It's been a while

[johnfosteruk]

Although I've had a few quick observing sessions this year, my last proper session when it wasn't full moon was 7 months ago and I've been missing it, a lot. 

Last night when I left the office the skies were clear, the moon looked spectacular and the forecast was clear for the whole evening, as was my diary. So I put the little Skymax 102 out to cool and after dinner I had a cracking session.  Seeing was a reasonable 8/10, the Moon was at a respectable altitude, and after spending 30 minutes doing maintenance I got stuck straight in with the 13mm Hyperion, the whole disk filling the field at 100x. Aristarchus shining like a jewel, Schroter's valley clearly visible at this magnification, familiar friends along the southern terminator inviting me to look closer, I quickly switched to the 10mm giving 130x and browsed over the southern terminator. Lots of browsing around, reacquainting myself with the Lunar tourist spots followed

45 minutes was consumed with Schickard and the surrounding area. The shared northern walls of Phocylides and Nasymith form a summit of sorts and cast an impressive shadow, I spent 20 minutes just making sense of that!

On to Reiner Gamma, the peculiar swirls seeming oddly out of place then a switch to the 8mm for a closer look at Aristarchus at 162.5x (which def gave some benefit over the 10mm). On to  Schroter's valley and the Cobra's head.

Finally, I meandered up towards the North Pole for a look around Pythagoras, Babbage, Markov. Pythagoras' central peak was poking it's head out of the blackness below and Babbage A&C added some interest to their otherwise plain looking parent crater.

Then I switched to the Nikon and grabbed some images to finish of a very nice couple of hours.

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by johnfosteruk

[dannybgoode]

Nice report. I had a similar session last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I can see this lunar observing becoming a bit of an obsession 

[johnfosteruk]

47 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

Nice report. I had a similar session last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I can see this lunar observing becoming a bit of an obsession 

 

By the look of your report, I think it already has! 👍

Edited December 10, 2019 by johnfosteruk

[steppenwolf]

Great report and a lovely image that proves that there is still plenty of detail to be captured even when the Moon is nearly full

[johnfosteruk]

3 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

Great report and a lovely image that proves that there is still plenty of detail to be captured even when the Moon is nearly full

Thanks Steve, there's so much detail. I studied so much more than my meagre notes attest, but I've always struggled to tear my eye away from the eyepiece long enough to take notes!