Morning mountains of the Moon

[Nik271]

I got up just before 6am  to try to catch Mars but it was lost in the low mists. The moon was higher and showing trough the cloud so I decided to give it a try.

The turbulence of the last few days was mostly gone and I was presented with a serene crisp moon panorama occasionally darkened by passing high cloud.

The Posidonius crater was on the terminator and looked stunning, with its double rim and riles. 

Looking further west I got a glimpse of Rima Hadley in the Appenines mountains but the view was coming and going. Much easier were Rima Hyginus and Rima Ariadeaus: prominent thin lines just south of Mare Vaporum.

Further south there were two long triangular shadows from the central peaks of Teophilius. The astronomers of old thought to estimate the height of moon mountains from their shadows. It looks doable even in my telescope if I measure the length of the shadow and estimate the angle of the sunlight from the phase of the Moon.  Mental note:  a graduated reticle  eyepiece for a future puchase...

Then a noticed a long line of shadow below Teophilius from either a mountain ridge or an escarpment. It was very long and had several serrated 'peaks'. I consulted my Moon map: it was Rupes Altai. Wikipedia says its 420km long and 1km high in places. This morning it was very impressive, casting a long shadow to the east.

The sky was getting too bright and the view was hazy: my telescope lens was misting up. Time to get back to the house for a cup of tea. What a great start of the day with the mountains of the Moon!

  

[John]

Nice report, I enjoyed reading it - thanks for posting

 

[maw lod qan]

Very nice! 👍

I do enjoy viewing the Moon.

The varied terrain has so much to offer the astronomer, if they just look.