Pronto & The Moon

Equipment Used

TV Pronto
Gibraltar Mount
24mm konig, Ultima barlow, 6mm Radisn
Nigh****ch, Audbon book to the night sky, SA2K

Introduction

One of the niceties of lunar observing is the fact that the moon is
easy to locate. Stepping outside at around 8:30, an orange 1st quarter
moon hung low in the south eastern skies. Glancing around I noted a
cloudy haze hiding all but the stars in the Summer Triangle. I guess
this cloudy haze is what creates the Halloween orange glow of the moon.

Pulling out my Nigh****ch book I reread the chapter on the moon by
flashlight. Nigh****ch has 2 maps of the moon with labels for the most
interesting or prominent features. Certain of these features receive
comments and descriptions in the accompanying text.

The only direction Nigh****ch gives for how to lunar observe is that
the most interesting features are found along the crescent line of the
shadow termed the "terminator". Other then this comment, I'm at a loss
for how to observe the moon.

Sooo.. fine SAA crowd, how exactly do I go about observing the moon?
This may seem like a funny question, but all my observing to this point
in in finding the object and then attempting to tease out some detail.

Given my uncertainty on how to proceed, I picked the most prominent
object on the terminator and wrote down my observations.

Copernicus

Copernicus is described as the most awesome lunar feature to observe by
my Nigh****ch book. I found it easy to find as it's near the center of
the moon. Copernicus is a large, circular crater with rippled or
layered walls. Surrounding the crater are mottled mounds that I assume
is the debris from the original impact. In the center of the crater
are 2 triangular shaped points. Perhaps mountains?

A crescent shaped shadow reached from the left edge of the crater and
almost touched the first triangular point in the center of Copernicus.
Nigh****ch comments that rays project outwards from the point of impact
and are most visible during the full moon. As I examined the area with
m 6mm Radian (80x), I could distinctly see the rays. They appear as
outward splashes of white against the gray color of the surface of the
moon. If I hadn't read the Nigh****ch comments I would not have
noticed the rays.

As a side note, I barlowed my 6mm Radian for 160x. While the imager
was darker, I didn't lose any details in the view. I guess this will
be a nice combination for the Mars Opposition.

peace,
Cherokee