FEB 22ND, TONIGHT!! , GASSENDI AND SCHILLER ON THE TERMINATOR - AND CLEAR SKIES FOR MANY OF US!

[Stephenstargazer]

I too accepted the that the moonlight was too bright to look at anything else and spent from 8.30 to 10.00 on the moon with good seeing all through in S.Derbyshire. 100mm f/7.4 at 120X to 200x on Rowan and new Berlebach (dead smooth controls and rock solid).  I saw the weirdest thing!

South of Sinus Iridium West of the terminator two bright and very obvious cat's eyes blazing out of the dark. It was neither lockdown fever or chemically enhanced!! It was I believe the rising sun catching the tops of  Montes Harbinger, so that they shone above the Mare Imbrium lava which remained in shadow. This illusion lasted well over 45mins and I have never caught it (or heard of it) before. The moon being 10.2 days old craters Delisle and Diophantus were the nearest Eastward  in full view. A few small spots of light from elsewhere on the Montes were visible too, but it was the peaks, which run N-S, that made the spooky cat's eyes in the dark.

I'll be looking for them next lunar cycle, but the timing has to be just right. It surprised me as checking on the atlas they are not that high, but neither is anything else nearby.😾 or what?

SEE POST BELOW FOR LINK TO PAULASTRO's IMAGE!

Edited February 23, 2021 by Stephenstargazer

[Stephenstargazer]

16 hours ago, paulastro said:

I took a single frame with my Olympus E-M5 Mk 11 at 7.33pm, 1/320 at 400 asa.

You caught the cat's eyes in that picture !!

[paulastro]

On 23/02/2021 at 16:46, Stephenstargazer said:

You caught the cat's eyes in that picture !!

Thanks for your observation and pointing this out Stephen.  I'd noticed these two 'cats eyes' of course, but didnt think of them as a pair of eyes until I turned my pic into horizontal mode after reading your post - then the effect looks quite striking! 🙂. So thanks for pointing it out.  I'd also not yet checked what they were - I'll check out the area later.

Edited February 24, 2021 by paulastro
Add photo.

[paulastro]

Perhaps there is a giant cat living on the Moon, which usually stays on the dark side, but just came to have a look at what he was missing? 🙂

[Stephenstargazer]

I go with the giant cat idea, eyes a 100km apart 😾. The idea that it was the tops of Montes Harbinger is completely far fetched and is unreservedly withdrawn !🙃

Paul, on your full resolution image do you pick out the other points of light? I counted 6 at the eyepiece, spaced around the eyes.

 

[paulastro]

Stephen, how far away from the 'eyes' are you talking about? 

My snap shows much less than what could be seen through my 102mm, and the image is low-res, only a single frame.

[Stephenstargazer]

15 hours ago, paulastro said:

Stephen, how far away from the 'eyes' are you talking about? 

My snap shows much less than what could be seen through my 102mm, and the image is low-res, only a single frame.

Very close indeed, just specs of light slightly below the peak  around the Southern one. Also one just above the Northern peak.* The seeing was steady here and that was through Tak FC 100 and TV/LVW eyepieces and twin polarising filters. They were consistent throughout the observation. Possibly lost due to your overall exposure????

* hope I have my orientations right as it was a reversed view! Should have sketched it.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Stephenstargazer
correction

[paulastro]

3 hours ago, Stephenstargazer said:

Very close indeed, just specs of light slightly below the peak  around the Southern one. Also one just above the Northern peak.* The seeing was steady here and that was through Tak FC 100 and TV/LVW eyepieces and twin polarising filters. They were consistent throughout the observation. Possibly lost due to your overall exposure????

* hope I have my orientations right as it was a reversed view! Should have sketched it.

Hi Stephen.

Although I was using high powers with my binoviewer on the Moon, I didnt use them on this particular feature as it was of no particular interest at the time.

As you say, my photo was only a single frame where the exposure is averaged for the whole Moon - not correctly exposed for any particular feature.

When I have some time, I'll do another crop and try and 'lift' the exposure for the area of the 'cats eyes', and see if anything else shows up.  If I find anything I'll let you know.