images by Fabio Carvalho
It is rare to see the first ever amateur photos of a lunar feature, but here are two. I know there are existing wide angle images of the limb that show the area of these craters, but I have never before seen closeups of them. Bravo for Fabio! Röntgen (left) is a 126 km wide crater whose center is at 91.4°W - well beyond the mean limb. It is flat-floored, has a small central peak and a bright beacon of a craterlet on its western rim. The crater in front of Röntgen is 43 km wide Aston, another rarely observed feature. Röntgen is also interesting because it sits on the rim of the farside Lorentz impact basin. How close, but forever unavailable is the farside! Brianchon (right) is an easier limb target for it is only at 86.5°W. It is a little larger (145 km wide) than Röntgen, with a similar relatively flat floor but a larger peak complex. The crater in front of Brianchon is Pascal.
Technical Details:
July 11, 2006. Newtonian 10″ f/6 at f/16 + Philips ToUcam Pro II camera; stack of 600 frames, no filter, bad seeing conditions.
Related Links:
Rükl plate VIII & 3
Yesterday's LPOD: Inside Gassendi
Tomorrow's LPOD: Unrolling the Western Limb
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