Curtiss Cross - January 31, 2008

[67champ]

Here is a afocal pic of what I call the "Curtiss Cross". The photo was taken last Thursday morning, January 31, 2008 at 6:51AM EST (1151 UT). It is the "cross" or "X" shaped illumination in the center of the photo, just to the lighted side of the terminator. Co-long was 193.82, illumination fraction of .382 from the light of the lunar sunset. This photo is still not quite the sharpness I was hoping for, but with an outside tempurature of 15 degrees, I kind of lost my will to adjust/bracket focus as I apparently should have. Used a Fuji S5000 camera connected to a Orion 127mm Mak-Cass afocally through the GSO 40mm eyepiece.

Dana T.
Ohio, USA

[circumpolar (Matt)]

Hey that's great Dana.
First time I've seen it. I will try to look for it in the future.
Well Done.

The Date/times below are from 67champ's other post in 'observational astronomy'.
2008 – Predicted dates and times for Curtiss Cross Illumination (194.0 Co-longitude):

January 1 2135 UT
January 31 1213 UT
March 1 0221 UT
March 30 1539 UT
April 29 0402 UT
May 28 1535 UT
June 27 0236 UT
July 26 1329 UT
August 25 0041 UT
September 23 1235 UT
October 23 0126 UT
November 21 1513 UT
December 21 0540