April 2, 2011

16° of Libration

image by Howard Eskildsen, Ocala, Florida, USA

The current lunation provided an exquisite opportunity to image the first and last quarters of the Moon at extreme opposite librations. The weather cooperated with very good seeing both evenings and they were on weekends to boot, so there was no work conflict. I could not have been more fortunate to get these two views. Each is a composite of 10 or more images and were taken with identical telescope setup. Note the total libration difference between the two images was nearly 16 degrees!

Howard Eskildsen

Technical Details
First Quarter Moon 2011/03/13, 00:54 UT, Orion ED 80, 600 mm f.l., 2X Barlow, DMK 41AU02.AS, No Filters. Libration: Latitude -00° 36’, Longitude -08° 17’.
Last Quarter Moon 2011/03/26, 10:17 UT, Orion ED 80, 600 mm f.l., 2X Barlow, DMK 41AU02.AS, No Filters. Libration: Latitude -00° 04’, Longitude +07° 37’.

Yesterday's LPOD: Stranger Than Truth

Tomorrow's LPOD: Invisible Triumph

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