An image 0f the moon at lunation 10.7 days on Friday, April 27.
Images taken around 10 pm MDT Friday, April 27, 2007 from Louisville, CO with Canon Xti camera, Celestron F6.3 focal reducer and Nexstar11 telescope. Transparency was very good with a few high thin clouds. Temperature was 68°F, no wind, and good turbulence (6/10) overall.
Lunar crater Copernicus is one of the most prominent craters on the moon. It is 93 kilometers (57.8 miles) wide. It has distinctive terraced walls and three central peaks which rise over a kilometer above the crater floor.
Across the upper left of the image (north) are the Carpathian mountains which at the southern end of Mare Imbrium. Crater Gay-Lussac appears as a horseshoe shaped crater in the north. Crater Hortensius is to the left of Copernicus. Crater Fouth is part of the double crater shape below Copernicus.
Video images taken 9:35 pm MDT Friday, April 27, 2007 from Louisville, CO with Phillips 840K webcam and Celestron Nexstar11 telescope at Cassegrain focus. Transparency was very good with a few high thin clouds. Temperature was 68°F, no wind, and good turbulence (6/10) overall. Occasionally the turbulence was exceptional (8/10) but only for few moments.
There is a possibility for us in Colorado this month to break some thin crescent observing records that Peter mentioned in his blog last January. Inspired by that prospect (or maybe temporary insanity), I got up about 4:30 am this morning, packed up the notebook, binoculars, and camera and headed off to a parking area east of Louisville’s Monarch High School to see if I could spot the waning crescent. I started scanning the horizon at 5:40 with 10×50 binoculars but wasn’t able to see it until 6:03 am, only 20 minutes before sunrise. Only a thin patch was visible, maybe 10 arc minutes long. At first I thought it was just a small jet contrail as contrast between it and the background was better than expected. Also the azimuth was to the south (right) of sunrise point. I had figured earlier it would be to the north (left). A quick check with sky chart software confirmed that the position was correct and I’d been searching mostly in the wrong direction earlier.
I changed my position so that the limb of a distant tree was just below the crescent to see if I could see it without the binoculars. I was able to see a small light point that matched with the binocular position. I switched between binoculars view and no binoculars several times to check. I was only able to spot the faint patch only twice out of 5 or so tries though, so it was at the muddy edge of visibility.
I also shot a number of images of the horizon with a Canon Xti but used too wide an angle. I suspect high magnification is needed to increase contrast between the bright twilight and the scarcely brighter thin crescent. Sky was mostly clear, no wind, temperature was 47° F, transparency excellent, turbulence fair or better.
Unfortunately, weather is turning rainy for a few days here, so the prospects for seeing the new crescent Tuesday evening and breaking the crescent moon bracket interval aren’t looking good.
Update April 17
The skies cleared late in the afternoon, so I packed up the cameras, scopes, and other equipment and set up at a trail head on Davidson Mesa just off nearby McCaslin Blvd. Unfortunately there was a band of clouds over the mountains to the west which was in exactly the wrong place. It was clear to the south, north, and overhead. Maybe next year..
Moon from Sunday evening, lunation 7.01 days. A very pleasant evening with mostly clear skies, thin haze, moderate temperatures (56 °F), and only fair (5/10) turbulence.
Images acquired with Celestron Nexstar11 telescope, F6.3 focal reducer, and Canon Xti camera. Stacked 10/50 with Registax4. Lunar features were moving around a lot while registering and optimizing, I was fortunate to get anything usable.
The crescent moon was a pretty sight last night, lunation 2 days. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to taken the image at 8:34 pm mdt last evening it was quite low and mostly covered by thin clouds in the area.
Equipment used, Celestron Nexstar11, F6.3 focal reducer, and Canon Xti camera. Temperature 68°F, no wind, turbulence 5/10, mostly cloudy.