Above~ The 8 Day Moon at 8d 20h 36m.
Friday, April 28, 2023~ 7:30 – 10:30 pm.
• Location~ Moosehorn Creek, NB
• Sky Conditions~ Clear to the south & overhead, clouds to the east and north on horizon.
• Temps~ 15° 43% humidity, wind 10km, a bit chilly.
• Seeing~ Good to Very Good
• Transparency~ 3 to 4 (1=very poor, 7=pristine)
• Moonrise~ 12:49 pm
• Transit~ 8:33 pm
• Age of Moon~ 8d 19h 24m
• Lunar brightness~ 60.4%
Evening Twilight Cycle~
Sunset~ 8:25 pm
Blue Hour~ 8:45 pm
Nautical Twilight~ 8:58 pm
Astronomical Twilight~ 9:39 pm
Nightime~ 10:23 pm
Note: For Seeing and Transparency: I have now begun following the guidelines from the Observing Program of TusconAstromomy.org just to be using consistent parameters. They make sense to me and I can understand them.
The 8 Day Moon~
Came out before sunset at 7:30 pm to crack open the Ob roof– 7° difference between ambient air outside. Went for a first look at the Moon four minutes after Transit at 8:37 with the 13mm. First thing I noticed was the straight wall. Nice!
Observed the Straight Wall with the 13mm, 10mm, 6mm and 4.7mm eyepiece. It really is an astounding area to view. Viewed the craters Thebit, Thebit A, Brit and Nicollet with the 4.7mm. I got kinda lost in it.
Switched northward to Plato. I had forgot all about Plato! Big on the WOW factor, but what really stole the show was Eratosthenes viewing with the 6mm.
Digiscope Experiment~
Began experimenting with Digiscoping (attaching a cellphone directly to the eyepiece). Fonemate + Samsung Galaxy A5
Above~ As viewed through a 10mm Ethos eyepiece.
Below~ as viewed through a 6mm Delos eyepiece.
Shut it down 10:30 pm. Temps had dropped to 6°, 64% humidity.
Summary~
• Moon at 8d 20h 36m at 56 magnification (13mm)
• Straight Wall at 56, 73, 122 & 155 magnification
• Thebit, Thebit A, Brit and Nicollet at 56, 73, 122 & 155 magnification
• Plato, Eratosthenes, & Archimedes 56 & 122 magnification
Scope– ES Comet Hunter – 152mm f/4.8 731mm Maksutov-Newtonian
Mount– Celestron AVX
Eyepieces used– 13mm Ethos, 10mm Ethos, 6mm Delos, 4.7 Ethos
Music~
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganni.
London Symphony Orchestra with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Andre Previn
Gershwin, Copland and Barber
Leonard Bernstein with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
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.
21st Century Atlas of the Moon~ by Charles A. Wood and Maurice J. S. Collins (2013)
The PhotoPills App~ Exact time and age of the Lunar Cycle, sunset, twilight phase info for our gps location, etc. Great app.
50 Things to See on the Moon~ by John A. Read.
Seeing and Transparency Guide~ From the Observing Program of TusconAstromomy.org.
