Cetus Doubles; 1st Quarter Moon

[cloudsweeper]

5.20 - 7.20pm, with the cooled 8SE.  Thin cloud was coming and going, but there were long spells of clarity.

The Moon was east of south, with a misty halo most of the time, but that was not too much of a hindrance.  I like to choose a region to concentrate on, and went for Mare Imbrium, near the terminator.  I took the mag in stages to x303, and it was still good - just a little wobbly, and prone to vibrations.   x339 was too much for the conditions.  At x185, I just took in many of the features of the area, and "got lost" in the observation which included:

Archimedes, east of M. Imbrium, with a thin crescent shadow (from the eastern wall) with a jagged edge.     

Alpine Valley to north - a bright gash through the mountains.                                                                                                                               

Mons Piton, with its long shadow.

Cassini Crater with a very clear floor containing two large craters, the larger one being somewhat pear-shaped.

Long, spiky shadows from the peaks of the Spitzbergen Mountains.

Various mountain chains and ridges.         

My only disappointment was the inability to detect any of the dozens of tiny pits in the floor of Archimedes.  Poor transparency and seeing limitations no doubt.

Cetus Doubles:

Nu Ceti - triple, visual double, mismatched, 8.4" separation - very faint, close companion seen with x85 at 3 o'clock.

37 Ceti - another triple, visual double, closer match, 51" - easily split at x48, with the slightly yellow fainter companion at 11 o'clock.

Gamma Ceti - triple, range of magnitudes, 2.1" and 14.1' (moa).  The faintest member was very easily spotted at x48, well separated, at 6 o'clock.  I didn't see the closer, brighter member, but by that time the cloud was thickening, and the corrector was starting to dew up.

A very satisfying session, number two so far in 2020!

Doug.                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

[mark81]

Hi Doug, Happy new you to you. 

A good start to the year by the sound of it ... Too hazy here for anything, but tackling some doubles with a moon in the sky is a good way to go...

Mark