Moon May 24, 26th & 28th

Taken over 6 nights 24th, 26th & 28th May. What a difference a few days make.

All taken with the 130 EDT and using the 2600mm. Not a planetary cam especially at 6 frames per second. A 2 panel mosaic for each image and an AVI run of 5minutes, Best 65% using Auto stakkert and Registax 6.

 

 

A bit more moon

 A couple of days later and a few more pics of La Luna. I found a new piece of processing software called Astrosurface. There are a few YouTube videos and was quite easy to pick up and produce some really nice details. 

Another month goes by

So another month goes by and just one night for me of clear sky for some imaging, the current project is M96 and associated galaxies in the field of view, more on that to follow. But for now a full moon passes and a new moon offers fleeting new views. I say new views as a new neighbour a few doors down the road has cut down a a large number of trees from his back garden offering me a long missed sight of setting the new moon and Venus. Whilst dodging clouds I managed a few video captures and after a run through Autostakkert and Registax for Wavelet processing.  

This image is a composite of 2 images both the best 100 frames from a 500 frame AVI at the 1080 resolution from the ASIair Pro video capture.

Reducing the resolution does increase the frame rate but on a camera that is a full res 6 frames a second I am not expecting amazing results from a 2 minute capture. But here we go a couple of images of some lovely craters. 

Patavius is the large crater here at a 177 km in diameter and a depth of 3.4km. The multiple central peaks extend nearly 2km high.

I also had a few minutes to capture a quick video of Venus flickering like a jewel as it dropped into the trees. Stellarium shows a just under 80% disc illumination. My image shows the same. Not bad for about 100 frames stacked.

Well If it is there I might as well take a picture of it.

 Well it is here again above us for another week or so rising right between all these faint galaxies that need imaging. So I might as well take a few pics of it. 

My ZWO ASI 2600mm is not a planetary camera it records an not very impressive 6 frames per second however a couple of minutes of capture and a quick Autostakkert later. The ASIair software allows captures at various resolutions from 1920 all the way down to 240. I have attempted a couple of captures at this setting but the images are so pixelated it is not worth displaying. Working at a longer focal length now I need to capture a 2 pane mosaic to capture the full lunation.

Mare Serenitatis or the “Sea of Serenity” is a lunar Mare. A Mare is a large Basalt plain formed by ancient asteroid impacts on the far side of the moon that have triggered volcanic eruptions on the opposite near side some 3 billion years ago. The word Maria is latin for sea as to early astronomers these dark areas look like seas.

Ancient asteroid impacts on the far side of the moon nearly 4 billion years sent shockwaves through the moon causing volcanic eruptions on the opposite side or the nearside leaving huge Basalt lava basins. Known today as Mare these darker plains looked just like seas to the ancient astronomers and so they now bear their Latin name of Mare. Mare Serenitatis or the “Sea of Serenity” has not changed for billions of years. It has a diameter of 674km and has plenty of features. First we have the crater Posidonius a 95km impact crater located at the north east in this view. The rim of the crater is very shallow a clear indication of its age as it was filled by lava flows giving it almost an appearance of being slowly washed away. Just south of the centre we have a much smaller 16km impact crater called Bessell, circular in shape is an indicator of an impact from directly above as opposed to at an oblique angle creating ejecta in the surround area. The mountain range running north to south at the left edge is part of the Appenine range running nearly 600 km in length. Finally we have the locations of the landing sites of Apollo 15 & 17.

The top most crater of three central craters in the picture below. is Theophilus together with Cyrillus and Catharina they form a prominent group of craters. Theophilus rim rises about 4200m above its floor. It was created in the Eratosthenian period, so it is pretty old. Its central mountain is 1400m high and has four summits. Both Cyrillus and Catharina are much older craters – it can be easily seen how these craters overlap each other.

Shiney bright thing

 My scope is only 550mm focal length so not designed for lunar imaging. Also my camera is not a planetary camera imaging at just 6 frames a second. So no chance really of capturing good seeing. So the next 3 images are captured with the ASIAir pro. AVI processed in the software and the final jpegs are not huge in size. 

