Late afternoon/early evening session 12/03/22

[OK Apricot]

Just came back inside after a very enjoyable few hours out in the garden tracking the moon. Early afternoon I was watching the moon ducking in and out of the clouds, and thought that with the ongoing dire forecasts, that it'd be as good a chance as any to get some observing time in, so at around 16:00 out came the 127. The main goal of this (predictably) short session was to nail a few of the more prominent craters and features, and to tick a few boxes of the Lunar 100. I'd been messing around during the afternoon while the skies were a little brighter, so had a lot less contrast, however as the sky started to darken, the images I was seeing improved tremendously. I was checking back to my moongazing book, comparing the maps to my current view, and feel like I'd learned a fair bit, really trying to tease out little details. I spent plenty of time at the eyepiece, swapping powers to build as good a picture I could, as well as doing my usual snapping of a few phone pictures.

Equipment: Skywatcher Skymax 127 AZ GTi, StellaLyra 15mm Superview, Celestron 9mm XCel-LX, Samsung A52S 

Seeing: High level hazy cloud, very steady, approx pickering 6-7

 

Mare Serenitatis - Appeared as a very baron area of dark grey colour through the SL 15mm, framed nicely by Montes Haemus to the southwest, hints of small craters scattered loosely and individually. Through the 9mm XCel-LX at 167x, I was just about able to make out Bessel which seemed embedded in a ray of ejecta from another crater. The darkness of Mare Serenitatis was quite eye catching compared to the lighter seas of the moon.

Archimedes - Appeared to have some flatter spots to the crater walls to the north/south. I noticed a smaller peak and crater to the north in the direction of Aristillus, overall framed nicely by Aristillus itself and Autolycus. I preferred the view here through the 15mm at 100x.

 

Plato - Well defined crater edges, very smooth and dark looking basin quite devoid of any detail or features, even at 167x with the 9mm Xcel. An interesting looking "line" was to its east (As i viewed it) running through some mountains. Those mountains were Montes Alpes, and the "line" was a feature called Vallis Alpes. This was a gorgeous sight, standing proudly over Mare Imbrium. 

 

Eratosthenes - The central peak took on a more linear appearance, a rough looking crater wall framed by smoother plains, sitting at the foot of Montes Appeninus.

Tycho, Clavius - The central peak of Tycho stood up tall amid the bright crater walls, very contrasty by the shadows. Clavius and Co was very clear to the south east, a real mine field of craters. It was a very busy area to view, almost alive. Interesting seeing the impact erosion of older craters. 

 

Copernicus - This was by far the highlight of the session. At 167x it presented with twin central peaks, amazing texture detail to the crater walls. I could make out some thick shadows to the west suggesting there is quite the cliff edge off this crater. The rough appearance extending outward in all directions from this crater gave it a really "alive" feel, like watching a pot of almost boiling water. It was a very dominating feature at this current phase of the moon, with bright ejecta rays emanating out past Montes Carpatus into Mare Imbrium.

 

Overall a very enjoyable impromptu lunar session. A very educational experience really, putting pen to paper as they say - Jotting back and forth between the eyepiece and my book really helped cement the more prominent features. I must say, though, that I'm being blown away by this Skymax 127. Not an expensive scope by any means, and not being used in conjunction with expensive eyepieces either - A very modest setup but very capable of capturing some astounding detail! This is the second lunar session i've had through this scope, and it's just getting stronger every time. It's giving me butterflies thinking how good this is going to be on the planets later on in the year!

Edited March 12, 2022 by OK Apricot
Added pictures

[Stu]

Excellent and highly detailed report there @OK Apricot, some really good observations and info in there 👍👍.

The 127mm Maks are very capable scopes, so I’m sure you will have a lot of fun and success with it in future.

[MalcolmM]

Great read and great photos too!

Malcolm

[OK Apricot]

Thank you both! The A52S is pretty decent at the eyepiece in "Pro mode" 😁