Moon in the 12"

[Nyctimene]

Observed the waxing gibbous moon this evening with the 12" f/5 Hofheim Instruments traveldob. The seeing was clearly better than during the last few days, and allowed a magnification of 167x (9 mmf UWA). Before, I had a short look at the Venus-Jupiter conjunction for the third time; both in the same TFoV with a 26 mmf eyepiece. Crossing over to the moon, I found, to my surprise, the terminator exactly over Sinus Iridum, and it's illuminated rim giving the illusion phenomenon of the "Moon Maiden". The lava ripples on the floor were sharp and conspicuous. A nice detail was the ink black triangular shadow of Promontorium Laplace, always solitary in the wide sun-lit surroundings. Moving S along the terminator, I stopped at Mare Nubium to assess the seeing quality with the observation of the concentric crater Hesiodus A. When I can make out it's smaller inner ring, the seeing is promising; so it was this evening. Bullialdus showed it's terraced crater walls; S of it the magnifying-glass form of Kies was easy; and even the lunar dome Kies Pi (Lunar 100 No. 60) was visible. It's tiny summit pit was not in reach. The Rimae Hippalus  showed as sharp curved lines. Promontorium Kelvin close W presented as a massive rock formation, casting a big block of shadow. The rille on the floor of Agatharchides P was visible in moments of better seeing. Finally, I had a look at "The Helmet" (target described in the "21st Century Atlas of the Moon"; 23; pg 58). A light patch of volcanic material forms the helmet, with a mountain as the chin buckle. Once more pleased with the optical qualities of the 12", I finished the observation after one hour at 20.30 CET.

Thanks for reading

Stephan