image by Mario Weigand
I have seen tens of thousands of lunar images and this is one of the rarest. It is a 27 day old Moon with sharp detail. Observing and imaging the old Moon (phase-wise) seems to be much more difficult that the 2 day old Moon; maybe it just that observers don’t rise early enough to get the slim crescent low in the east. But Mario’s image shows a familiar area with opposite lighting to what most of us observe. The libration was not favorable when this image was obtained, so that Oceanus Procellarum extends all the way to the northwest limb. Near the equator Hevelius and Cavalerius lead to mare-floored Grimaldi, whose multiring structure is clear. South of Grimaldi the unfamilar lighting emphasizes the ancient, overlapped crater Grimaldi W, which itself is overlapped by an unlettered larger ruin that contains the barely recognizable Crüger. The crater immediately east of Darwin seems to have a dome on its floor. Jumping all the way to the southern end of the Image is Bailly where the Sun is just setting. You must see the full resolution view of this image!
Technical Details:
1 Sept 2005. Celestron C11 + Atik ATK-2HS camera + Baader IR passband filter + Baader FFC. I discovered this image on the LPOD Gallery Phases page!
Related Links:
Rükl charts 8, 17, 28, 39, 50, 61, 70 & 71
Mario’s website
Yesterday's LPOD: How Can You Be Tranquil When So Much is Happening?
Tomorrow's LPOD: Cherubs in the Corners
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