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Mare Crisium x423!


cloudsweeper

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5am, Moon (about 3 days past full) was high, west of south.  The Bresser was cool in its Dobhouse, so straight into action, and the Moon was in view immediately without using any finder, x91/0.90deg - not too bright at that level.  (Also a pleasure not to be worrying about stray light when observing the Moon.)

The western edge of Mare Crisium was near the terminator, with craters Greaves, Picard, Yerkes, Swift, and Peirce - the latter falling right on the terminator.  Mountain peaks to the north threw shadows onto Crisium's floor like close, sharp saw teeth, with Dorsum (ridge) Oppel running from them near the sea's edge.  

Just north, the rocky features to the east of the large crater Cleomedes stood out like a series of small islands ("diamonds") suspended in blackness, and culminating in the largest of these.  Within an hour, that one remained floating in isolation as light conditions changed.

The 6mm TV Radian at x212 gave about the best view in the session - very fine detail, sharp, with only the slightest shimmer.  Going up to x254, it all still looked good, with just a little instability and 'scope vibration.  A short line of small, round peaks/hills became evident parallel to Oppel - four could be clearly made out, as could their tiny shadows.

Just out of interest, I pushed things to the max with a 3mm, giving x423, and was delighted to observe that detail was still sharp, but the Moon moved quite rapidly at that mag of course, and vibration and criticality of focus were more of an issue.  Nonetheless, still a very good view!

After an hour,the Moon was sinking below the tall trees to the west, so I took a quick glance at M42 and finished.  A most rewarding hour spent exploring the delights of a very small region of our Moon.

Doug. 

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That's a great report Doug and very encouraging! X423 and still sharp on such a steady night proves its a good scope. A real keeper! So where do you go from there? May be a Losmandy GM8 mount for stability, and a moonlight focuser perhaps?  ? No need to thank me for my suggestions of course, I'm more than happy to spend good money on improving a good scope, especially when its not my money. ?

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5 minutes ago, John said:

Lovely report to read Doug - thanks for sharing it :thumbright:

I was observing the same lunar areas but with my little 70mm TV Ranger - 150x maxes that out but it was still a lovely sight !

Thanks John.  Lovely indeed!  I was happy with x212, but didn't imagine it would still be presentable at twice that!

 

18 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

That's a great report Doug and very encouraging! X423 and still sharp on such a steady night proves its a good scope. A real keeper! So where do you go from there? May be a Losmandy GM8 mount for stability, and a moonlight focuser perhaps?  ? No need to thank me for my suggestions of course, I'm more than happy to spend good money on improving a good scope, especially when its not my money. ?

Yes Mike, a good 'scope - and well collimated!  (I'll pretend I didn't see those suggestions!)  ?

Doug.

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