Yet more craters - 12th April

I got out again tonight, after a day of mixed not good to bad weather, the clouds all went away as the evening wore on. I got out quite late and made this a short session as I have to get up early tomorrow. I leveled the mount, and tried out a new function I'd read about and ignored in the manual. Solar System Align. Seems very easy. Pick an object in the solar system, align the scope on it and away you go. Seems to work very well to. Excellent. I used the 5mm Hyperion and 2x Barlow to give me 160x as usual. Firstly I noticed that the moon wasn't quite so sharp and crisp tonight as it has been on other nights. Poor seeing I guess.

Anyway, I target Mare Serenitatis as the stepping off point and went to find Posidinius. This was a bit harder to find as the terminator has moved quite some way in only two days. As I was there anyway, and the Hyperion gives me such a wide view, I grabbed Le Monnier. Then onto find Plinius and it's neighbour Dawes. Nearby I alo found, the Montes Haemas and Menelau nestled in the foothils, with Ross and Maclear heading out into the Mare Tranquilitatis. As I was in the sea anyway I went and had a look at Arago. From Arago, it was a short hop to Ritter and Sabine, although they weren't particularly clear compared to others, I guess they must be quite shallow, possibly filled in somewhat with lava. In the area I also found Delamba, Theon Senior and Theon Junior. Now I'm a little puzzled with these two. I definitely spotted the holes in the surface and marked them on my poor sketch, yet according to VMA I need a 100mm refractor to see these craters and yet mine is only 80mm. I guess this means that you need a 100mm to see details within the crater.

Nearby my eye was drawn to a particular bright looking crater, which according to VMA is Dionysius. This is quite near Cayley, and these two appear to bracket a mountain of some sort, but VMA isn't telling me anything about it. Then I went and had a look at Theophilius, Cyrillu and Catherina. It's a shame I didn't get to have a look at these craters yesterday. The terminator had moved on sufficiently to remove a lot of the contrast from this trio. From here I went onto Hipparchus and Albategnius. There's a lot in this area, and another poor sketch and VMA search later has turned up, Horrocks within the Hipparchus crater, Halley stuck between them, this leading into an arc with Hind and Hipparchus C. On the other side of Albategnius there's Vogel, and then away from the terminator, Albulfeda, Almanon, Geber and many many others. I didn't sketch them, so I'm not going to claim them. A little further down, or is that North, I get confused... I came to Apianus, Aliacensis, Goodacre and Gemma Frisius, Nonius,and then onto Maurolycus and Stofler which has Faraday cutting the wall towards Maurolycus.

Having completed the journey North ?? I think, I returned to the Mare and had a look at Montes Alpes and the Vallis Alpes, still partly in the terminator but just visible. Then I had a look for Eudoxus and Aristoteles. After another poor sketch I indetfied, Eudocus A, Mitchell, Galle, Egede. Calipus in the Montes Caucusus, Theaeteteus nearby next to Cassini. Then I shifted to right up South, or should that be down South, I think I'm beginning to get my directions sorted out even through a mirrior. Anyway, when I got to wherever it was I was going, I spotted W Bond which to my eyes looked almost diamond in shape. I had a good look around here and sketched again. This was tougher due to the curvature, but worth it, as I got to see, W Bond D, Archytas and D, Protagoras, Sheepshanks and what looked like a mountain in between them and C. Mayer. I then recentered again and had a look at the Monte Apenninus, the Hyginus rille was hiding in the terminator, but I could see the bumpy bit, low hills would be my guess, nearby.


I finished off with a look at Saturn as marvelous as ever.

Shortly after the clouds rolled in anyway, so I didn't miss out on much observing time. I don't believe I picked up any more of the Lunar 100.