Late September saw lovely clear skies each morning, perfect for some high resolution lunar observing. What a way to start the day! It’s amazing to watch sunset over a distant world before breakfast.

Once again I am so chuffed to have the garden observatory. Observing sessions can be enjoyed without the faff of setting up and packing away.

All taken with the C11, x2 barlow, ASI224MC and a 685nm IR filter. 10k frames at around ~50% histogram capture with firecapture, stacked the best 500 in AS3 and then wavelets sharpening in registax.

Not bad for a second hand telescope and sleepy operator!

20 September 2019

  • Rima Ariadaeus is a 300km long fault system in the lunar crust caused by the shifting lava flows settling apart.
  • Rima Hyginus imaged but then noticed corrector plate fogged up.
  • Packed up and then spent evening setting up my dew heaters and dehumidifier that had been packed away after summer’s spring-clean.

21 September 2019

  • Archimedes crater (dia 81km) has been flooded by lava (hence a flat floor). It lies to the north of the Montes Archimedes – a plateau of mountains that was not flooded by Mare Imbrium. Mosaic of 2 images.
  • Catena Davy – a trail of small craters (largest only 3km in diameter) likely left by a trail of cometary debris.
  • The crater Clavius (230km dia) is the second largest on the moon although I can’t quite see Clavius base. Looking at NASA’s QuickMap Pro the small craterlets are around 1.5km/1mile in dia. Note that the crater floor is filled with ejecta from Mare Imbrium basin hence the central peak is only subtly visible, poking out from the rubble-filled floor.

23 September 2019

  • Sinus Iridum a mosaic of 4 frames– always a stunning view. I love the partially flooded crater Sinus Iridum (dia 249km) that now looks like a coastal bay. It landed on the Mare Imbrium impact basin that, when it flooded with lava, covered the southern ramparts. Underneath that flat surface of lunar crust, then, is a crater wall around a kilometre tall! You can even see the frozen waves as the lava solidified.
  • Aristarchus and Schroter’s valley
  • Gruithuisen domes
  • Pythagoras crater

Interplanetary exploration from the garden over, it was then back in for breakfast and off to work.