Moongazing

[Karen]

Last night and the night before I have been concentrating on Lunar viewing. Copernicus was a wonderful sight last night so I pushed the mak 127 to its limits for a good close look. What is the rim to rim diameter of this crater? Are those pimples I can see in the middle actually mountains?

[Tantalus]

Yep. There are three mountains in the centre of Copernicus. Well done Karen.

I've also been catching up with the Moon over the past few days and had a look at Copernicus last night - fantastic isn't it? In my opinion it's one of the best Lunar features...

It has a diameter of 56 miles and a height of 11,400 ft. Those central peaks are around 1200m high!

[Karen]

Yep. There are three mountains in the centre of Copernicus. Well done Karen.

I've also been catching up with the Moon over the past few days and had a look at Copernicus last night - fantastic isn't it? In my opinion it's one of the best Lunar features...

It has a diameter of 56 miles and a height of 11,400 ft. Those central peaks are around 1200m high!

Thankyou,

I thought make the most of observing the moon while it's in view. Copernicus is fascinating to look at It looked close enough to touch at 250x. Now I know its diameter I can gauge the size of other lunar features.

[Tantalus]

You might like to take another look at Copernicus later in the month, Karen, when the tendril-like ejecta rays show brighter, and it takes on a different character...

I'd also recommend you take a look at Virtual Moon Atlas 5.1 (download size of around 100MB) if you're going to be doing a lot of Lunar viewing. It's free and it's a bit like Stellarium for the Moon.

[Karen]

You might like to take another look at Copernicus later in the month, Karen, when the tendril-like ejecta rays show brighter, and it takes on a different character...

I'd also recommend you take a look at Virtual Moon Atlas 5.1 (download size of around 100MB) if you're going to be doing a lot of Lunar viewing. It's free and it's a bit like Stellarium for the Moon.

5.1 wont run on my laptop. I think it's because the graphics chip is not up to the job. But downloaded an earlier version. Lots of useful info about the moon and a map which acurately resembles what appears in the scope!