Full Circle

[Trevor N]

I've been fascinated with astronomy since I was a lad, probably like many others on this forum. So armed with a 60mm refractor in the late 60's I was out there just enjoying the views during the Apollo missions.. Along comes digital photography and for years now I have looked at a laptop screen rather than through the scope. I've spent hours processing images, convincing myself the results would always be better than what could be achieved by simply looking. It's taken years but I'm now not so sure. 

Following a photo session on May 15th I took time to simply look. Armed now with a C9.25 sct and a variety of eyepieces I viewed the moon. It was breathtaking.

Starting with Plato I could see at least four if not five small crater-lets on the otherwise featureless floor. The Alpine valley was tack sharp and maybe just a hint of the central rille.

Moving down through the Apennines I could easily see Hadley Rille, the home of the Apollo 15 mission . Over to Copernicus crater and in moments of good seeing there was a wealth of detail in the central mountains

Finally down south through Tycho onto Clavius, probably my favourite area on the moon. Lots of small crater-lets across the floor but my eye was taken to Porter Crater on the wall of Clavius. In the best images I've ever taken I have noticed two small craters inside Porter, one being slightly elongated. I never thought I would see them visually but again in good seeing they snapped into view and I could easily see one was elongated.

Overall, the views were fantastic. They give a completely different perspective to photographic images. I will continue to image in the future but certainly not at the expense of simply observing. I wish I had moved round this circle more quickly. Imaging is certainly not everything ! Trevor

[Paz]

Great report, it is good to go back to something you haven't done for some time and you appreciate it more.