michaellxv
31-10-2009, 12:55 AM
Hi all,
Here is my first Lunar report.
Telescope Nexstar 80GTL 900mm f11 refractor
Eyepieces 15,6mm Plossl
Skies patchy light cloud, poor seeing. Waxing Gibbous moon 88%
Not the best night but clear enough to look at the moon, and too much moon light to see many stars.
Tonight I was just trying to get myself oriented correctly on the more conspicous features so that I have a future reference to correctly identify where I am. For this purpose I concentrated on Tycho and Copernicus and being able to find and move between them.
As a looked around two walled plains along the terminator caught my eye. I looked at these for a while so that I could make some brief notes when I came in. First thing was to look up a chart and work out what they were. I hope I have this right.
Phocylidus:
The floor of this plain was still in full shadow. The outer face of the eastern wall and the inner face of the western wall were both lit up.
Schickard:
In this case sunlight was half way across the floor of the plain. I could see the leading edge of 2 small craters on the plain lit. As I watched longer I could see the line of shadow receding as the sun rose across the plain.
This was an interesting contrast to see these 2 plains next to each other but with different lighting effects.
Michael.
Here is my first Lunar report.
Telescope Nexstar 80GTL 900mm f11 refractor
Eyepieces 15,6mm Plossl
Skies patchy light cloud, poor seeing. Waxing Gibbous moon 88%
Not the best night but clear enough to look at the moon, and too much moon light to see many stars.
Tonight I was just trying to get myself oriented correctly on the more conspicous features so that I have a future reference to correctly identify where I am. For this purpose I concentrated on Tycho and Copernicus and being able to find and move between them.
As a looked around two walled plains along the terminator caught my eye. I looked at these for a while so that I could make some brief notes when I came in. First thing was to look up a chart and work out what they were. I hope I have this right.
Phocylidus:
The floor of this plain was still in full shadow. The outer face of the eastern wall and the inner face of the western wall were both lit up.
Schickard:
In this case sunlight was half way across the floor of the plain. I could see the leading edge of 2 small craters on the plain lit. As I watched longer I could see the line of shadow receding as the sun rose across the plain.
This was an interesting contrast to see these 2 plains next to each other but with different lighting effects.
Michael.