3rd June Moon

Feeling a little frustrated with Pixinsight with calibration frames, so I spent an hour or so watching the setting moon on Friday night. Decided to roll back the dome and capture a few frames. A few frames is all the 2600mm pro is capable of per second so I captured an AVI for 3 minutes. Pre processed in PIPP and then rub through Registax. Not the sharpest but I like it.

Moon 17th March 2022

 A Worm Moon is 97% illuminated.

Moon 12th March 2022

Not my most favourite object in the night sky, Captured on Saturday night approx 21.03.

AVI capture at just 4 frames per second, hardy a high frame rate but best 90% of 300 frames for each

 

The Moon

 Our nearest neighbour at 383,000 km from earth as of 23.30 ish on the 23rd August. Most will be unaware that during a lunar month the moon does not have a perfect circular orbit around the earth, and its distance to earth varies over the month by just over 50,000 km. Currently the moon is getting closer by a 1 km per second.

Moon

 A while ago I imaged the moon with the DSLR and here are a few results. Not the highest of resolution or greatest of contrast and sharpness, but none the less images with my own fair hand and processed in a way I enjoy.

Moon 26th March

 Gutted. I missed an ISS pass, I didn't think to check for one but saw it a second before I clicked record.

Pleased with the final image. I think best 500 frames from about 1500.

The Moon 28th December

 

The best 3000 from 5000 frames captured a few nights after Christmas. Using the new updated live video mode in the ASIair pro. A 4 minute AVI was pre processed using PIPP PIPP Planetary Imaging PreProcessor (google.com) allowing the ever trusted Registax 6 to process into a usable image. Processed in Photoshop and sharpened in Topaz Labz. 

perigee-syzygy

I am trying to refain from using the term "Supermoon", as it seems to inspire some strange questions from those whom think my interest in Selenology is being a member of the Celine Dion fan club.
No it won't start earthquakes.
No it wont cause a Tsunami.
No the world will not end..............

Therefore you can see my reluctance in using the phrase. The term "Supermoon" was first coined by an astrologer Richard Nolle way back in 1979 He claimed that this proximity of the Moon and the Earth has the tendency to trigger a series of natural disasters on the planet. In order to support his claim, he put forth a list of natural disasters in the past which he alleges happened as a result of this phenomenon. I say "WHAT A LOAD OF TOSH" So as you can see it is what you would expect from an astrologer. (pretend science) sniggering as I type.

Science fact.

Everybody knows that the Moon orbits around the Earth, but only a few people are aware of the fact that its orbit is not round, but is elliptical in shape. As a result of this shape, the distance between the Earth and moon varies from time to time. When the Moon is at its farthest point from the Earth, it is referred to as 'lunar apogee', and when it is at its closest it is referred to as 'lunar perigee'. In other words, the distance between the Earth and the Moon fluctuates between 221,000 to 252,000 miles - and lunar perigee occurs when this distance is somewhere around 221,000 miles.

My Image was taken last night between 21.39 & 21.42 at a mean distance of 222,483 miles.

Using my William Optics GT81 and my trusty Canon 40D I captured segments of the moon in series of AVI files. Processed in Registax 6 with a wavelet sharpening. Stitched together in Photoshop with a small contrast enhancement.

The opinions expressed about Astrology in this post are entirely my own.

A bay of rainbows

Without a doubt my favourite area on the lunar surface. Every capture of the bay of rainbows I try to tease out a little more detail. Not the most favourable of seeing as I ran 3000 frames. Processed in registax with my favoured wavelets setting. I think this is the most detail I have managed. My William Optics GT81mm 5 element Apo was the scope of choice with a 2 x barlow and the ZWO ASI120MC camera. Capturing around 40 frames per second for a huge 10.3 Giga bite AVI.

More Mosaic fun

Taken 8th March with my home set up using the FLT-110 and the ASI 120MC.
This was the first test and I had set the gain to 0. It has made the capture lack detail and contrast and also underexposed. So a little experimentation will be required to increase the level of details captured during exposure.

