Lunar 100 observing report 20.4.2010

[Doc]

20.4.2010

Meade Lightbridge 16" F4.5 FL1829mm

Lunation 6.31 days

Phase 102°

Illumination 39.6%

I have just started doing the Lunar 100 so decided tonight would be a great chance to add a few more.

Started observing 21.00.

Valentine Dome Number 89

Sitting on the shores of Mare Serenitatis are the Mountains of Oaucasus and at the bottom of these mountains sits a very hard to observe volcanic feature called Valentine Dome, I could see this in most of my eyepieces but with the 9 mm Ortho at x203 I could even detect slight mound like features on top of the dome. I could also detect two craters sitting just below Valentine Dome, one cutting into the side of the volcano.

Linne Number 82

Not far from Valentine Dome is a very small crater called Linne, this little crater just 2 mile in diameter and 1800 feet deep was thought to have disappeared but was easily seen through the 6 mm ortho at x304. When I inserted the 4mm ortho into the focuser giving me x457 I could detect three very small unamed craters beween Valentine Dome and Linne.

Sulpicius Gallus Number 71

Apparently according to my Lunar 100 guide I should be looking for ash eruptions northwest of crater Sulpicius. This area is abundant with loads of geological features and I took a while observing the area with my 12.5mm Ortho. Sulpicius is a isolated bright bowl shaped crater with steep sides and is about 6700 feet deep. I could easily make out the area known as Pyroclastic Sulpicius Gallus as you could see the lava flows from the area around the crater. Also around the area was numerous rilles and rimae the best being Dorsa Buckland.

Imbrium Sculpture Number 63

This one took some finding as I had to crater hop and it's something I'm still getting used to. The Imbrium Sculpture are basin ejecta near and overlying the Boscovich & Julius Caesar craters. I found these craters eventually and through the 6mm ortho I could detect all the features between these two landmarks but to tell the truth I didn't know exactly what I was supposed to be looking for, around the area there are numerous rimas such as Rima Ariadaeus which was a very striking feature.

Hyginus Rille Number 24

I have already seen the opposite side of the Hyginus Rima but now with very intense observing I could see the point where the Rima Hyginus disects the Rima Ariadaeus, this is extremely hard as the rille is only 2 miles wide. I managed this by using the 6mm ortho as I found the 4mm ortho darkened the area to much.

Descartes Number 64

Descartes lies amoung an area scattered with volcano's, it is a 29 mile in diameter crater from the Nectarian (From -3.92 billions years to -3.85 billions years) period and is off unknown height. It is also the area where Apollo 16 landed on April 21 1972. Through my 6mm ortho the crater looks very irregular and has a impacted crater called Descartes A just clipping one of it's side walls. Through the 4mm ortho at x457 I could see rille like structures on the crater's basin floor.

Maurolycus Number 45

Maurolycus is a large crater measuring 69 miles in diameter it is cut into by lots of others little craters. I could see very steep sides that were illuminated by the sun. The crater contains a lovely large proud central peak surrounded by numerous little cratlets on the basin floor. A fine specimen and looked awesome in all eyepieces especially 12.5mm ortho at x146.

Baco Number 55

A very hard to spot crater as it was situated in the area near the bottom of the moon. Baco is a circular formation crater 42 miles in diameter and 11800 feet high I could detect very steep slopes. With moments of better seeing I could just detect a small central peak but the floor looked very flat.

That rounded off my lunar viewing for the night as the moon was gradually dipping into the trees. So I turned my attention on to Saturn.

Saturn and it's moons

What a sight to behold, I just love looking at Saturn. The seeing was good tonight and the collimation bang on. I could even detect very slight shading around the north and south poles of Saturn. With the 9mm ortho i could very easily see a yellow Titan shining at mag 8.4. Just above Titan was Iapetus at mag 11.2 and further in towards Saturn was Rhea at mag 9.8. Hyperion was just off Saturn and I only glimpsed this maybe twice when it showed itself and at mag 14.3 it's understanble. On the other side of Saturn was Encelade at mag 11.8 and little further out was Tethys at mag 10.3. See the sketch here: http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-sketches-unconventional/102329-saturn-its-moons.html#post1419625

Packed away at 23.00.

[AztecastroMcJ]

great detailed report Doc

i'm jealous as got clear skies but also got flu at min

were u using a moon atlas to help u ?

would like to try lunar 100 aswell

prob seen alot of them without knowing ofcourse

any gud links for Lunar100 ?

thx James

[Doc]

Thats the same as me. I'm sure over the years I've seem most of them but this time looking more in depth at each one and logging them as well.

I use this site as it has a map Lunar 100 then with VMA I see where the terminator lies and pick my targets. I'm trying to only look at targets that lie along or very near to the terminator on that given night.

[AztecastroMcJ]

thx again Doc

future project for me 2 now

cheers James

[pvaz]

Thanks for the detailed report.

I never did serious observations on the moon, just the occasional peek when the conditions won't allow anything else. I should really take the time an pay more attention to it.

[LukeSkywatcher]

If you cant beat them...join them.

I'm gonna start the Lunar100 also.

[DarkerSky]

Just getting round to reading your Lunar 100 threads. That's a super report Mick. You've got some excellent knowledge of the lunar landscape