20070525 Lunar Observation

After the DSX test, I setup my LXD55 and place my C5 on it... I found that half of the aperture of the C5 is blocked, so I will have to wait for some time until the moon move downward until it's cleared.

With a GEM, the viewing angle is really very limited. Even now I just use a C5, I couldn't get a good view for most of the time. Years before when my Giro is still working, I could always use a C8. Anyway, equatorial tracking is the best in terms of squeezing the last bit of quality for imaging.

During the wait, I took out my rarely used 2" diagonal, together with the binoviewer. Frankly, the eyes are far more forgiving when taking the aperture block, since I'm doing lower power only. The view is great, I found that I still like visual observation more than imaging, but the environment is just too bad for viewing alone, and that's why I'm doing imaging. So I remind myself, everytime I take image, I should have some views with my eyes, too.



Target list: deslandres which is a walled plain, close to famous features and thus overlooked to me before; Plato, for its shadow; Epigenes, north of Plato; Eratosthenes, again for its shadow; and all the way back to the south, Moretus, again for the shadow.

Equipment is a DMK 31AF03, Tele Vue 2x barlows, Celestron C5 on LXD55:-


Taken on 2253 (HKT), Deslandres, it's also called a hell of crater, for you can find Hell (the deepest one, on top left) and Hell B (the shallow one on top, slightly to the right) there, the very complex one on the bottom middle is Lexell.


One more shot taken at 2302 (HKT), notice the change of the shadow in just around ten minutes.


Taken at 2257 (HKT), on the center of the stage is W. Bond, and the deep crater on its left is my target which is Epigenes, and on the far right, it's C. Mayer which is even more attractive in this processed shot. I made Epigenes to be my target because it's very nice to my eyes with my binoviewers, but it's not as nice in this shot.


Taken at 2259 (HKT), this is a really handsome crater to my eyes, it's called Eratothenes, and it's at the end of Montes Apenninus. I didn't catch enough of 50% of its glory.


This is Plato, taken at 2255 (HKT), note the shadow. The C5 is too small to show those craterlets inside, but I guess if we got a better sky (seeing and transparency), we might be able to spot a few.


Taken at 2300, the most eye catching sight is the crater called Moretus on the middle left, immediately on its right is Curtius.

I read The Modern Moon - A Personal View immediately after the short imaging session, and it's really nice!