This is a 2 pane mosaic of the Norhtern Appennine mountains.
Not my best effort but a capture of a very nice area.

Lunar 100

Objects in the Lunar 100 are arranged from the easiest to view to the most difficult. This is more systematic than the haphazard approach that produced the Messier list. Indeed, just by knowing a feature's Lunar 100 number, you have some idea of how easy or challenging it will be to see. For example, the Moon itself is L1, while L2 is earthshine and L3 is the light/dark dichotomy between lunar highlands and maria ("seas"). I'd be surprised if anyone reading this couldn't tick those off the list right now. Higher-numbered objects are smaller, less conspicuous, or positioned closer to the limb, making them more challenging to locate and view. I was going to wait until the list was more complete before posting. My aim of course is to complete the list and image all 100. I could cheat by just posting a pic of the full moon and complete 99%. But where is the fun in that.. .  I hope you enjoy my list L Image List Feature Name Significance Lat. Long. Diam.(km) Rükl Chart (°) (°) 1    Moon Large satellite — — 3,476 — 2 Earthshine Twice reflected sunlight — — — — 3 Mare/highland dichotomy Two materials with distinct compositions — — — — 4 Apennines Imbrium basin rim 18.9N 3.7W 70 22 5   Copernicus Archetypal large complex crater 9.7N 20.1W 93 31 6 Tycho Large rayed crater with impact melts 43.4S 11.1W 85 64 7 Altai Scarp Nectaris basin rim 24.3S 22.6E 425 57 8 Theophilus, Cyrillus, Catharina Crater sequence illustrating stages of degradation 13.2S 24.0E — 46, 57 9 Clavius Lacks basin features in spite of its size 58.8S 14.1W 225 72 10 Mare Crisium Mare contained in large circular basin 18.0N 59.0E 540 26, 27, 37, 38 11 Aristarchus Very bright crater with dark bands on its walls 23.7N 47.4W 40 18 12 Proclus Oblique-impact rays 16.1N 46.8E 28 26 13 Gassendi Floor-fractured crater 17.6S 40.1W 101 52 14 Sinus Iridum Very large crater with missing rim 45.0N 32.0W 260 10 15 Straight Wall Best example of a lunar fault 21.8S 7.8W 110 54 16 Petavius Crater with domed & fractured floor 25.1S 60.4E 177 59 17    Schröter's Valley Giant sinuous rille 26.2N 50.8W 168 18 18 Mare Serenitatis dark edges Distinct mare areas with different compositions 17.8N 23.0E N/A 24 19 Alpine Valley Lunar graben 49.0N 3.0E 165 4 20 Posidonius Floor-fractured crater 31.8N 29.9E 95 14
21 Fracastorius Crater with subsided & fractured floor 21.5S 33.2E 124 58 22 Aristarchus Plateau Mysterious uplifted region mantled with pyroclastics 26.0N 51.0W 150 18 23 Pico Isolated Imbrium basin-ring fragment 45.7N 8.9W 25 11 24 Hyginus Rille Rille containing rimless collapse pits 7.4N 7.8E 220 34 25 Messier & Messier A Oblique ricochet-impact pair 1.9S 47.6E 11 48 26 Mare Frigoris Arcuate mare of uncertain origin 56.0N 1.4E 1600 2–6 27 Archimedes Large crater lacking central peak 29.7N 4.0W 83 12, 22 28 Hipparchus First drawing of a single crater 5.5S 4.8E 150 44, 45 29 Aridaeus Rille Long, linear graben 6.4N 