Stadius Craterlets - Jan 11th

[Alkaid]

Cold clear night, had both 90mm achromat and C8 SCT out. Started with smaller scope whilst C8 acclimatised.  Initial target was Eratosthenes and spent some time on it, before noticing Stadius close by. Not really looked at this due to its proximity to Copernicus, but was slowly captivated by the sheer amount of interesting craterlets within the flooded crater.  After an hour or so, switched to C8 and had fun exploring the craterlets in greater detail. Seeing tonight supported a steady max of x160. I did attempt x220 but not really comfortable observing.  But the modest power of x160 was quite enough for counting and examining these features.  The stadius craterlets are bigger and easier than say the Plato variety, at 3-6km in diameter and make good observing.

ATB Steve

[Stu]

Interesting report. These are new ones on me so will bear them in mind for future. Thanks 👍

[Mr Spock]

Just been having a look at these with the 102mm at x210. Stadius is really well placed at the moment and is a fine sight. There's one craterlet on the south rim which seems brighter than the others - Stadius K? It's certainly quite prominent.

[Peter Drew]

Look for the three conjoined craterlets on the rim of Stadius, a good test for small telescopes.   🙂

[Stu]

A couple of screenshots which may help…

[Mr Spock]

Top view is very similar to what I'm seeing, only with much brighter highlights.

I see from the lower image the bright crater in the south is actually two craters... I need the Hubble for that I think 😜 

[Alkaid]

6 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Top view is very similar to what I'm seeing, only with much brighter highlights.

I see from the lower image the bright crater in the south is actually two craters... I need the Hubble for that I think 😜 

Thanks for the screenshots, they’re great. I had a look on the web for the craterlet labelling images and couldn’t find much. I’ll use these next time.