Cherokee #8 Pronto and The Moon

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

Cherokee wrote:

Sooo.. fine SAA crowd, how exactly do I go about observing the moon?
This may seem like a funny question ...

No, it's an excellent question, not strange at all.

And the answer, like everything else, is to get some books and
some detailed charts. The Moon is such a vast subject that it
can't really be covered well in any general text. It's hard to
quantify this, but I estimate that at some level, there's as
much visible detail on the Moon as in the entire rest of the
sky combined.

In the center of the crater
are 2 triangular shaped points. Perhaps mountains?

Yes. All craters above a certain size have central mountains, formed
when the crater rebounds after the initial impact.

Nigh****ch comments that rays ...
are most visible during the full moon...
If I hadn't read the Nigh****ch comments I would not have
noticed the rays.

That's cause it's not full Moon yet! In another few nights, rays
will be the first things you notice when you look at the Moon.

- Tony Flanders