Waning 93% Moon with binoviewers

[Nik271]

After a week of cloud finally the sky was clear this morning at 6am. I brought out my EQ5 with the 127 SW Mak, a small grab and go combo that just takes 5 mins to set up.

Well, actually 10-15 mins because I was fitting  my new binoviewer with a pair of  the 'dirt cheap' 23mm Svbony EPs  with frozen fingers and trying to get the right balance/IPD distance. Finally I got everything right and was able to enjoy the serene Moon. The seeing was poor, with a noticeable 'shimmer' at 80x and I decided to stay at this magnification.

The edge of Mare Crisium was the most spectacular feature, like a giant eyelid on the terminator. The crater pair Atlas and Herculis were north of it and looked quite attractive. I could see the smaller crater inside Hercules. Posidonius was also showing well, it's secondary rim well lit and clear.

In the south Vallis Rheita was prominent, a dark groove running north-south with the Rheita crater east to it (my Moon maps have directions opposite to the Earth based observers for some reason). 

On the west of Vallis Rheita was the large crater Janssen. I spent a few minutes observing its floor, covered in numerous small craters and ridges. This an old crater. 

 There were some high clouds by now so I just scanned the face of the Moon before packing up. For the first time I noticed that Mare Tranquilitatis is a shade darker than it's neighbour Mare Serenitatis with a darker band on the boundary. Interesting, perhaps they have slightly different composition. Have to check this up.

So that's it, a quick hour of Moon. It was good to use my small Mak too, it's  so easy to set up.

 

Thanks for reading and clear skies!

Nikolay

[cloudsweeper]

Nice report Nik. The Moon never fails to please, and BVs set it off even more!  The 127 Mak is a great and handy 'scope - I regret selling mine on.

Next time out, I'm using the big 127L frac to target some doubles.

Doug.