THIS MUST BE THE BEST LUNAR SOFTWARE FOR LUNAR OBSERVERS !

[paulastro]

I have posted about this before, but its so good here's another plug with an illustration how good it really is.  I'm talking about NASA's SVS ( Scientific Visualization Studio) software of the Moon Phase and Libration 2021. Phew, that's a mouthful!

It shows an eeringly accurate view of the Moons terminator for the date and time you enter - the time in UT entered for the nearest hour.  The view is almost exactly what you will will see through your telescope.

Below is a crop from a single frame I took with my Tecnosky 102ED F7 last evening at 8.50 pm and what the SVS came up with (also a crop) when I entered the date and time, April 17th 20 hours UT.   

 

I think it's quite remarkable, especially considering you can only set the time in hourly intervals.

When you enter the time or date it comes up with a low res image which you tap to get the high res TIFF file.  My ancient smart phone couldn't download the high res image, but a more modern one will.  I used my laptop to get high res.

It's all free as well, just click on the link below to try it out.

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4874

 

 

[Andy ES]

Paul

just tried this out thanks, using a ropey smart phone photo from Last Friday compared with the NASA app.

it works really well! should be even better results when I put a bit more effort in.

(Mine are of course flipped East West)

[laudropb]

Thanks for that Paul. It’s got to be the best Moon App I have seen.

[RobertI]

Excellent software, will definitely use this, thanks.