July 14, 2008

Sheet 8

image by Mikhail Abgarian, Yuri Goryachko, Konstantin Morozov, Minsk, Belarus

Kurt Fisher's wonderfully useful index of LPOD shows that there have only been five LPODs devoted to sheet 8 of Rükl's Atlas of the Moon. Three were for Rümker, so the entire rest of the map sheet has only made it to LPOD twice since 2004, or twice in more than a thousand LPODs. Part of the reason is that this northwestern corner of Oceanus Procellarum has few distinctive features other than Rümker. But on the shore west of the mare there are a number of interesting craters, most being floor-fractured with rilles and lava-filling. You might say, But these craters are at 80° W longitude, too close to the limb for good imaging! Eighty degrees is also the longitude of Orientale's Cordillera Mountains, Demonax, Mare Australe, Humboldt, Gauss and Mare Humboldtianum, all of which have made multiple appearances in LPOD. Perhaps another reason for the neglect of Sheet 8 is that whenever the terminator is well placed to see these northwestern features, it is also usually good for the much more dramatic and mountainous terrain of the southwest limb. I want to encourage observers to control their passion for the southwest and point barlowed telescopes to the Sheet 8 region to capture high resolution, glorious views of Lavoisier, Gerard Q and other little known treasures of this lost land.

Chuck Wood

Technical Details
This is another view from the excellent phase image by Yuri and colleagues. June 27, 2008. Maksutov-Cassegrain Santel D=230mm F=3000mm, Astronomik Planet IR Pro filter (IR-pass 807nm+), Unibrain Fire-i 702 CCD b/w camera, (IEEE-1394, 1388x1040, 10fps, 12bit), Processing in Registax & Maxim DL. Mosaic of 12 images. Seeing 7/10, Trans 5/5. I enhanced the image and added names to the craters.

Related Links
Rükl plate 8 and Clementine Atlas sheet 22

Yesterday's LPOD: The Youngest Large Crater On the Moon?

Tomorrow's LPOD: Greek Theater Mask

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