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by Jane Houston
The clouds parted Wednesday night and Thursday morning to reveal a better look at Mare Orientale and environs than I got on Tuesday night. So much so that I took out my 10 inch F7.3 homemade dob, my first and favorite telescope, Stardust for some more mooning. With a 6mm Vixen Lantnanum eyepiece snugly inserted into the chrome plated brass drainpipe I call a focusing tube, I gave Mare Orientale and its exterior ring mountain a better look at 309X. My 6 inch F5 reflector was set up in the street and was showing the neighbors (during my longer Wednesday night session from 10:30 to 11:30 PM) some nice views at 62X and 125X, using the 6 and 12mm lanthanums. All my other eyepieces are with my bigger dobs 75 miles south at another location, so I had to make do with the two lanthanums tonight. They were perfect, and offered a really nice contrast, switching between the two scopes.
With a combined arsenal of Rukl, Akkana Peck's sketches, and some of my own from past observations of this area, David North's "Head's up" writeup, and my old observing notes I settled in for a repeat performance and confirmation of what I observed through sucker holes for three hours Tuesday night. Wednesday night was much better than Tuesday night, and Thursday morning - I set my internal alarm, woke up at 3:30 am and took a short look before bringing in the scopes for the rest of the night. The slope I call a back yard was bathed in moon shadows making elongated oak tree shapes. Some deer were picking out their sleeping spots. It is so darn relaxing observing at home!
Moving westerly from Grimaldi I first enjoyed its dark teardrop shaped basin. Nearby Riccoli and Rimae Riccoli were prominent. West and north I nudged the long sonotube. Lacus Aestatus and Cruger were pretty with their dark floors. Darwin, Rimae Sirsalis especially and Rimae Darwin to a lesser degree were snakey and prominent. Now it was time to move in closer to Mare Orientale. But first, Byrgius A was a contrasty bright spot. A nice balance of light against the dark flooded plains nearby.
Between Montes Cordillera and the Rook Mountains directly to the west of Cruger were what I call the lake district. Lacus Autumni and Lacus Veris shown clearly and distinctly. Pettit and Nicholson were visible both nights. Kopff was prominent. Mare Orientale was visible south of Kopff. The Big Weird Mountain was my main target now. I saw lumps of moon stuff in the basin. Its circular shape was more prominent this second night. More of the Mare was visible
I found the view of the concentric and broken circles of mountains to be the most thrilling view. And the lakes nestled between the two were a geologic high point for me. Looking at the Rukl libration chart combined with photos of the whole Mare Orientale basin, a newer lunar basin than most we observe put it in perspective for me. I kept wishing I could see the whole thing! But I was darn happy that the clouds parted enough Tuesday to allow me to really swim around the lake a few times, and nearly delirious at the clear views offered a few hours ago, when I was really able to spend some relaxing time in Mare Orientale.
That mission accomplished I took a look at the eastern limb, and in preparation for Saturday morning's Lunar Prospector crash watch at Fremont Peak, took a look at the South Pole of the moon. Hey, it's lonely down there!