8-1&keywords=21st+century+atlas+of+the+moon) I think it's quite popular among SGL members. It's certainly been good for my Lunar viewing  Worth putting a post in the wanted section as I've seen it sold secondhand on here

[Droogie 2001]

I also had a great time viewing the moon on Sunday night. I am usually an imager but made a promise to myself earlier in the year to get back to basics and enjoy some visual astronomy again!
Had a good look at Posidonius, I could clearing see two rilles running across the crater. Then spent some time at Lacus Mortis observing the rilles within its perimeter. Worked my way up the terminator and took in Rupes Altai and of course the stunning Theophilus crater.

Lastly as it was nearby I went over to see if I could spot the Apollo 11 landing site. After many comparisons with various books I am 99% I got the location. The precise location is distant from any significant craters (well in mind it is!) making it more difficult than I had anticipated. You can see why they chose the location for its barren landscape, resulting in a safer landing spot. Though of course in reality I understand that there were many large boulders and craters that had to be negotiated before landing. All in all, a good night.

[John]

1 hour ago, Littleguy80 said:

21st Century Atlas of the Moon by Charles Wood (https://www.amazon.co.uk/21st-Century-Atlas-Moon-Charles/dp/1938228804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526999829&sr=8-1&keywords=21st+century+atlas+of+the+moon) I think it's quite popular among SGL members. It's certainly been good for my Lunar viewing  Worth putting a post in the wanted section as I've seen it sold secondhand on here

Thats the main reference that I use

 

[Trikeflyer]

+1 for the 21st century atlas. It's very good.

steve

[Telescope40]

Hoping to get a good session in tonight. Not a cloud in sight at the mo !!  

 

John 

[John]

Yes, it's another clear one here. Just using the little Ranger 70mm this evening though. Venus and the Moon looked excellent at 150x even with the small aperture objective. So much detail on the lunar surface even with a small scope 

I'll do a few double stars and hopefully Jupiter later.

 

[CraigT82]

Nice and clear here too with steady seeing, managed to view the rille in the floor of the alpine valley as a faint white line, that's a first for me with this scope. Previously I've glimpsed that rille as a dark line in my old 200p f6 (different illumination I guess).  Snapped a few pics which I'll post over in the imaging section. 

No Jupiter for me... in bed now as early start tomorrow! 

[John]

48 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Nice and clear here too with steady seeing, managed to view the rille in the floor of the alpine valley as a faint white line, that's a first for me with this scope. Previously I've glimpsed that rille as a dark line in my old 200p f6 (different illumination I guess).  Snapped a few pics which I'll post over in the imaging section. 

No Jupiter for me... in bed now as early start tomorrow! 

Thats an excellent "spot". I've seen this rille with my 12" dob at 318x (Pentax 5mm XW) a number of times but then it had shadow in it's bottom. I've not spotted it as a light feature as yet.

It's amazing that we can see this feature at all - it's ony 1km wide at most and much of it narrower than that !

 

[Stu]

26 minutes ago, John said:

Thats an excellent "spot". I've seen this rille with my 12" dob at 318x (Pentax 5mm XW) a number of times but then it had shadow in it's bottom. I've not spotted it as a light feature as yet.

It's amazing that we can see this feature at all - it's ony 1km wide at most and much of it narrower than that !

 

Would be interesting to know when I showed light and dark. I’ve seen it as a broken white line in the Tak, not the full extent but good long sections of it with a couple of breaks. It’s funny because I was looking for a dark line so it took me a while to work out what I was seeing!

[Trikeflyer]

Using the 120 equinox and WO binoviewers with 20mm eyepieces and 2.5 GPC I Also had a great night on lunar tonight. Stunning in fact. Occasionally added a 2xbarlow for increased mag.  Just an hour. Tried for alpine valley rille, couldn't make it out though ?. Spent much time in the Mare vaporum area and with the aridaeus and hyginus Rilles along with triesnecker and rilles. Thought the linked craters Pallas and Murchison looked great tonight as did the ptolemaeus, alphonsus and azarchal group.  The crater Walter, south of purbach and Regiomontanus looked stunning with its internal line of smaller craters and mountains glimmering in the light. Also the four leaf clover like Meton in the far north stood out for me tonight. Archimedes with Rilles and mountains looked majestic as usual. 

Quick look at Jupiter and now to bed. 

Hope you all had a great night if you were out observing.

Steve 

[cotterless45]

Superb seeing and clear as a bell, got these with the iPhone and Vixen 102. Always had to wait for the Alpine valley rill , until the light was just right. Caught the end of it in the 150 frac, Nick.

[wookie1965]

Cracking photos I would love a 6" Frac. 

[John]

Tonight I will be doing an outreach session and showing the moon, Venus and Jupiter, plus a few double stars, to a local Womens Institute group. Wish me luck

[CraigT82]

1 hour ago, John said:

Tonight I will be doing an outreach session and showing the moon, Venus and Jupiter, plus a few double stars, to a local Womens Institute group. Wish me luck

Good luck with explaining that the north star isn't the brightest star in the sky... again and again and again!

[Trikeflyer]

40 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Good luck with explaining that the north star isn't the brightest star in the sky... again and again and again!

 Good Luck

[John]

Back from the WI outreach session. It went really well considering a much higher % of cloud cover than was anticipated. Despite the clouds we managed to see great views of Venus, the Moon and finally Jupiter put in an appearance. Having almost given up on Jupter we shared the Stellarium view of the planet so when they actually were able to see it though the eyepiece at last the reaction was really enthusiastic.

A good night sharing the fun