MAY 29TH - SINUS IRIDUM AND COPERNICUS AND ITS ENVIRONS..

paulastro · May 30, 2023

I was out observing the Moon (and Venus) from 9.40pm to 11.15pm. Using the Celestron 8 inch Starsense Explorer Dob with 17.5 and 12.5 Morpheus eyepieces ans a x2 Celestron X-Cel LX barlow. Seeing fairly steady at times - good for my site.

The terminator showed fine detail along it's length, but I paid most attention to Sinus Iridum plus Copernicus and its environs.

The Ridges that are parallel to the Jura Mtns and to each other were very prominent. In addition, small segments of these mtn tops were illuminated between Promontoriums Heraclides and Laplace. Looking rather like a necklace with beads at various places. When fully illuminated, and when the bay is not illuminated immediately to the S, this is known as the 'Cup Handle' among other names. Further to the S, up to C.Herschel there is a named Ridge, Dorset Heim. This continues up into Sinus Iridum, but the Ridges across the bay themselves don't have a specific name as far as I'm aware.

There was good detail in Copernicus, despite not being optimally placed. However, there was great contrast in its surroundings showing the variations in the ejects from the impact extremely well. The areas of dark Maria material to the N and E of Copernicus were very striking.

The pics below are snaps taken with my phone, held a little behind the eyepiece so not as good as they could have been, but are sufficient to show the scene. The pic of Sinus Iridum was with the 12.5 and barlow giving x 192, visually it was really spectacular. The other was using the 17.5 giving x76. The map is taken from the Rukl atlas.