14.0E 250 34 30 Schiller Possible oblique impact 51.9S 39.0W 180 71 31 Taruntius Young floor-fractured crater 5.6N 46.5E 56 37 32 Arago Alpha & Beta Volcanic domes 6.2N 21.4E 26 35 33 Serpentine Ridge Basin inner-ring segment 27.3N 25.3E 155 24 34 Lacus Mortis Strange crater with rille & ridge 45.0N 27.2E 152 14 35 Triesnecker Rilles Rille family 4.3N 4.6E 215 33 36 Grimaldi basin A small two-ring basin 5.5S 68.3W 440 39 37 Bailly Barely discernible basin 66.5S 69.1W 303 71 38 Sabine & Ritter Possible twin impacts 1.7N 19.7E 30 35 39 Schickard Crater floor with Orientale basin ejecta stripe 44.3S 55.3W 227 62 40 Janssen Rille Rare example of a highland rille 45.4S 39.3E 190 67, 68
41 Bessel ray Ray of uncertain origin near Bessel 21.8N 17.9E N/A 24 42 Marius Hills Complex of volcanic domes & hills 12.5N 54.0W 125 28, 29 43 Wargentin A crater filled to the rim with lava or ejecta 49.6S 60.2W 84 70 44 Mersenius Domed floor cut by secondary craters 21.5S 49.2W 84 51 45 Maurolycus Region of saturation cratering 42.0S 14.0E 114 66 46 Regiomontanus central peak Possible volcanic peak 28.0S 0.6W 124 55 47 Alphonsus dark spots Dark-halo eruptions on crater floor 13.7S 3.2W 119 44 48 Cauchy region Fault, rilles, & domes 10.5N 38.0E 130 36 49 Gruithuisen Delta & Gamma Volcanic domes formed with viscous lavas 36.3N 40.0W 20 9 50 Cayley Plains Light, smooth plains of uncertain origin 4.0N 15.1E 14 34 51 Davy crater chain Result of comet-fragment impacts 11.1S 6.6W 50 43 52 Crüger Possible volcanic caldera 16.7S 66.8W 45 50 53 Lamont Possible buried basin 4.4N 23.7E 106 35 54 Hippalus Rilles Rilles concentric to Humorum basin 24.5S 29.0W 240 52, 53 55 Baco Unusually smooth crater floor & surrounding plains 51.0S 19.1E 69 74 56 Australe basin A partially flooded ancient basin 49.8S 84.5E 880 76 57 Reiner Gamma Conspicuous swirl & magnetic anomaly 7.7N 59.2W 70 28 58 Rheita Valley Basin secondary-crater chain 42.5S 51.5E 445 68 59 Schiller-Zucchius basin Badly degraded overlooked basin 56.0S 45.0W 335 70, 71 60 Kies Pi Volcanic dome 26.9S 24.2W 45 53 61 Mösting A Simple crater close to center of lunar near side 3.2S 5.2W 13 43 62 Rümker Large volcanic dome 40.8N 58.1W 70 8 63 Imbrium sculpture Basin ejecta near & overlying Boscovich & Julius Caesar 11.0N 12.0E — 34 64 Descartes Apollo 16 landing site; putative region of highland volcanism 11.7S 15.7E 48 45 65 Hortensius domes Dome field north of Hortensius 7.6N 27.9W 10 30 66 Hadley Rille Lava channel near Apollo 15 landing site 25.0N 3.0E — 22 67 Fra Mauro formation Apollo 14 landing site on Imbrium ejecta 3.6S 17.5W — 42 68 Flamsteed P Proposed young volcanic crater & Surveyor 1 landing site 3.0S 44.0W 112 40 69 Copernicus secondary craters Rays & craterlets near Pytheas 19.6N 19.1W 4 20 70 Humboldtianum basin Multi-ring impact basin 57.0N 80.0E 650 7 71 Sulpicius Gallus dark mantle Ash eruptions northwest of crater 19.6N 11.6E 12 23 72 Atlas dark-halo craters Explosive volcanic pits on the floor of Atlas 46.7N 44.4E 87 15 73 Smythii basin