Above~ A hazy 9 Day Moon after I processed most of the haze out. Prime focus, Nikon 5100 with 2x Powermate on a 731mm scope.
Saturday, April 29, 2023~ 9:15 – 10:15 pm.
• Location~ Moosehorn Creek, NB
• Sky Conditions~ Major haze moving in, Moon which was overhead was still clear (at first).
• Temps~ 10° 44% humidity.
• Seeing~ Poor
• Transparency~ 2
• Moonrise~ 1:55 pm
• Transit~ 9:16 pm
• Age of Moon~ 9d 20h 13m (at 9:24pm)
• Lunar brightness~ 70%
Evening Twilight Cycle~
Sunset~ 8:27 pm
Blue Hour~ 8:46 pm
Nautical Twilight~ 8:59 pm
Astronomical Twilight~ 9:40 pm
Nightime~ 10:25 pm
A hazy 9 Day Moon~
Noticed that Venus, which had a bit of haze around it at 9:15, was rapidly loosing visibility by 9:30.
Went for first look at the Moon using the 13mm with Moon filter. It was quite dramatic, with Copernicus and Bullialdus just popping right out for notice. Plato, Archimedes and all the mountain ranges were framing a rather smooth looking basin. The view through the eyepiece was breathtaking.
Just looking through the eyepiece, didn’t notice any haze at all. It was only later when I popped the camera in to get a record that I saw what looked like fog. By 10 pm Venus had lost at least half visibility.
Straight Wall still visible~
Below~ Found out later when processing images that the Straight Wall was still slightly visible. I include it here only for reference. The time would have been about 9 days 21 hours. Big difference between the view from yesterday.
Overall, a short but memorable session. The view of Plato and the basin was outstanding. Shut it down 10:15 after getting an image. Venus was getting dim and there was now an enormous ring around the Moon. The ring may have been a harbinger of the major storm which arrived about 36 hours later bringing heavy rain, high winds and a power outage.
Summary~
• Moon at 9d 20h 13m at 56 magnification with Moon filter (13mm)
• Copernicus, Bullialdus, Plato and Archimedes at 56 magnification
• Mare Imbrium and surrounding ranges at 56 magnification
Scope– ES Comet Hunter – 152mm f/4.8 731mm Maksutov-Newtonian
Mount– Celestron AVX
Eyepiece used– 13mm Ethos with filter
Music~
Was hoping to catch Holger Peterson’s Saturday Night Blues but missed it I guess. Listened to Saturday Night Jazz instead.
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.
