Friday, October 20, 2023
International Observe the Moon Night, Saturday October 21, 2023
International Observe the Moon Night is on Saturday October 21. The moon is almost First Quarter, which is good for crater viewing, there is a lot to see with the unaided eye or binoculars.
location maps from NASA showing where local events are located are available at the link.
The moon is one day away from First quarter, so there will be a lot of interesting carters visible on the moons limb, the sunlight/dark boundary.At this time the Moon is at maximum libration, with the normally hidden Mare Humboldtanium now visible in binoculars or telescopes.While the moon keeps on face towards the earth, changes in perspective from the Earth and Moons relative positions in their orbits means that sometimes we can see bits of the Moon normally hidden, this is libration.
Other features visible are the very obvious Aristoteles crater with the slightly smaller crater Eudoxus, these two form a distinctive pair. Towards the centre is Ptolemaeus crater, which is joined to the rim of the crater Alphonsus by a section of rugged, irregular terrain, and these form a prominent chain with Arzachel to the south. On the dark/light boundary is the Sea of Serenity, where Apollo 17 landed. See the map to the above left, click to embiggen.
PDF Moon maps from NASA suitable for printing are available at the link.
There are many ways to observe the Moon. Unaided eye, binoculars, telescope. No matter what approach you choose, it will be well worth it to go out and just look up.
Labels: international Observe the Moon Night, Moon, public outreach
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Images from International Observer the Moon Night (16 October, 2021)
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| International Space Station zooms between Venus (obvious brightest sky object) and the Scorpion and Saturn (out of frame to right). Canon Ixus, ISO 3200, 10 x 1 second exposures stacked in Deep Sky Stacker. | Moon taken through my 8" Newtonian, 25 mm Plossl, lens, 2 x Barlow. Video taken with my Xperia mobile phone, converted to AVI with PIPP than stacked with Registax 6. |
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| Moon featuring Copernicus crater taken through my 8" Newtonian, 12.5 mm Plossl, lens, 2 x Barlow. Video taken with my Xperia mobile phone, converted to AVI with PIPP than stacked with Registax 6. | Moon featuring Sinus iridium taken through my 8" Newtonian, 12.5 mm Plossl, lens, 2 x Barlow. Video taken with my Xperia mobile phone, converted to AVI with PIPP than stacked with Registax 6. |
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| Copernicus crater taken through my 8" Newtonian, 2 x Barlow, modified ToUcam webcam and Vega. AVI stacked in Registax 6 then brightness and contrast adjusted in GIMP. large central black blob is guff on the CCD chip. | Sinus iridium taken through my 8" Newtonian, 2 x Barlow, modified ToUcam webcam and Vega. AVI stacked in Registax 6 then brightness and contrast adjusted in GIMP. large central black blob is guff on the CCD chip. |
International Observe the Moon Night was on Saturday October 16. The early cloud cleared up in time to see the ISS zoom between Venus, Jupiter and Saturn and the Moon. Despite a lot of atmospheric turbulence I got some decent shots of the Moon (had to discard lots of frames). Didn't bother with Jupiter or Saturn due to the atmospheric shenanigans.
Web cam shots of Sinus Irium are neat and all, but misses out on a lot of interesting surrounding territory. The problem with higher magnification is it also magnifies the atmospheric turbulence, so even stacking with wavelets doesn't help as much as I would like.
software used (Vega seems to have vanished from the web)
Labels: international Observe the Moon Night, ISS, Moon, telescope, unaided eye, Venus
Sunday, October 10, 2021
International Observe the Moon Night, Saturday October 16, 2021
Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, The International Space Station and Venus on international Observe the Moon night, Saturday October 16th, 20:53 ACDST, 82 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).
Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar planetary line up that the equivalent time (82 minutes after sunset). You will need a specific prediction for your site for the ISS (eg from Heavens above)
International Observe the Moon Night is on Saturday October 16. Although the moon is past last quarter, which is good for crater viewing, there is a lot to see with the unaided eye or binoculars. As well, on the 16th the waxing moon forms a line with Jupiter and Saturn.
For most of Australia there is a spectacular addition as the international space station shoots between Venus and the other planets in the late twilight. The time and exact location will be different for each site, so you will need a specific prediction for your site for the ISS (eg from Heavens above)
Other features visible are the very obvious Copernicus crater, Gassendi crater right on the dark/light boundary and Sinus Iridium. See the map to the left, click to embiggen.
There are many ways to observe the Moon. Unaided eye, binoculars, telescope. No matter what approach you choose, it will be well worth it to go out and just look up.
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| Average view of the Moon | Maximum libration on October 16, showing Mare Humboldtanium at the edge of the Moon (click to embiggen for a clearer view) |
In the week leading up to international
Observe the Moon night on the 16th the Moon is rather beautiful as it dances amongst the planets. On the 10th (tonight) Venus, the
crescent Moon and the bright star Antares from a triangle. The First
Quarter Moon forms a line with Jupiter and Saturn on the 13th and the
waxing Moon is close to Saturn on the 14th. Then the waxing Moon is
close to Jupiter on the 15th. On the 15th the waxing moon is close to
Jupiter and the pair fit into the FOV of 10x50 binoculars. So happy Moon viewing all!
Labels: international Observe the Moon Night, ISS, Moon, public outreach
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