Monthly "X" on the Moon, can you capture it?

[67champ]

Lunies (is that the right spelling?), be on the lookout for the "X" reflection on the moon's terminator sometime around Oct. 10, 2005, 05:00 UT (give or take a few hours). And, take pictures!!! LOL

dt

[gbeal]

DT,
I recalled this notification a month or so back, but didn't get to see or image it. Given the weather lately this time around will be a flop as well, BUT............. what is the general area/crater(s) please. I will look it up in my Rukl's.
Gary

[67champ]

Gary,

The location of this "X" is between Purbach and Blanchius, below LaCaille; when the terminator approaches Werner "The X" begins to shine..... It generally can not be detected with the naked eye, you will need a scope on it, but it should be obvious just on the dark side of the terminator.
dt

[67champ]

The "X" last month, a few hours later than prime observing time....

[gbeal]

DT,
OK, I will have a crack at it, well I will if the weather is OK, but right now you couldn't stand up it is blowing that hard.

[gbeal]

DT
just checked, and it shouldn't be too hard to sort. I dug out an old Straight Wall shot, and it was just out of the FOV, although the lighting would have been wrong as well.
Gary

[67champ]

bad luck for me possibly, the moon sets here at 0300 UT; the moon may be setting before the X appears....I just checked on that. hum.... well see..?
dt

[gbeal]

Dt,
there is a story behind this, and right now I don't have the time to relate it. Got this last night between heavy rain showers. I think it is what you meant?
How did you fare??
Gary

[videoguy]

Nice shot Gary - particularly the one at left..if I'm not mistaken the two craters in shadow on the terminator are Aliacensis and Werner - They're certainly a striking pair.

[iceman]

Nice one Gary, I captured it last night as well, just have to process the darn avi's today, along with my Mars data from last night. I can't see myself getting much work done today :(

Checked out the X visually, too. I wasn't even planning to look for it, just looked through the eyepiece and BAM, it jumped right out at me. Was a nice sight.

So I setup the laptop and grabbed the ToUcam and took some images. Will post them later.

[gbeal]

Mike/dt,
it was forecast (by dt) to be about 0500UT, which is 1800 here. Clouds, rain, showers, and more clouds. But near the time it cleared slightly, and even though the sun was not down (but behind a cloud) I though why not. I shot all manner of avi's, and they wer wishy washy partly from the clouds and partly from the daylight.
I had tea and wandered out again, and noticed it was clear again, but with further showers and rain to the west. Why not, and the gear was out in a flash. I too found the "X" visually, and thought if I can see it this good the ToUcam will as well.
I had time to knock a few avi's off and then it rained again, and is still raining. Lucky? Maybe, but thanks to dt for the headsup as well. Be good to see yours.
Gary

[iceman]

Ok here's my attempts..

2 at newt prime focus and one with the 3x barlow in.

Seeing was pretty good, but it was a bit windy and to get access to the moon, I had to set the platform and scope up on the decking, which was very wobbly.. so every time I moved, or the dog or cat came wandering along, the whole image vibrated.

I wasn't intending to capture the X, had completely forgotten about it, but looked through the eyepiece and it caught me straight away!

Anyway here's my attempts.

[gbeal]

Nice work Mike, dt should be happy now. Great images given the circumstances.
Gary

[67champ]

Guys, You did a fantastic job!!! I am so jealous (and Happy).... lol

There was nothing but clouds here since thursday night; it is monday evening here now, and still clouds!!!! Haven't seen the sun or the moon in days!

Gary, I first saw this and tried to take a picture of it when I was a kid in 1978...I got out of astronomy for years and grew up (so to speak, my wife says I act like I'm nine) and got into drag racing as a hobby. In March of this year I finally got back into astronomy, and went looking for my mysterious "x". All these years have went by and I never saw it again...!

Well, as we now know, it's just a reflection that can be predicted fairly easily with all the co-longitude software out there now. Of course the weather has to be kind to us also.., and whether the moon is visable in at the time of the occurance.

If you want, I can give you info on the "Curtiss Cross" near last quarter moons..It is similar to this ...... I think I posted something on here a month or two ago..

dana t

[gbeal]

dana,
yes, thanks to your headsup I gave it a go, as did Mike. I must admit that I didn't actually look to see where you were (location wise) and now I understand. Welcome to the bottom half.
Yes please, at least let us know about the Curtiss Cross, although my sense of humour isn't as flash with last quarter, I prefer first.
Gary

[67champ]

Mike and Gary, Do you know what time it was when you took these pics???
Thanks! dt

[h0ughy]

You guys are legends, thats very cleaver stuff capturing detail like that!

[gbeal]

dana,
the smaller image scale shot was taken at 2032 NZDT (0732UT) and the larger scale about 5 minutes later.
Both with an MN76, at prime focus, and with 2.5x Powermate respectively.
Gary

[67champ]

Gary,

Thanks for that info. That fits pretty close to when others have imaged this "X" feature in the past, averaging a co-long. of about 356.7 (+ or - 1.0 degree) according to David Chapman. Good to know. You are all helping me realized a boy-hood dream of photographing and understanding the appearance of this "X". Thanks again.

Oh, by the way, gary, there are other "X's" that appear occassionally, and you almost got one of the other ones in your recent pics here... Five or six craters south of this main "X", (sorry that's not very scientific),
is another one on the terminator, but not developed quite as well. Had you noticed it yet? It has been captured in the past in a slightly more developed
shape.

CLear skies to you,
dt

[iceman]

I noticed the second X too, and you can it above the main one in my first image a couple of posts up.