image by Wes Higgins
In the US, today is Thanksgiving, a holiday originally celebrating the harvest success of the Pilgrims. Thanksgiving has become generalized as a time to give thanks for things that make our lives better. I want to thank today the amateur lunar community, particularly the lunar imagers, who spend significant amounts of their own funds and invest huge amounts of their time to document the Moon more exquisitely than ever before. Just this month LPOD has featured great images by Wes, Stefan, Paolo, Bruno, Martin, Bob, George, Con, Alan, Colin, Rainier and Oscar – a nice mix of lunar masters and newcomers. These imagers would all thank Cor Berrevoets (Registax) and Christian Buil (IRIS) for catapulting image quality beyond expectations. And the Virtual Moon Atlas of Christian Legrand and Patrick Chevalley is an invaluable resource, as is my constant companion, Antonin Rükl’s Atlas of the Moon. The new journal Selenology Today is providing a venue for serious publication of amateur studies, and the Yahoo Lunar Observing group serves up a daily dialog of all things lunar. Thinking of Thanksgiving started this rumination, but every day feels like Christmas with all of these precious gifts!
Technical Details:
September 14, 2006, 18″ Starmater Reflector + Infinity 2-1m camera + Map processing
This image is a magnificent gift for you to enjoy and interpret on your own.
Related Links:
Rükl plates 54 & 64
Wes’ website
Yesterday's LPOD: Making Rilles Visible
Tomorrow's LPOD: A Little Basin
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