Lunar Craters: Aristarchus, Bettinus, Clavius, Maginus, Gassendi, Herodotus, Kircher, Phocylides, Porter, Schickard, Schiller, Segner, Tycho & ejecta, Zucchius
Mares: Mare Humorum, Mare Imbrium, Sinus Iridum
Lunar Montes/Vallis: Montes Agricola, Aristarchus Plateau, Vallis Schröteri
Asterism: Big Dipper
Stars: Altair, Arcturus, Deneb, Mizar / Alcor, Vega
Asterism: Big Dipper
Stars: Altair, Arcturus, Deneb, Mizar / Alcor, Vega
Location: Home
Date: 2022-07-10
Time: 7:00 PM - 10:45 PM ADT
Equipment: Visual + Telescope (Skywatcher EVOSTAR 80ED) + 9.7 mm, 15 mm, & 25 mm
Magnification: x62, x40, x24
Transparency: Very Good (4)
Seeing: Excellent (5)
Warm, no wind or clouds. Mosquitos!
We had our youngest granddaughter tonight for the second night of a 2-night sleepover. She and I slept in our tent in the back yard. I showed her the Moon through the newly acquired scope and she was wowed. She looked through the finder scope most times while I was viewing it through the eyepiece. Because I didn't have any tracking, it meant having to determine if the Moon could still be seen in the FOV.
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One exciting rediscovery for me was the Aristarchus Plateau that was just above the line of the terminator. Around 7:30-8:00 PM, the rims of the two craters (bright-walled, central peaked Aristarchus and flat, dark-floored Herodotus) were very bright and that was what captured my attention at first. I initially thought they were Kepler and Encke until I used Sinus Iridum and Mare Imbrium to get the correct orientation of the Moon and therefore correctly determine what it was I was looking at. The curved Vallis Schröteri with its little kink halfway along the bend joined to Herodotus was seen with a pin-thin shadow on its floor. I could not discern the cobra head at the valley terminus near Herodotus.
I had seen the Plateau, associated craters, and the adjacent Montes Agricola before when it was well away from the terminus. Refer to IWLOP #122 - Aristarchus Plateau and Plateau Schröteri for details of my first observation of this interesting area.
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The easily identified Gassendi, its attached Crater A, its missing wall adjacent to Mare Humorum were another fun rediscovery.
Going further south along the terminus at 8:00 PM, I also thought I was seeing the crater Bailey but at 10:30 PM I realized it was Schickard with its floor in the terminus darkness but a small part of its western wall illuminated. In a curved line along the terminus south of Schickard, I identified Phocylides, Segner, Zucchius, Bettinus, and Kircher with the elongated Schiller above Phocylides also easily identified.
Tycho, surrounded by what I refer to as its flower petals, was easily seen as was its huge ejecta field across the Moon. I tried to explain this to our granddaughter but it was lost on her. Although highly illuminated at this point, I was able to locate Maginus (because of its shape and few craters on the western wall) plus Clavius (with the large craters on its floor with Porter in its NE wall).
As the night got darker, she was shown stars by Grandpa Jerry and noted Vega (the first star we saw), the Big Dipper that she could see before us with her young eyes, Deneb, Altair, and Arcturus. He explained how the middle handle star in the Dipper was a double. When finished with the lunar searches, I turned my attention to the Big Dipper, specifically the double star (Mizar / Alcor) he mentioned. I was able to show it to her in the EVOSTAR; not sure if she was impressed or not; hard to tell.
Didn’t think she would have an interest in the night skies but she had been learning some astronomy at school. She certainly asked questions - how far the moon is, whether our sun will explode and eat Earth and when, how far were the stars she saw, etc. A great evening but an early end to observing for me and a late evening for the little astronomer around 10:45 PM.