First View of Moon with Binoculars

[Camkorn]

Hello!

I was viewing the moon last night with my new pair of binoculars (I am totally new to astronomy), I noticed 3 bright patches or spots on the moon on the left side of it quite near the top. The 'spots' were in a triangular pattern and were very bright compared to the rest of the surface. I was wondering if anyone knows what these spots are?

Thanks!

[Talitha]

Most likely the upper one was Aristarchus, and the two lower ones were Kepler (left) and Copernicus (right). Aristarchus would look more like a point source; Kepler and Copernicus would appear like larger 'splashes'.

The brightness you saw was impact ejecta... basically, the brighter the albedo, the more recent the impact was. The surface regolith has been 'cooked' by radiation and dimmed, but the lunar subsoil is brighter and gets splashed out during an impact. Tycho's impact left very long, narrow 'lanes' of bright ejecta. Look for Tycho at the Moon's southern pole during full phase, you can't miss it.

[Herakles]

Nicely explained Carol. Bino's are a def' a great way into Astronomy. There is a free download en:download [Virtual Moon Atlas] to a Virtual Moon Atlas , hopefully help you ID a whole heap of Lunar stuff. Go to bottom and D/L VMA ''Pro'' version 4.0b

Pete

[Spacetime]

What about Google moon ?

Is it comparable to Virtual moon atlas?

Thanks,

Spacetime

[Herakles]

Google Moon seems to deal more w/ Apollo sites from what I saw of it. VMA will tell you whats what , crater wise etc etc.

[The Warthog]

I sometimes refer to Aristarchus as the 'liquid paper crater' because it is so bright. I enjoy the full Moon because of these things you observed, giving it a bejewelled look, and something I can just stare at.

[luxastronomy]

I had some nice views of the Earth satellite the other day. It looks really good in my 15x70 Barska. Thanks Herakles for recommending the Virtual Moon Atlas, I will go and download it right away.

Greetings from Zoran

[yeti monster]

I enjoy the full Moon because of these things you observed, giving it a bejewelled look, and something I can just howl at.

:D

Being a fellow lunatic, I'm the same........

this moroning I watched the last cresent rise before dawn, it was awesome. My first picture was well over exposed, and I was rather shocked to see this on the display:

When what my eye was seeing was this:

[JamesK]

I suppose that's caused by a weak case of Earthshine - but a dim one so we need an over exposure for seeing it? I must say I personally enjoy watching the waxing Gibbous moon over a period of time, watching new features appear and be illuminated... either that or no moon!

[The Warthog]

The dark portion of the Moon is being illuminated by an almost full Earth, which is probably at least 16 times brighter than a full Moon. That first picture is a good one for illustrating the phenomenon of earthshine.