[bkm2304 (Richard Brown)]

Hi all,

Bit of "artistic" work with an image from near full moon. The lack of shadows flattens everything on the surface.

Interesting features are:

Palus Somnus - The Marsh of Sleep - is a distinct region of about 17.5 thousand square km known for its peculiar colouring described variously as brown - yellow - green by Sir Patrick Moore.

Rima Ariadaeus - An apparently young, 300km long graben (a sunken area between two parallel faults). "Arrhidaeus" was Alexander The Great's elder half brother and by way of a mild intellectual disability (possibly caused by an attempt on his life by Alexander's mother, Olympias) was protected by Alexander. Nevertheless the machinations of power caught up with poor Ariadaeus; after Alexander's death in 323 BC he became Philip the Third of Macedon. Inconvenienced by this, Olympias organised Ariadaeus' execution and his wife's "suicide"'- as you do.

Lacus Lenitatis - the Lake of Softness - yes there is a soft lake - named by Riccioli is near the crater, Manilius also named by Riccioli. I don't know if the placing of Manilius near Lenitatis was intentional by Riccioli but it is hard to think there isn't a connection. Manilius is named for the Roman poet and author of a work, the Astronomica, considered so dull and boring that the modern classical scholar and poet, AE Housman, was berated by his colleagues for spending so much time translating and commenting on it. They thought he was doing so as "a self punishment".

ZWO 178mm camera, Celestron 9.25" telescope. 1,000 frames stacked in Autostakkert!3 and 10% sharpened in Registax.