Tuesday, May 24, 2022~ 5:21 – 5:56 am.
Location~ Moosehorn Creek, NB
Sky Conditions~ Mainly clear with some thin clouds. Cold morning with frost, some mist on the ground in different places.
Temp~ 1° 50% humidity
Moonrise~ 3:24 am
Golden Hour~ 5:21 – 6:26 am
Sunrise~ 5:43 am
Moonset~ 2:52 pm
Age of Moon~ 23d 11h 57m
23 Day Moon in early morning~
Went in for a first look with the 10mm at 5:21 am. Unfortunately, probably about 3/4 hour too late for best viewing due to oncoming sunrise. Also, a band of thin pink clouds decided to go across the Moon causing some interference. Visibility is dropping rapidly.
However, the big star of the show near center of the FOV is Copernicus with Reinhold and Lansberg off to the side. The Sea of Rainbows is nicely visible to the north, with a dramatic series of craters to the south along the Terminator which I identified later as Clavius flanked by Longomontanus and Wilhelm northward vs. Scheiner and Blancanus southward.
The Sun cometh~
Shut it down at 5:56 as it was becoming useless with the approaching sunrise. Time to shift to early morning front porch viewing with the AR 102 if I want to do any lunar observing plus check out the current dance of the planets to the east. Moonrise will be even later tomorrow if the skies and body cooperate. As I put the scope back into home position and shut it down the first rays of Sun illuminated the roof of the Ob just as I was about to close it, as if to say goodby.
No time to get any images of the 23 Day Moon, would have had to start at least 1/2 earlier.
Summary~
Moon at 23d 11h 57m at 73 magnification (10mm)
Copernicus with Reinhold and Lansberg at 73 magnification
Sea of Rainbows at 73 magnification
Clavius, Longomontanus and Wilhelm at 73 magnification
Scheiner and Blancanus at 73 magnification
Scope– ES Comet Hunter – 152mm f/4.8 731mm Maksutov-Newtonian
Mount– Celestron AVX
Eyepiece used– 10mm Ethos
Music~
No music. Listened to the BBC world report instead.
Sources~
New Atlas of the Moon by Thierry Legault & Serge Brunier [2006]. Beautiful Firefly reference book with overlays, unfortunately out of print.
50 Things to See on the Moon~ by John A. Read.
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 phase info for our gps location, etc. Great app.
