Bye-Bye Venus;
Lunar Craters Catharina, Cyrillus, and Theophilus
Posted: 7 January 2014
After the successful very young moon sighting on 1 January 2014, the next day dawned with winds. Late in the day on Thursday, 2 January, clouds began appearing. Took this photograph of the crescent moon (top) and Venus (near center) 24 hours after the previous night's very young moon photos:
Cloudy skies continued until Monday, 6 January. Just prior to heading out to the observatory I took this photo of Venus just before it set using the D7000 DSLR, f/5.6, 1/15sec, ISO 400, 300mm:
The crescent phase is visible in the handheld photo.
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Opened: Monday, 6 January 2014, 1811 MST Temperature: 54°F |
Session: 640 Conditions: Clear, calm |
At 1819 MST, viewed the moon, 83X. Seeing was not ideal. I began setting up to photograph the moon at prime focus of the 8" LX200-ACF. Took this photo at 1829 MST, 1/250sec, ISO 800:
Resumed lunar observing at 1833 MST using 222X. Seeing was still not very good, but there were some nice views along the terminator. Especially nice was the crater chain of Catharina, Cyrillus, and Theophilus. Due to the poor seeing I did not do a high magnification image of the craters, but this cropped section of the above photo nicely shows the crater chain:
At 1845 MST, breezes were getting stronger. Slewed to Jupiter at 1848 MST and viewed it using 222X. It was still low in the eastern sky. The four Galilean Moons were visible. Jupiter was one day past opposition, so I had high hopes of a good view after it was higher in the sky. But by 1855 MST, seeing was getting worse. By 1907 MST, the wind was getting stronger, having moved past the "breeze" category. I continued to monitor seeing at Jupiter using 222X. Unfortunately, the view was deteriorating as Jupiter rose higher. At 1911 MST, switched to 83X, but it was really a lousy view. Decided to close up.
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Closed: Monday, 6 January 2014, 1924 MST Temperature: 47°F |
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Universe Today has an article about the very young moon sighting, highlighting my report. Check it out.
Comments are welcome using Email. Thanks.
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