Vern’s Weblog

Mare Insularum (Lunar II target 32) is located between lunar crater Kepler on the west and Copernicus on the east. It  is bordered on the north by the Carpatus mountains  and maybe around crater Lansberg in the south (not shown here).  In the image below Copernicus is the huge crater on the right (east); Crater Kepler is just out of view on the left;  Crater Reinhold is near bottom center.  It appears to be a relatively flat region. Rays from both Copernicus and Kepler extend across the mare.

Image acquired early Sept. 4, at 5am., Louisville, CO. Celestron Nexstar 11 Telescope and Phillips Toucam 840K webcam. One minute video at 20 fps aligned and stacked with Registax4. Enhanced, cropped, and labeled with Photoshop Elements2. Sky was clear, temperature 59°F, 0-1mph wind, transparency excellent, turbulence between 5 and 6/10.

The Moon at lunation 22.54 days.  Not being a ‘morning’ person, I tend to not image the Moon much after its full phase.  I should though, the air tends to be steadier here around 3-4 am and its usually clear as well.  Its been cloudy in the evening here a lot lately as well — hence the motivation to get out of bed at 3am and take an image or two.

Image taken from Louisville, CO at 05:55 am MDT with Celestron Nexstar 11 telescope, F6.3 focal reducer, and Canon Xti camera. Camera settings were ISO 400, 1/640 sec exposure. Aligned and stacked 32/40 frames with Registax4 (wavelet layer 1 at 8, layer 2 at 6).  The sky was clear, temperature was 59°F, 0-1 mph wind, transparency was excellent, and turbulence varied from 5 to 6.

Here is another image of yesterdays eclipse about 5 minutes earlier than the previous one. Same equipment, Nexstar11, F6.3, and Canon Xti camera. This time exposure is 2 seconds at ISO 800.  Screen saver size (1280×1024) available. If anyone wants any other size, let me know. I think I like the 1 sec exposure version better, closer to what the eclipse looked like.

Last night the lunar crater Copernicus was a fascinating sight.  It is one of the most prominent craters visible from Earth and can be seen in any size telescope or binoculars. It is located just (20°) west (left) of the Moon’s center in Mare Insularum.  Crater Copernicus is 93 kilometers (57.8 miles) wide and 3760 meters deep (12,336 feet).  In the below image, the Carpathian mountains extend across the top upper left to near top center.  Crater Eratosthes is in  the upper right of the image.

Image taken with Celestron Nexstar 11 telescope and Phillips Toucam 840k webcam at cassegrain focus. The sky was partly cloudy, turbulence was 5/10, 3 mph wind, 75°F, and transparency was good.  Location was Louisville, CO.  Approx 2300 frames aligned and stacked with Registax4.

Lunar craters Messier and Messier A, (located near the center of the image of Mare Fecunditatis below) show unique parallel rays streaming to the west (left).  These rays were probably formed by collisions with different objects impacting at very shallow angles of 1 to 5 ° .

Image taken on Aug 1, 2007 at 00:20 MDT with Celestron Nexstar 11 telescope and Philips Toucam 840K webcam at cassegrain focus. Sky was clear but hazy, turbulence 5/10, no wind, termperature 74°F, location Louisville, CO.