JAN 4TH WAXING CRESCENT, 5.6%, I DAY 22 HRS.

[paulastro]

I went out late afternoon to observe the nearly 2 day old Moon, driving a short distance to have a better horizon.

I picked up the Moon at 3.15pm in 10x50s at an altitude of 10.4 degrees.  I observed with the Altair 80 ED-R, and also took some single frames using the Olympus EM-5 Mk11.

The two frames below were taken shortly before the Moon went into some tree tops, taken at 4.40 and and 4.51, the Moon's altitude being 6.6 degrees.

It was very cold and when I walked from the field I was in to the car, I couldn't open the door.  The biting wind had frozen the lock.  After 15 minutes I was about to phone my daughter to come out and bring me a tin of de-icer, when I had a moment of inspiration.  I went to the lock on the front passenger door which was sheltered from the wind - luckily after a few attempts  I managed to turn the key and open the door.

Phew,  I wasn't sure my daughter was available to come out, so if I hadn't been able to open the door I might have still been there! 😁.

 

 

 

[Stu]

Very nice Paul. It looked great, didn’t it? Fortunately I have a good horizon from home so managed to get a scope on it from here. Seeing pretty poor generally and down low was worse, but a lovely sight still. Thanks for the images, love the orange colour.

[paulastro]

13 minutes ago, Stu said:

Very nice Paul. It looked great, didn’t it? Fortunately I have a good horizon from home so managed to get a scope on it from here. Seeing pretty poor generally and down low was worse, but a lovely sight still. Thanks for the images, love the orange colour.

Many thanks Stu.  You're very kind.  I must say, I do love  a thin crescent.  The seeing was poor as you say - role on the spring when it's higher in the evening sky, and hopefully warmer 😊. 

 

[mikeDnight]

Great pic's Paul. And and an exciting, nail biting adventure too. 

[paulastro]

43 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Great pic's Paul. And and an exciting, nail biting adventure too. 

Thanks Mike, too exciting at my age 😄.

[Nicola Fletcher]

Great photos, thank you for sharing them. The moon was a wonderful sight last night.

I’m very glad you managed to get into your car!

[paulastro]

3 hours ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

Great photos, thank you for sharing them. The moon was a wonderful sight last night.

I’m very glad you managed to get into your car!

Thank you Nicola.  Yes, I didn't lock the car when I got home last night, so I don't have the same problem this morning 😊.

[Kon]

Nice that you managed to observe it. Unfortunately due to work, I have only managed through my car, but it did look great. Nice shots and glad you made it back into the car.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Great report Paul. I am glad you were able to get back into the car. I observed the crescent Moon at the same time and also picked up Mercury. I used my SvBony frac wish I had a 4" APO.