Hadley Rille

[Fraunhoffer]

Hadley Rille

Ive been trying to find this little crater (6km. dia.) and its 'rille' for about a year. Success.
I was feeling a bit tired so had planned nothing in particular except enjoying the ride of another clear sky and getting lost on the lunar surface. Just plonked the tripod on the usual 'dots' and levelled it up. No polar alignment or finder (its that bright moon) set the tracking to lunar rate and looked.

"The more you look the more you see" seems very apt for the moon. It wasnt long before I was captivated by another clear and steady view of craters, rilles, fault lines, different shades of basalt and enormous hills and mountains. The straight wall was visible again looking like someone had taken a pen and drawn across the lunar surface.

As I edged around Mare Ibrium and the Apennine mountains the large flat floored Archimedes came into view with its terraced walls and smooth floor looking like a freshly painted wall. Running along the edge I noticed a few small creaters and then a brightly illuminated line. This turned out to be a corner of Hadley Rille which was just catching the light in the right direction. It is quite a small feature and needed the 5mm eyepiece in the c8 to get a decent view. Fortunatley the air was steady and the moon at a high altitude to be able to use this. I tried a few different filters, orange seeming to give the best view, although after a while i just returned to no filter and just looked. The more I looked the more I saw of the Hadley Rille and was able to follow it for some distance.

Apollo 15 landed in the smooth patch just upper left of the crater in Palus Putredinis (marsh of decay). Strange name.

It was approaching 9:30 and I needed to think about packing up and turning in was so pleased to see this after a year of waiting on such a short session.

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by Fraunhoffer

[Mike JW]

Hi Fraunhoffer, I gave up on filters years ago for the moon. As you say the more you look the more you see - true of life..........Once I decided to sketch the moon then I began to see things I had never observed on the lunar surface despite years of cruising the surface. The Hadley rille area is fascinating and deserves hours of close inspection. Thanks for firing me up to take a trip to this area. Must get the pencils out again.

Mike

[Pete Presland]

Very nicely sketched.