Difficult-to-observe basin scarp & mare 2.0S 87.0E 740 38, 49 74 Copernicus H Dark-halo impact crater 6.9N 18.3W 5 31 75 Ptolemaeus B Saucerlike depression on the floor of Ptolemaeus 8.0S 0.8W 16 44 76 W. Bond Large crater degraded by Imbrium ejecta 65.3N 3.7E 158 4 77 Sirsalis Rille Procellarum basin radial rilles 15.7S 61.7W 425 39, 50 78 Lambert R A buried "ghost" crater 23.8N 20.6W 54 20 79 Sinus Aestuum Eastern dark-mantle volcanic deposit 12.0N 3.5W 90 33 80 Orientale basin Youngest large impact basin 19.0S 95.0W 930 50
81 Hesiodus A Concentric crater 30.1S 17.0W 15 54 82 Linné Small crater once thought to have disappeared 27.7N 11.8E 2.4 23 83 Plato craterlets Crater pits at limits of detection 51.6N 9.4W 101 3, 4 84 Pitatus Crater with concentric rilles 29.8S 13.5W 97 54 85 Langrenus rays Aged ray system 8.9S 60.9E 132 49 86 Prinz Rilles Rille system near the crater Prinz 27.0N 43.0W 46 19 87 Humboldt Crater with central peaks & dark spots 27.0S 80.9E 207 60 88 Peary Difficult-to-observe polar crater 88.6N 33.0E 74 4, II 89 Valentine Dome Volcanic dome 30.5N 10.1E 30 13 90 Armstrong, Aldrin & Collins Small craters near the Apollo 11 landing site 1.3N 23.7E 3 35 91 De Gasparis Rilles Area with many rilles 25.9S 50.7W 30 51 92 Gylden Valley Part of the Imbrium radial sculpture 5.1S 0.7E 47 44 93 Dionysius rays Unusual & rare dark rays 2.8N 17.3E 18 35 94 Drygalski Large south-pole region crater 79.3S 84.9W 162 72, VI 95 Procellarum basin The Moon's biggest basin? 23.0N 15.0W 3200 — 96 Leibnitz Mountains Rim of South Pole-Aitken basin 85.0S 30.0E — 73, V 97 Inghirami Valley Orientale basin ejecta 44.0S 73.0W 140 61 98 Imbrium lava flows Mare lava-flow boundaries 32.8N 22.0W — 10 99 Ina D-shaped young volcanic caldera 18.6N 5.3E 3 22 100 Mare Marginis swirls Possible magnetic field deposits 18.5N 88.0E — 27, III
Also included here is the handy observing / Imaging guide for day by day. Day 2 2 Earthshine 10 Mare Crisium 16 Petavius 56 Mare Australe 70 Humboltianum Basin (Mare Humboltianum) 73 Mare Smythii 85 Langrenus rays 87 Humboldt 100 Mare Marginis swirls Day 3 58 Rheita Valley (Vallis Rheita) Day 4 12 Proclus 25 Messier & Messier A 31 Taruntius 40 Janssen Rille (Rima Janssen) 48 Cauchy region 72 Atlas dark halo craters Day 5 7 Altai Scarp (Rupes Altai) 8 Theophilus, Cyrillus, Catherina 18 Mare Serenitatus dark edges 20 Posidonius 21 Fracastorius 26 Mare Frigoris 32 Arago Alpha & Beta 33 Serpentine Ridge (Dorsa Smirnov) 34 Lacus Mortis 38 Ritter & Sabine 53 Lamont 55 Baco 90 Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins Day 6 24 Hyginus Rille (Rima Hyginus) 28 Hipparchus 29 Ariadaeus Rille (Rima Ariadaeus) 35 Triesnecker Rille (Rimae Triesnecker) 41 Bessel ray 45 Maurolycus 50 Cayley Plains 63 Imbrium sculpture 64 Descarte 71 Sulpicus Gallus 82 Linne 89 Valentine dome 93 Dionysius rays Day 7 4 Apennines (Montes Apenninus) 19 Alpine Valley (Vallis Alpes) 27 Archimedes 46 Regiomontanus central peak 66 Hadley Rille (Rima Hadley) 75 Ptolemaeus B 76 W. Bond 88 Peary 