Jumping Over the Moon
Jumping Over the Moon - We all know the feeling. We have had two or three phenomenal nights of deep sky hunting. Faint nebulas and tiny galaxies are for the taking. You swear you can see the connecting band in the whirlpool galaxy. The swan nebula really looks like a swan! You know you are pushing your luck, but Mother Nature is being kind so you set up for one more night. Alas, as the sun sets, your old nemesis moon decides to come to the party. Luna is just saying high. Showing only a sliver of herself before fading away....
Jumping Over the Moon
We all know the feeling. We have had two or three phenomenal nights of deep sky hunting. Faint nebulas and tiny galaxies are for the taking. You swear you can see the connecting band in the whirlpool galaxy. The swan nebula really looks like a swan! You know you are pushing your luck, but Mother Nature is being kind so you set up for one more night. Alas, as the sun sets, your old nemesis moon decides to come to the party. Luna is just saying high. Showing only a sliver of herself before fading away. But you know she’ll be back, and she’ll be moving in for awhile. Night after night she’ll be taking up more space and finally blowing away any chance of finding those elusive deep sky objects we all cherish. This scenario plays out every month or so, and we are all too familiar with the pattern. If we are lucky, those few days of pure darkness are clear. Most often it’s not the case. It’s either cloudy, you have to work late, or some other annoying task will keep you from a perfect night under the stars. So I say if you can’t beat back Luna you might as well pull up a chair and join her. She can be quite a friend, if you get to know her.
The moon is so close to us that you can see some amazing detail on its surface. One of the coolest things about the moon is how high you can mag up your scope. It is the one object where that ridiculously high powered eyepiece you bought actually works! Every now and then atmospheric turbulence will gunk up your view, but most of the time it is clear sailing. There are countless objects to see on its surface. Obviously craters are all over the place, but also mountains ridges, deep valleys, and vast sea like expanses abound. Shadows cast on the moon’s surface can also make for some stunning visuals. Casual observers are always blown away by seeing the moon up close. I can show the coolest globular cluster I have ever found to someone and just the polite “that’s neat” is all I get. Zoom in on a big honking crater on the moon and their faces light up with wonder. So, I figured from month to month we could pick a few objects on the moon to find, something to show your friends and kids. It will also give you something to do, while you are waiting for Luna leave the house.
First out of the gate, we are going to track down Tycho and Clavius. Tycho is quite easy to locate. It is somewhat in the midline of the moon. If using a reflector scope it will be towards the top of the moon, and if using other scopes it will be at the bottom. It comes into view when the moon is about full. It is an impact crater with quite large tendrils of dirt extending from its location. If you use a low power eyepiece, so you can see the whole moon, you can easily see all the tendrils. They are lighter in color than most of the moon and take up quite a large swath of the visible moon. Just stare at the whole moon without focusing on anything in particular and the splat of the Tycho impact will become evident. After you have spent some time enjoying the big picture, it is time to mag up that sucker. Follow the tendrils back to the origin and drop a high power eyepiece into you scope. Tycho is still a well formed crater with nice ridges around it. The impact crater is about 52 miles across. There is a nice central peak in the middle. Spend some time looking around the crater, and all kinds of cool features will pop into view.
Images courtesy of Carol Gentle
Next up is the impact crater Clavius. This is a big old crater that measures about 140 miles in diameter. If you know where Tycho is, Clavius is easy to find. With a reflector Clavius sits just above Tycho, and with other scopes it will be just below. It is easy to separate from the crowd by a very distinct curved formation of newer impact crater within its boundaries. There are five craters that make up this curve and their size descends in order. They have always reminded me of a sickle. Clavius is one of my favorite objects to observe. It is probably the first thing I saw on the moon that made me appreciate how much there is to see on its surface.
Images courtesy of Carol Gentle
So when the moon is bright and blowing away your chance for that Messier hunt. Plop down with moon and locate Clavius and Tycho. Also, spend some time just panning around. You won’t be disappointed. I also would like to send many thanks to Carol Gentle for letting me use her awesome photos of the moon. You can see her incredible work on astronomyforum.net. Also, I want to say thanks to Pete Miller (Canon Pete) for the great full moon shot at the top of the page. Talk to you soon and happy hunting.
Derek
written by andyp180, September 07, 2011
a big thanks to you and to carol for allowing her images to be used.
a fusion of good writing and lunar imaging.
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written by Downtoearth, September 27, 2011
Well, your article is inspiring. I wish you would expand it with more areas to explore and more beautiful pictures.
Sometimes, when I look at extreme close-ups of the moon, the details are so fine that my mind shifts and I have the illusion of looking through a microscope instead of a telescope!
Keep up the good work!
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Carol awesome moon images