APRIL 14TH - THE WAVING ONE-ARMED MAN

[paulastro]

I was up at 3 am, to observe the nearly last quarter Moon, and if possible Jupiter, Saturn and Mars - low down to the E of the Moon.  This turned out to be on the early side as the seeing was very poor and I couldn't even see Jupiter until later on.  It improved steadily into the dawn, though it was still not great seeing.  On the Moon it struck me straight away that there was a one-armed man waving to me!  (see the crop below)  His head is represented by the crater Maurolycus and his waving left arm consists of the illuminated S and SE walls of Barocius. 

I also managed to observe the three planets.  I only used x75 on the Baader Mk111 zoom, but could see some nice details on Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and the very small disk of Mars.

I also heard the local Tawny Owls, and the dawn chorus - the highlight being a blackbird which landed on the fence behind me and sang very loud only four feet away from me.  It was a lovely end to the session. 

Packed up with ice on the telescope and the temperature a cool -2 degrees C.

The single frame below was taken with the SW 80ED and Olympus E-M5 Mk11 at 5.28 am, 1/100 sec at 400 asa.  The crop is from the same frame.

             

                                       

Edited April 14, 2020 by paulastro