92 Gylden Valley Day 8 15 Straight Wall (Rupes Recta) 47 Alphonsus 51 Davy crater chain 61 Mosting A 79 Sinus Aestuum 83 Plato craterlets 96 Leibnitz Mountains 99 Ina caldera Day 9 5 Copernicus 6 Tycho 9 Clavius 14 Sinus Iridum 60 Kies Pi 65 Hortensius dome 67 Fra Mauro formation 69 Copernicus secondary craters 74 Copernicus H 78 Lambert R 81 Hesiodus A 84 Pitatus 94 Drygalski Day 10 13 Gassendi 30 Schiller 49 Griuthuisen Delta & Gamma 54 Hippalus Rilles (Rimae Hippalus) 59 Schiller-Zucchius basin 68 Flamsteed P 98 Imbrium lava flows Day 11 11 Aristarchus 17 Schroter’s Valley 22 Aristarchus Plateau 39 Schickard 42 Marius Hills 44 Mersenius 57 Reiner Gamma 86 Prinz Rilles (Rimae Prinz) 91 De Gasparis Rilles (Rimae De Gasparis) Day 12 37 Bailly 43 Wargentin 62 Rumker Hills (Mons Rumker) 77 Sirsalis Rille (Rima Sirsalis) Day 13 36 Grimaldi basin 52 Cruger 80 Orientale Basin (Mare Orientale) 97 Inghirami Valley (Vallis Inghirami) Day 14 1 Moon 3 Mare/highland dichotomy 95 Procellarum Basin Days 15-16-17 10 Mare Crisium 12 Proclus 16 Petavius 25 Messier & Messier A 31 Taruntius 40 Janssen Rille (Rima Janssen) 56 Mare Australe 58 Rheita Valley (Vallis Rheita) 70 Humboldtianum basin 72 Atlas dark-halo crater 73 Smythii basin (Mare Smythii) 85 Langrenus rays 87 Humbolt 100 Mare Marginis swirls Days 18-19-20 7 Altai Scarp (Rupes Altai) 8 Theophilus, Cyrillus, & Catharina 18 Mare Serenitatus dark edges 20 Posidonius 21 Fracastorius 29 Ariadeus Rille (Rima Ariadeus) 32 Arago Alpha & Beta 33 Serpentine Ridge (Dorsa Smirnov) 34 Lacus Mortis 38 Sabine & Ritter 41 Bessel ray 45 Maurolycus 48 Cauchy region 50 Cayley plains 53 Lamont 55 Baco 63 Imbrium sculpture 64 Descarte 71 Sulpicius Gallus dark mantle 82 Linne 89 Valentine dome 90 Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins 93 Dionysius rays Days 21-22 4 Apennines (Montes Apenninus) 5 Copernicus 6 Tycho 9 Clavius 15 Straight Wall (Rupes Recta) 19 Alpine Valley (Vallis Alpes) 23 Pico 24 Hyginus Rille (Rima Hyginus) 26 Mare Frigoris 27 Archimedes 28 Hipparchus 35 Triesnecker Rilles (Rimae Triesnecker) 46 Regiomontanus central peak 47 Alphonsus dark spots 51 Davy crater chain 61 Mosting A 66 Hadley Rille (Rima Hadley) 67 Fra Mauro formation 69 Copernicus secondary crater 74 Copernicus H 75 Ptolemaeus B 76 W. Bond 78 Lambert R 79 Sinus Aestuum 81 Hesiodus A 83 Plato craterlets 84 Pitatus 88 Peary 92 Gylden Valley 94 Drygalski 96 Leibnitz Mountains 99 Ina Caldera Days 23-24-25 13 Gassendi 14 Sinus Iridum 30 Schiller 49 Gruithuisen Delta & Gamma 54 Hippalus Rille (Rima Hippalus) 59 Schiller-Zucchias basin 60 Kies Pi 65 Hortensius domes 68 Flammsteed P 98 Imbrium lava flows Days 26-27-28 11 Aristarchus 17 Schroter’s Valley 22 Aristarchus Plateau 36 Grimaldi 37 Bailly 39 Schickard 42 Marius Hills 43 Wargentin 44 Mersenius 52 Cruger 57 Reiner Gamma 62 Rumker Hills (Mons Rumker) 77 Sirsalis Rille (Rima Sirsalis) 80 Orientale basin 86 Prinz Rilles (Rimae Prinz) 91 De Gasparis Rilles (Rimae De Gasparis) 97 Inghirami Valley (Vallis Inghirami)