Moon: Day 8 - \”Dividing Copernicus\”
Published on 26 Jul 2004 at 12:15 am.
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The Moon is waxing gibbous tonight in Libra to my southwest, and as I observe (at the mid-11:00pm hour) at 91x through my small refractor, it is 8 days & 17 hours old. The lunar terminator is located at 20 degrees west longitude - dividing terraced crater Copernicus in half. All of its interior remains dark however. Nearby Eratosthenes is only 1/3 shaded within, while smaller crater Timocharis near the same longitude is at least 3/4th in darkness inside. The giant crater of Clavius is very conspicuous to the south, as two smaller craters within it rise up from its vast dark floor to catch sunlight, while its rim is illuminated. Tycho is also 3/4ths shadowed within, but it central peak barely catches sunlight. To the east of all-sunlit Maginus, the \”Mickey Mouse\” craters (Cuvier, Licetus, and Heraclides) show strong relief, with Licetus having slight shading on its east wall. South of Clavius yet, two craters - Gruemberger and Moretus, are almost all shaded inside, dark, while their rough rims are illuminated, especially on their west sides. Both appear highly oval due to the shallow viewing angle. Within Mare Cognitum, the \”eyeglasses\” craters of Guericke and Parry are all illuminated within but show stong relief so close to the terminator. Also, Rupes Recta is a very thin \”papercut\” of a dark slit at Mare Nubium\’s east side. Lots to see on this waxing gibbous Moon. Can you see the east rim of tiny crater Lambert just catching sun? The much larger craters of Archimedes and Plato also in the north hemisphere are well-illuminated; each has a thin crescent of darkness on the east sides within - short shadows from their east rim falling upon their floors. Brightly illuminated scattered mountain peaks (Montes Teneriffe & Mons Pico) south of Plato resemble discarded kernals of white rice in the gray interior of Mare Imbrium. If the rugged line of the mighty Apennines Mountains, along with the crater Eratosthenes and white rough, sunlit Montes Archimedes doesn\’t resemble a big bird fossil on the lunar surface, I don\’t know what does. What do you think?