Nail the rille and craterlets ....

[John]

The moon is absolutely superb again tonight.

The Alpine Valley is really well presented - a fine opportunity to try and spot that thin rille that runs along it's floor I reckon.

Plato and it's craterlets are nicely illuminated too - craterlets as pits with ramparts rather than the white spots of more direct illumination.

Seeing here seems to be supporting 300x plus with the 12 inch dob with some ease. Have fun if you are out

 

 

[paul mc c]

Very annoying high thin cloud here tonight,hopefully it will clear....as forecast..i actually glimpsed the rille with my 12" before and was well pleased.

Got this pic a few months with the 9.25

[John]

Very nice image Paul

The seeing this evening is some of the best I can remember for lunar observing. 454x and it's sharp as a needle and steady for good long periods. I've never seen the Hadley Rille so well defined before. Finding tiny craters on the central peaks in craters and that sort of thing. The Straight Wall is far from straight !

I've snapped a few shots with my old mobile phone but I doubt they will rival your effort above Paul.

It's good to be out tonight

[paul mc c]

12 minutes ago, John said:

Very nice image Paul

The seeing this evening is some of the best I can remember for lunar observing. 454x and it's sharp as a needle and steady for good long periods. I've never seen the Hadley Rille so well defined before. Finding tiny craters on the central peaks in craters and that sort of thing. The Straight Wall is far from straight !

I've snapped a few shots with my old mobile phone but I doubt they will rival your effort above Paul.

It's good to be out tonight

I have the obsy running for some lunar snaps,although it has cleared nicely,the seeing is terrible 😧,and have the 12" out,but hopefully the air will settle a bit,make the most of your night,we dont often get those nights of really steady seeing.......wheres the planets when you need them.

[John]

44 minutes ago, paul mc c said:

I have the obsy running for some lunar snaps,although it has cleared nicely,the seeing is terrible 😧,and have the 12" out,but hopefully the air will settle a bit,make the most of your night,we dont often get those nights of really steady seeing.......wheres the planets when you need them.

Thanks Paul. Sorry it's not so good where you are.

 

[Paz]

Nice report, I'm quite jealous that I can't go out tonight. I've never seen Plato at the right time to go for the craterlets properly but will make a note of the photo for reference when I do get an opportunity.

[Littleguy80]

Great post, John. I’ve been having fun playing with max magnification after reading this. Got to 480x but 350x but was probably the highest where the views remained reasonable. Didn’t nail the rile, there was one possible fleeting glance but I couldn’t repeat it. Got 4 craterlets though. Very enjoyable  

[Geoff Barnes]

I've not seen the craterlets yet, is now the best time to spot them when the moon is just over half full?

 

[John]

29 minutes ago, Geoff Barnes said:

I've not seen the craterlets yet, is now the best time to spot them when the moon is just over half full?

 

The current illumination is pretty good. You can see the larger ones as bright spots under more direct illumination but as it is tonight, you can see them as craters with ramparts and pits. I got 6 / 7 tonight plus some of the best views of the Alpine Valley rille that I've ever had.

Just bagged the supernova in NGC 5353 as well:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/335260-bright-supernova-in-ngc-5353-in-cvn/?tab=comments#comment-3649801

  Rather a good session so far

[djpaul]

I have to say the co nditions have been great tonight for lunar observing. 

I managed to get my ed120 up to 300 x mag with nice clear results.

[David Levi]

I've packed up now and didn't see your report about the rille on the floor of the Alpine Valley until now. A challenge for the future. I agree that the Moon was looking fantastic tonight. Spectacularly crisp and clear. The highlight for me was Hesiodus A crater. The two concentric craters showing up well with a half shadow across the craters but with the inner crater rim just about visible all the way around. Other notable views were of the ejecta around Copernicus, the Davy Crater Chain and Lambert R. I had to drag myself away or I would be good for nothing tomorrow.

I was bino viewing with the 100mm refractor so I couldn't give an accurate magnification that I was using. Somewhere between 250 and 300x I would imagine.

[Trikeflyer]

1 minute ago, David Levi said:

I've packed up now and didn't see your report about the rille on the floor of the Alpine Valley until now. A challenge for the future. I agree that the Moon was looking fantastic tonight. Spectacularly crisp and clear. The highlight for me was Hesiodus A crater. The two concentric craters showing up well with a half shadow across the craters but with the inner crater rim just about visible all the way around. Other notable views were of the ejecta around Copernicus, the Davy Crater Chain and Lambert R. I had to drag myself away or I would be good for nothing tomorrow.

Just dragged myself away too. We’ll all be tired tomorrow. What a great lunar session we all seem to have had though and thanks all for sharing.  Didn’t get the craterlets, might have had a glimpse of the alpine valley rille. Magnification upto 350x but I felt better viewing with the binoviewers. Must get some eyepieces less than 20mm for nights like this on the moon with the binoviewers. Davy crater chain was good, first time I’d really picked that out. The rimae stadius between Copernicus and Eratosthenes caught my eye. I thought it was another crater chain but apparently deceptively its a rille 🤔. Bagged a few more of the lunar 100. Now to bed.

