Moon 1/27/99

by David North


Instead of my usually prettified reports, I thought it would be fun to just transpose my notes as they appear so anyone familiar with my gushy style could see what the nuts and bolts look like before I vet them and polish.

The system is simple: the number in front is the page in Rukl, the first notes are the observations taken from about 5:30 pm to 7 pm, and the amendments after the slash are from session two running from about 10:30 to 11:30 pm.

The list of objects was drawn up ahead of time using Rukl and Akkana Peck's "Hitchiker's Guide To The Moon" web page to extract the terminator position over the course of the evening (44 to 47+ West).

Lunar Observations
RuklFeature5:30 pm to 7 pm10:30 to 11:30 pm
2J. HerschelLarged walled plain, extremely rough interior. Terminator halfway through.fully lit now, still rough but more detail.
9Gruithuisen DeltaNegative on central crater.slight depression seen fairly well.
Rima Deslislesmall whitish slash in position indicatedharder to see now
19Rima Diophantusshort bright stretch maybenothing. No clean kill.
Rima BrayleyPortion fairly visible just above the crater, both light and dark linesslight fleeting traces.
30Rima MilichiusThin brightening in central position positive on proximal end. Good kill.
Milichius Pigood kill on central crater same
Dome in upper portion of quadrant 32-34W x 12-10N has double central crater. Looks funny like cartoon face same
29Rimae MaestlinMain E/W branch fairly easy but N/S hard due to obscuring shadow much better, almost easy. All seen, very attractive complex rille.
40Surveyor 1negative result same
41Rima Herigoniusonly one short segment seen fairly evident, almost entire complex seen in segments, with occasional glimpse of whole thing
52GassendiVery messy, rimae obscured by shadows good sight of all rimae.
Rimae HippalusEasy same
Rimae DoppelmayerEnd easily seen not much improvement, shadow obscuration
62Vitellotoo much shadow not bad, no real sight of cracks but central peak looks like the middle of a juicer.
Palus EpidemariumRimae Ramsden all branches visible with minimal effort. Rima Hesiodus much harder tonight Hesiodus even harder, Ramsden easier. Intricate.

I'll leave it to you to figure out how I would have prettied this up, and which items would not have been mentioned due to poor results.

All observations with five inch refractor at 150 and 200x, depending on variable seeing and transparency. Occasional forays to 260x for very short (but nice) periods.