Meade Lightbridge Lunar observing report as of 23.11.2010 Part of Lunar 100-200

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23.11.2010

Meade Lightbridge 16" F4.5 1829mm FL

Phase: 334.2°

Lunation: 17.65 days

Illumination: 95%

Very cold.

Lunar 100-200

http://stargazerslounge.com/observing-lunar-solar/136138-new-lunar-100-200-list.html

Number 50 Keyhole shaped craterlet in De La Rue

I could see this object with the 12.5mm ortho inserted but needed the 9mm ortho to split the crater into two seperate cratlets that resemble the keyhole asterism within the crater De La Rue.

Number 71 Strabo triplet.

Situated a little to the south west of crater Strabo is a remarkable formation of three aligned craters. These three are Strabo N, B, & L. As these craters were pretty near the limb and on the terminator they were pretty hard to spot, but once found in my 12.5 ortho they were pretty easy. They are all pretty much the same size at 15 miles in diameter and of unkbown height.

Number 49 Gartner M

Situated on the eastern edge of Mare Frigoris lies the little crater Gartner M, I found it via Thales F & A and if you head southwards you see a very dim ridge that runs pass a small unamed mountain. Gartner M shows up very well as it sits on a white upland compared to the darker grey mare surrounding it. Nothing special through the 9mm looked slightly oval but according to VMA is 6 miles in diameter, it looks alot smaller then it's quoted size.

Number 21 Mons Esam

This was hard, VMA says you only need 100mm of aperture well I could just see it with the 4mm inserted giving me x457. I agree it was not near the terminator so maybe that was it. Invisible in all but the 6mm and 4mm. Not very impressive considering it's size of 15 miles x 3 miles. It's situated very close to crater Lucian. I must visit again, maybe when the mountain is in better light.

Number 80 Lacus Bonitatis

Lacus Bonitatis is the dark area beneath crater Macrobius and above Macrobius W , it resembles a large letter T in shape and really stands out against the lighter grey surrounding topography.

Number 26 Rupes Cauchy and Rima Cauchy

I could easily see Rupes Cauchy running above crater Cauchy. The Rupes is 73 miles long and comes from the Imbrian (From -3.85 billions years to -3.2 billions years) period of the lunars history. I could see the cratelets E, F, & B that the rupes passes by. The next object was the Rima Cauchy that is north of crater Cauchy. I really tried to spot this one and couldn't see it, maybe the light was wrong but being 127 miles long and 2 miles wide, I would have thought it was pretty easy to see.

Number 40 Rima Messier

VMA says a 500mm aperture is required but I could make out using my 9mm ortho a white streak running between Messier K and Messier X and from looking at photo's I did indeed see Rimae Messier. The rimae is just 48 miles long and only 1 mile wide so pretty impressive to see it. I could also see an impressive ray emerging from crater Messier A.

Number 36 Ejecta ray from Rosse to Tycho

Situated in the southern part of Mare Nectaris is the 7 mile crater Rosse. With the 12.5 inserted it was really easy to trace the ejecta ray from Rosse to the mighty Tycho. Simply amazing how much power would have been required to cause this rays. Dead easy with the 12.5 ortho.