Three Fine Craters

[cloudsweeper]

5.00pm Thurs..  More Moon action, following the pattern of clear late afternoons, then cloud later.  (Waxing, past first quarter.)  8SE for a change, and using GoTo, again for a change.  I had almost forgotten what a blessing the tracking feature is!  I started at x56/1.28deg by targeting the Moon in the RDF.  The detail and texture not far from the terminator were immediately evident.

Copernicus - x102 - with clear stepped/terraced walls, and with just a little shadow to the east.  Its central mountains were very clear.  Below it, the overlapping pair of craterlets called Fauth resembled a little "8", largely in shadow.

To the north, Mare Imbrium was beautiful, with many tiny craterlets sharp and clear.  The biggest crater there, Archimedes, looked very like Plato at the northern edge, both having very smooth floors.  Archimedes' shadow from the eastern wall was slightly thinner however, and detail of different levels of the wall were noticeable there.  Similar detail was spotted in the SE of Plato's rim.  All this was with mags between x185 and x145, depending on the stability, moment to moment.

One hour, ten minutes of being immersed in the detail and variety of the lunar surface.

Doug.

[Saganite]

Hi Doug,

My Dob is out cooling and I hope to be observing in the next 30 minutes or so. How is the seeing tonight in your part of the world ?

[cloudsweeper]

9 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Hi Doug,

My Dob is out cooling and I hope to be observing in the next 30 minutes or so. How is the seeing tonight in your part of the world ?

Hello Steve - 

It normally goes cloudy by now, but tonight it hasn't, and I've had a little plonk, so shan't be out again.  Typical.

The seeing was fair - got to nearly x200.  A couple of days ago, I got to over x400 with the Moon.  

Enjoy your session mate!

Doug.

[Saganite]

 I was trying the Vallis Alpes and Plato last night Doug, but the best I could get was 222x and then it was a bit wobbly, so I got neither targets really.I will try again shortly. Anyway you had a decent session. 

[Stu]

A very nice little session there Doug, moon is looking lovely at this phase.

I had the Tak out very briefly, barely long enough to cool but just tested the Vixen HR 2.4mm at x308 and I caught the brighter part of the rille in the Alpine Valley, a little more than I managed in the 7" Mak last night! Amazing scope the Tak is.

Now firmly on Valentinely duties....

 

[cloudsweeper]

12 minutes ago, Stu said:

A very nice little session there Doug, moon is looking lovely at this phase.

I had the Tak out very briefly, barely long enough to cool but just tested the Vixen HR 2.4mm at x308 and I caught the brighter part of the rille in the Alpine Valley, a little more than I managed in the 7" Mak last night! Amazing scope the Tak is.

Now firmly on Valentinely duties....

 

Last sentence - same here!

Anyway - I liked the ST120, but the new ED80 Apo has really got me into fracs, and now I fancy a Tak with larger aperture.  Mrs Sweeper will not be impressed.....

Doug.

[Astro Imp]

Good to read you've been out enjoying our neighbour.
Have just come in from a few hours, didn't really do what I would call serious observing as I was introducing a friend to the joys of observing. He has a small cheapo frac on a wobbly tripod which I helped him set up a couple of weeks ago and wanted to observe with me. I really enjoyed the evening but he is now blaming me because he's getting hooked and wants some better kit. We looked at the targets you mention together with Clavius which I always observe when it's on view.
Makes a change to have a bit of a run of clear nights.

[Fraunhoffer]

Pleased to find Hadley after a bit exploring and searching (and getting distracted)  and something around the area of the Apollo 15 landing last evening.