Tonight 11/3/00 from 08:00 to 11:00 PM PST (11/4 04:00 - 08:00 UT) was a good night to see the moon sheep and rilles of the Apennines and Mare Imbrium. Montes Teneriffe and Recti near Plato are the most famous of the moon sheep, named by local California observer Rich Neuschaefer. Sunrise against the mountains make them appear as white dots. Take a look tomorrow night at Plato and you'll see them!
But tonight I was observing around vicinity of Hadley Rille. I started off by pointing my 10 inch f/7.3 reflector at the Alpine Valley (Rulk 4 and 12) and observed it for quite a while at 309x using a 6mm Vixen Lanthanum. I think I saw the central rille running down the valley, at least I want to have seen it!
On to Cassini, with crumpled fat walls and two interior craters. Two of the three craters on the eastern edge of Mare Imbrium -- Aristillus and Autolycus -- were fully lit while only one wall of Archimedes was visible tonight. The wall of Archimedes snaked around to join Rima Archimedes in a rocky border surrounding Palus Putredinis, one of the weirdest named lunar features. Rimae Archimedes intersected with bold Rima Bradley and delicate Rima Hadley. The shadows of Mons Hadley made it difficult to see some of Hadley Rille. The Apollo 15 landing site was just on the border of day and night.
The moon sheep, singular (mostly) unnamed peaks near Autolycus (Rukl 22) and Cassini (Rukl 12) made me anxious for tomorrow night when the larger flocks will be visible. Montes Spitzenberger, the Teneriffes, Plato, Piton and Pico will all be visible then.
A twin sunrise ray, brought to my attention by Bill Arnett was a fitting end to a pleasant back-deck moon observing session. I put away the 10 and 6 inch mooning scopes.
Waiting patiently on the front eastern facing deck sat a different telescope. Jupiter was rising, but Saturn was in the trees. I observed the GRS emerge, and tried all my filters on it. Only the 82A light blue filter provided any additional detail. I even tried the OIII, UHC and Ultrablock filters, but didn't get any additional contrast or detail. A violet Jupiter was a wild looking blueberry planet through the eyepiece! Through the 4 inch f/6 105mm AP Traveler Jupiter looked great. Besides the GRS, the NEB sported some chunky sections that might be festoons. The NTB also showed what look like red barges. I'll have to do some homework and review my sketches to make sure of what I saw and sketched. This view was through a brand new Orion Lanthanum 3.8mm eyepiece which I really like alot.
A nice way to begin the weekend, I thought to myself.