Moon: Day 11 - “Emerging Patchwork”
Published on 17 May 2008 at 12:56 am.
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With the Moon 11 days & 17 hrs old into the lunation now (12:30am), it is 2 1/2 degrees due south of the star Spica. And it won’t set until near 4:30am this time of the year - about when dawn breaks at my latitude (46.8 N). The lunar sunrise terminator resides at 53 degrees west longitude, to cut right across Oceanus Procellarum. It is not quite to the small (30 km) crater of Reiner, but its elevated eastern rim catches sunlight, as seen through the Celestron-11 scope at 116x. The same can be said of much larger (227 km-wide) crater Schickard. It is a growing lobe against the advancing lunar day, until sunlight spills across its interior perhaps by moonset here. The “Owl’s Eyes” craters are dark inside, with its “beak” between them having strong relief. Crater Marius looks the same but is much more isolated in the vast lava plain. To the south more, crater Mersenius is about 1/4th shaded inside - a crescent of shade against its east interior. The “Bullet Hole” craters are also visible but very much oval due to their considerable tilt away from us now. Finally, look to the far northern regions. Babbage is coming into sunlight right now, with new daylight spreading into its interior. Its far western rimtop is still not visible, but with crater South and that of J. Herschel nearby with strong relief, this area looks alot like a broken patchwork of battered terrain connected by “interlocking” ridges and old rims.
New Pores
Published on 16 May 2008 at 8:16 am.
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The Sun showed me new sunspots late yesterday, and none have penumbra at this time. It will be interesting to see how these develop - or not. As of yesterday at 7:00pm CDT, they were no more than 1/3rd of the way across the solar disc. No auroras seen here late last night, before the clouds “seeped” across the sky. Will the new solar cycle arrive more visibly now? A strong warming trend is expected here this weekend and early next week, and I am wondering if an aurora will enhance it.
Moon: Day 9 - “Here Come the Juras!”
Published on 15 May 2008 at 12:24 am.
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I am observing the waxing gibbous Moon a little later in the night, and at an age of 9 days & 17 hrs, it resides in Virgo to my southwestern sky - at midnight. The sunrise terminator is at 30.5 degrees west longitude - just beyond the small crater Euler to the north and the ribbon-shaped Montes Riphaeus to the south. Clavius’s interior is all in view now, with only its eastern wall inside dark. The same holds true for Copernicus and 92-mile wide Longomontanus, though having a thicker dark crescent within. It is interesting to see how much the interiors of Euler, Lambert, and Timocharis in this order from west to east are more sunlit. The craters of Lansberg and Reinhold just to the southwest of Copernicus are all dark within. Bullialdus crater within Mare Nubium is almost 1/2 shaded within. However, the feature to watch coming into view now and by the hour before this Moon sets near 4:00am is the Jura Mountains crescent. Already, peaks beyond the terminator, including Promontorium Heraclides are experiencing sunrise, while Promontorium Laplace casts a long fanglike shadow into the maw of Sinus Iridum. Look through your scope “above” gray Plato to the far north too. The oval “inkwell” just in view currently is crater Philolaus - 71 km across and some 11,000ft deep!
Reaching Solar Day #7,620!
Published on 14 May 2008 at 11:57 pm.
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A seasonable and largely windless day for observing the Sun here in western ND - solar observation day #7,620. At 6:30pm, CDT and at 44x through my small refractor, I still see no sunspots - not even a tiny black speck. One wonders if this quiet Sun will keep the local area weather from becoming so warm or bring more precipitation later on. After observing the Sun, a cold 0.10″ of rain falls, arriving from the northwest. Had it come up from the south, it would have been with more noise and excitement. As such, this Sun and passing rain will green the grass more.
Moon: Day 8 - “Veering to Virgo.”
Published on 13 May 2008 at 11:57 pm.
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The Moon continues to look more lemon-like with each passing night, and now, at an age of 8 days & 16 hrs, it is a good 14-15 degrees south of Saturn (and the Cassini spacecraft), veering toward Virgo. Pretty soon ot will be more south at midnight, instead of to the southwest. The lunar terminator is at 18 degrees west longitude - right before crater Copernicus, and yes, you can see its elevated eastern rim catching sunshine. There is only a jagged thin crescent of shade within crater Plato to the north and Pitatus to the south, and the “Eyeglasses” craters of Guericke and Parry have maximum relief to be easily identified. No Montes Riphaeus to see yet, but all of the Apeninnes are in view. Also, the westernmost peak of the Montes Teneriffe currently has a long “spike” shadow that barely touches the receding night. Watch this through your scope over the next 3-4 hrs as it appears to snap back like black rubber, shortening with the rising sun. The biggest oval “hole” on the southern highland is 144-mile wide Clavius, its rim barely complete in view, with the rims of inner small craters barely catching sunlight and surrounded by a considerable “moat” of inky darkness. How well can you see the thin dark “pin” within ancient, lava-flooded Artemis crater just north of Deslandres that is Rupes Recta?