Ptolemaeus - ridge line shadows 18.01.24

[josefk]

The conjunction of Jupiter and the moon early evening last night was a fabulous thing; naked eye, in a wide field eyepiece and up close but flicking between them. What a treat. 

Though Jupiter in the end was the primary target - the crater Ptolemaeus was extremely eye-catching on the terminator of the moon. More specifically the lovely sawtooth shadow cast by its western ridge.

Here's a poor tidy sketch done this morning:

 

i prefer the more visceral one from the EP last night:

 

Letting my imagination run away with itself what a fabulous thing it would be to scramble around the ridge in a multi-day hike (suitably equipped of course). For a personal sense of scale if this were a terrestrial thing it would take me 5hrs to cycle across the crater floor!

BTW - i'm slightly perplexed this morning not to find any photography on line that remotely resembles how i sketched it so though i'm 99.9% sure it is Ptolemaeus if you know better be sure to let me know 🙂  

 

 

Edited January 19 by josefk

[SwiMatt]

Wonderful work @josefk! I personally like your "poor" tidy sketch

[mikeDnight]

I think both sketches are excellent! 🏆

[josefk]

Thank you @mikeDnight It was a striking sight - really quite mesmerising. I also enjoyed the pressure to “crack on” because the shadows were changing even over a period of a few minutes!