99.6% illuminated Moon - 8th Feb 2020

[Stu]

I wasn't expecting much in the way of clear sky today or tonight, with the approaching storm, but during the day we had lovely blue sky and I ventured out with the Tak and Herschel wedge. Not too much to see; a nice area of faculae and visible granulation but nothing more.

I switched over to astro mode, again expecting the cloud to come in before the Moon rose but surprisingly it didn't. The Moon is 99.6% illuminated tonight, so there is a tiny terminator running around one half of the limb. Enough to give some interest and fun picking out the fine detail in the oblique craters.

Venus was also looking lovely against the twilight sky, probably the best view I've had of it for a long time. The brightness was controlled well and I got a decently well defined view with little atmospheric CA.

Attached are some smartphone pictures I took for the record.

[CraigT82]

Very nice pics Stu.. Tycho's rays in all their glory!