May 15, 2020

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A Week Earlier

Originally published December 2, 2010 LPOD-Dec2-10.jpg
image by Howard Eskildsen, Ocala, Florida

Yesterday's LPOD celebrated a classic quarter Moon view, and today, Howard's image shows the same real estate a week earlier. But often few observers point their telescopes Moonward when the lighting is like this. That is hard to understand when looking at this high contrast image, but the Moon in the eyepiece is much brighter and less contrasty. Howard's Photoshop wizardry accounts for this dramatic image, but visual observers can see something similar by using high magnification (to spread the light over a larger area) or polarizing or neutral density filters (to cut the light). And there are many treats to see, all related to albedo effects. For example, the two or three dark halo craters around Copernicus, the rays around Kepler, the really bright interior of Aristarchus (Herschel's erupting volcano), the zebra-striped floor of Schickard, the otherwise very hard to see Herigonius Rilles, the stain of Reiner Gamma, the bent ray near Seleucus, the slivers of mare inside the rings of Orientale and many other remarkable features. Where's my scope?

Chuck Wood

Technical Details
Nov 25, 2010, 10:37-11:27 UT. 6" f/8 refractor + 2X barlow + DMK 41AU02.AS + W-15 yellow filter.


Yesterday's LPOD: A Perfect View

Tomorrow's LPOD: Accidental Detective


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