11 Day Moon–May 2022

11 Day Moon–May 2022

Photo of the 11 Day Moon showing some of the natural colour of landscape.

Above~the 11 Day Moon at 11d 3h 7m, before sundown. 1/100 sec, ISO 160, 2x Powermate, Nikon 5100 on a f4.8 731mm ES Comet Hunter. 

Wednesday, May 11, 2022~      7:45 – 9:30 pm.

Location~ Moosehorn Creek, NB
Sky Conditions~ Clear, after a beautiful day with white puffy cumulus clouds against a very blue sky.
Temp~ 20°  40%H      High today of 27°
Moonrise~ 3:19 pm
Sunset~ 8:42 pm
Total Darkness~ 10:51 pm
Age of Moon~ At 8:10 pm the Moon was 11d 2h 42m     

11 Day Moon~

Today was the first day of needing to come out a bit ahead of time and crack the roof of the Observatory to release some heat buildup. 28° inside but 20° outside at the time. Light wind, lit the Thermacell again ahead of time. Bugs are starting to appear with the heat; noticed horses’ tails swishing away the flies.

Began studying a bit. I remembered Gassendi and the Bay or Sea of Rainbows from before, including Kepler.

At 8:20 I went in for a look with the 13mm Ethos. First impression was that Gassendi is really popping and it looks like a whole wall is lit on the Bay of Rainbows (Sinus Iridum). Gonna be pretty cool in about 1/2 hour. At this point, you can just see the edge of Shiller. Kepler is visible.

At 8:35 I decide to grab a few images. Exact time was 11d 3h 7m.

Photo of the 11 Day Moon showing some of the natural colour of landscape.

Above and below~the top and bottom halfs of 11 Day Moon at 11d 3h 7m. 1/30 sec, ISO 400, 4x Powermate, Nikon 5100 on a f4.8 731mm ES Comet Hunter.

Photo of the 11 Day Moon showing some of the natural colour of landscape.

At 9:05 I put the camera away and went back to the tube. Getting quicker and more familiar at taking some images now.

More eye candy~

Popped in the 6mm Delos. First thing I see is Gassendi and Shiller within the same FOV (field of view). Nice! Wasn’t expecting that. The walls of the three craters opposite Gassendi on the Mare Humorum are all lit–Doppelmeyer, Vitella and Lee.

I swing over. The walls of the Sea of Rainbows are lit quite nicely. There is a really strange formation south of the Sea of Rainbows. After consulting the S&T fold out map I finally decide it is Montes Harbinger just beginning to show–and it is right on the Terminator.

I decided to finish off with Kepler and put in a 3.7 Ethos. But while there I “flew” along the terminator of a final look at Gassendi and Sea of Rainbows. These were astounding views.

Packed it in at 9:30.

Photo of the 11 Day 3 hour Moon on May 11, 2022 with some annotations.


Summary~

Moon at 11d 2h 42m at 56 magnification 
Gassendi, Sea of Rainbows (Sinus Iridum) at 56 & 122 magnification
Shiller, Kepler at 56 & 122 magnification
Doppelmeyer, Vitella and Lee at 122 magnification 
Sinus Iridum, Montes Harbinger at 122 magnification
Kepler, Gassendi and Sinus Iridum at 197 magnification

Scope– ES Comet Hunter – 152mm f/4.8 731mm Maksutov-Newtonian
Mount– Celestron AVX
Eyepieces used– 13mm Ethos, 6mm Delos, 3.7 Ethos


Music~

Arthur Rubinstein: Rubinstein Chopin Nocturnes. It had been quite a while since I listened to this. Went very well with the views thru the eyepiece.

Sources~

New Atlas of the Moon by Thierry Legault & Serge Brunier [2006]. Beautiful Firefly reference book with overlays, unfortunately out of print.

Sky and Telescope’s Field Map of the Moon~Mirror image laminated fold out map. I use this all the time, handy. 

The PhotoPills App~ Exact time and age of the Lunar Cycle, sunset, twilight phases, etc. Great app.

50 Things to See on the Moonby John A. Read.

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