Steve 

[F15Rules]

Lovely report John, thanks for sharing.

I managed just 20 minutes last night after 11pm, as I had work today.

I've had my first view tonight with my Vixen 3.4mm HR, I have been waiting for weeks, and the moon was much steadier here tonight than I remember.  As I had so little time, I just got the Vixen ED103s out, firstly with the binoviewer, with a pair of NPL 30mm plossls, giving c x26 and then with a pair of Fujiyama 12.5mm orthos, giving 63x. The view was just razor sharp tonight.  I took a few photos just through my cheap MotoG android, they really don't do justice to the view tonight. I just held the phone camera to one of the orthos (small!) eyelenses - it really is tricky to do it by hand, so forgive the less than perfect images below.

 

 

I then switched out the binoviewer for the Baader T2 prism and Vixen HR 3.4mm. Oh, my goodness!! The HR 3.4 delivers 234x in my ED103s and I was just astounded at the view. Absolutely razor sharp, edge to edge, with black contrast in crater floors and just a very slight visible undulation of the image at this power. I have honestly never seen a better high power view of our sister planet. 

How I wished now that I had got the FS128 out - I bought the HR for the Tak, and the HR would give x306 in this scope.

I would bet my shirt that last night the view through the Tak would have been razor sharp at that magnification as well. If it's clear tonight I shall put that to the test.

On a short, literally 10 minute view of the moon, I am absolutely delighted with the Vixen HR - it's the best high power eyepiece I have ever owned or looked through - bar none!

Dave

[Paul73]

Hope that the clear sky holds for tonight. Last night was my first time viewing the moon through a biggish scope (16”). Think that I may be hooked. As a dedicated fan of all things faint & fuzzy, I have tended to view the moon as the enemy. Now I’m really Looking forward to exploring her.

Does anyone know of / have link to a Lunar observing list? Whilst wandering around is fun, I like to have targets to read about; then hunt down.

Paul

[Stu]

11 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

Does anyone know of / have link to a Lunar observing list? Whilst wandering around is fun, I like to have targets to read about; then hunt down.

Paul, I think there are some stickies in the Lunar observing section with plenty of info about the Lunar 100 list of targets.

I had about 30 mins on the moon last night with the Mewlon. My seeing was not anywhere as good as John's by the sound of it. I caught fleeting glimpses of the Alpine Rille and Hadley Rille, but it just wasn't there in terms of pin sharp seeing. A couple of smartphone shots here. Clavius was looking great too.

[Stu]

Here you go

 

[Littleguy80]

35 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

Hope that the clear sky holds for tonight. Last night was my first time viewing the moon through a biggish scope (16”). Think that I may be hooked. As a dedicated fan of all things faint & fuzzy, I have tended to view the moon as the enemy. Now I’m really Looking forward to exploring her.

Does anyone know of / have link to a Lunar observing list? Whilst wandering around is fun, I like to have targets to read about; then hunt down.

Paul

For the Lunar 100, I'd really recommend this atlas. It's the only paper atlas that I actually take outside and use at the eyepiece. I use SkySafari for everything else.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/21st-Century-Atlas-Moon-Charles/dp/1938228804

[Paul73]

Thanks guys. Didn’t even know that there was a whole section on Lunar observing. Book ordered and now busy happily browsing the sticky thread!

Sorry to detail an SN thread. Wasn’t thinking.

Back to exploding stars!!! Way cooler than the moon!

Paul

[John]

4 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

For the Lunar 100, I'd really recommend this atlas. It's the only paper atlas that I actually take outside and use at the eyepiece. I use SkySafari for everything else.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/21st-Century-Atlas-Moon-Charles/dp/1938228804

Excellent book - one of my favourites !

These smartphones produce some quite decent images held up to the eyepiece, don't they ?. Mine don't quite replicate the clarity and sharpness of what I see through the eyepiece (older phone perhaps ?) but they are still fun to take. Here are a few a mine that I snapped with the 12 dob last night:

 

[Stu]

Excellent shots John! You can really see the resolution you get with a larger scope under good conditions.

[CraigT82]

Some excellent shots John, really pushing the mags there. Yes It is great fun to snap away with the phone at the eye piece, the results can be very surprising and can make a handy observing record

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, John said:

Excellent book - one of my favourites !

These smartphones produce some quite decent images held up to the eyepiece, don't they ?. Mine don't quite replicate the clarity and sharpness of what I see through the eyepiece (older phone perhaps ?) but they are still fun to take. Here are a few a mine that I snapped with the 12 dob last night:

 

Great photos John!

If they are with an older phone, please don't get a high end one, or I think I'll have to give up!

Dave