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CESDewar
GorillAstronomer
Reged: 01/16/05
Posts: 1811
Loc: Morganton, GA, USA
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Tonight was a typical example of why I like binocular observing. I took out my Grab&Go refractor to look at the moon, but the seeing was worse than poor - it was atrocious with turbulence hiding any detail.
So back it went and out came the binoculars. Since the Great Wall was beautifully exposed, I was interested to see how visible it was in binoculars. It was duck soup in the Tak 22x60 Astronomers - very obvious and a nice sight.
Next up were the 18x50 Canon IS - they still move a bit with the IS engaged, but it was still quite visible - not bad to catch this lunar object with a pair of handheld binoculars!
Finally, the 11x56mm Garrett's. I put these on a tripod mount, but even then, it was still visible - yes, it was starting to get borderline, but that sharp cut was clear with both Thebit and Birt on either side readily visible. My guess is that it would still be visible in 10x binoculars and perhaps less (my eyes aren't the greatest after all!).
It's interesting to note that recent studies have shown the Great Wall is not the precipitous formation it was once thought to be - in fact it would be a fairly leisurely walk...
One day past first quarter is one great time to look at the moon!
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ronharper
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 1006
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CES,
I saw your post last night, and timing being of essence for this kind of thing, tore right out. It was only about 90% cloudy, pretty good, and the moon, although quite low, was in an area of spotty slow moving clouds. So I went for it with my 16x70 which, as usual lately, was stopped to 60mm. I have seen this feature many times through a telescope (my grade school friend showed it to me through his 40x AC Gilbert when were about 12, and I believe it is the first lunar feature of which I ever became aware) but never through a binocular. Seeing for me was so atrocious that I would have abandoned the 16x for 7x had I thought there was any hope with a lower power, but I persevered at 16x.
At first I thought I might have seen it. But, checking a chart showed that the Straight Wall points to the upper left, while the feature I was seeing pointed to the upper right. I think I was just seeing a relatively straight rim of a large faint crater.
I could never make out the Straight Wall. It looked to me like it must have been in a pretty dark area of the terminator, does this agree with where you saw it?
I guess my failure could have been due to the seeing, or could have been just a case of Wilhelm Herschel's statement that " once seen with a greater power, an object can then be seen with a lesser power". And 22x, especially 22x worth of fluorite, is definitely the higher power!
I'm not much of a moonwatcher, and don't know a lot of challenges at 16x to look for. I like to pick out Messier, with it's peculiar one-way ray. But I can't tell there's really two craters there. So, that's sort of where I'm at.
Thank you for your observation, I don't think this was no piece a cake, and congratulations.
Ron
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Rich N
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/22/04
Posts: 5312
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif...
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It will be interesting to try it with a binocular. It was easy last night with my 6" refractor. :-)
Rimma Birt was also easy to see and so was Hadley Rill.
Rich
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CESDewar
GorillAstronomer
Reged: 01/16/05
Posts: 1811
Loc: Morganton, GA, USA
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The only time to do this is one day past first quarter, when the Great Wall is perfectly illuminated and the long shadow it casts makes it really stand out. Tonight for example, at two days, it was still readily visible in a small telescope, but would be out of the question in small binoculars. So yes, you really do have to catch it on that exact day. The closer it is to the terminator the thicker the shadow, but of course it gets dimmer too, so there's a tradeoff there.
I took this photograph a couple of lunations ago at one day past first quarter with my C8 which shows how well it stands out when it's near the terminator.
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Rich N
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/22/04
Posts: 5312
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif...
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Yes, I just tried seeing the Straight Wall a few minutes ago with a 20x70 binocular. I couldn't see it.
Very nice photo!
Rich
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Joe Ogiba
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/14/02
Posts: 3358
Loc: NJ USA
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I am sure it would look great in my Ethos/Denk II/C9.25 setup if it didn't rain last night because I had the best view of the moon ever the two nights before. 
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Pentax PF-80ED
Meade 102ED APO
Orion EON 72
120ST
Apex 127
C6 XLT
CR150
C9.25
XT10
Zeiss 7x42 FL
Canon 10x42L IS WP
15x50 IS
12x36 IS II
Garrett Optical 28x110 HD-WP Signature Series
Oberwerk BT-80 45
Apogee RA-88-SA
Denk II Power x Switch binoviewer w/13mm Ethos, 20mm Pentax XW's, 20mm Widescan III's.
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 12577
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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Stuart, I know I've seen it in 25x100s. I may have to go back thru notes to find if I'vwe ever seen it with smaller. perhaps a 20x80. But I doubt I've ever tried with 10x or 12x binoculars.
edz
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Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards.
member#21
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viperbob
sage
Reged: 08/20/07
Posts: 375
Loc: New Jersey
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Just an excellent photo. Nice job sir.
VB
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VB
40 25'N 74 11'W
LX-90 8"SCT
William Optics Binoviewer
8x40 Nikon Action
Nikon 12x50 AE's
Nagler 12mm Type 2
Panoptic 15mm
Nagler 20mm Type 2
Orion Epic ED-2 22mm
Televue Plossl's 25mm,32mm
Panoptic 27mm
GSO SuperView 30mm & 42mm
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ronharper
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 1006
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I'll say! That's about as good as I've ever seen it.
Ron
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