29 replies to this topic

[Frisky]

I didn't put this in the lunar forum, as I'd be preaching to the choir. Many of us prefer to observe when the moon is not around, shining all that natural light on our already light-polluted sky. However, if you want to add a bunch of objects to your objects found list, and also have a lot of fun learning, the moon IS the place to go with your scope! The more you observe it, the more you start to see! You can add mares, Mts, craters, Apollo landing sites and other stuff to your list of finds. I now look forward to the moon coming around and pick up where I left off with its previous visit. The book Turn Left At Orion has lots of lunar targets labeled for you. 

 

Joe

[clusterbuster]

Well said Joe,

 I love to view the MOON with my Binoviewers through the C11 !

 Mark

[Defenderslideguitar]

Yes     best of both worlds 

   when in the sky     the moon you shall spy

    when not around other objects to be found

     still lunatics we can be

      on the moon there's lots to see

[Jeff L]

I will never cuss the bright moon again . It’s been cloudy here for weeks I would love to view the moon tonight 

[Kid_A]

I fell in love with the moon recently since my new apartment has a south facing balcony. Having a lot of fun with an 8-24mm zoom and learning craters, mare, sinuses (is that really the plural?) and seeing what the smallest features I can see are using a OneSKy (130 f/5 reflector) are. I actually look forward to the moon being up!

Edited by Kid_A, 10 December 2019 - 05:25 PM.

[WyattDavis]

It's probably my most overlooked object... Noted.

[ascii]

I enjoy observing the Moon, but with a mirror star diagonal in my refractor, I was always frustrated by the horizontally reversed image.  A mirror-image Moon map helped, but still bugged me.  (I don't find mirror-image particularly bothersome for planets, stars, and DSO's.)

 

I finally broke down and got an inexpensive GSO 90° Amici prism diagonal, just for the Moon. I've just had a brief session with it, but I think it was money well spent.

[N3p]

For me the moon is an infinite source of sketching, so much things to look at.. And with the growing light pollution around, I stick with the moon and the sketching. It's my best and most reliable home target.

[Shorty Barlow]

I took my 102mm SkyMax (Maksutov) out Monday night to catch Schroter's Valley.

 

 

I regularly use a Baader Zeiss Amici for lunar viewing. 

[Frisky]

Speaking of sinuses, Sinus Iridum is a really good one! I added it to my list on Dec 6th. I'll check out Schroter's Valley.

 

Joe

[Kid_A]

Sinus Iridum is dooooooope! I literally stared at that area for an hour last month.

[Tyson M]

It's probably my most overlooked object... Noted.

You will fall in love with it when you turn your new DC at it.

[Ssayer]

The Moon.... isn't that the thing that's been hanging out on the other side of the clouds around here for seemingly forever????

[vdog]

Funny you should mention it.  The skies finally cleared here, and I spent a good hour last night looking at the moon with my 10x50s. 

 

I've had those binos for about six months, and I don't think I've appreciated them enough.  Luna was super sharp and the contrast was amazing in them.  I was not even tempted to break out my other gear; it was just so relaxing to lie back in my gravity chair and enjoy the view.  I also discovered that I can discern quite a bit of detail now on the moon with just my regular glasses and no additional magnification.

 

It's true that we (at least I) don't appreciate the moon enough.  It took a couple of weeks with almost nothing to look at but clouds to make me really grateful for this target.

[Shorty Barlow]

Speaking of sinuses, Sinus Iridum is a really good one! I added it to my list on Dec 6th. I'll check out Schroter's Valley.

 

Joe

You have to catch Schroter at the right terminator time. Monday was virtually perfect as the valley and pyroclastic flow area are in shadow.

 

[Frisky]

Ok. I'll watch for it at the next opportunity.

 

Joe

[Shorty Barlow]

Ok. I'll watch for it at the next opportunity.

 

Joe

There's about a couple or three nights every lunation where the Valley area, Harbinger mountains and Aristarchus are caught by the terminator shadow really well. Best to check various software programs.

 

https://quickmap.lro...RnpEoAsjZwLrc0A

[Frisky]

I'll have to figure out how to use that map. It would be nice if it had stuff labeled.

 

Joe

[BFaucett]

I'll have to figure out how to use that map. It would be nice if it had stuff labeled.

 

Joe

 

Look under "Overlays".  It took me awhile to figure it out when I first started using it.

 

Cheers!  Bob F. 

 

 

https://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu/

 

Edited by BFaucett, 11 December 2019 - 12:19 AM.

[MJB]

 

Sinus Iridum was mentioned earlier - I got a quick shot of it (iphone held up to eyepiece) with a C8 a few nights ago. It's a very interesting area for sure.

 

 

[Frisky]

Bob- Thank you! I'll get learning the site. 

 

MJB- Yes, excellent shot! The ripples in the sinus really caught my eye when I first saw them! I was also able to add Pico and the names of several of the craters, like Helicon, Leverrier and Bianchini, to get to 240 objects found. 

 

Joe

[WyattDavis]

SinusIridum_02.jpg

 

Sinus Iridum was mentioned earlier - I got a quick shot of it (iphone held up to eyepiece) with a C8 a few nights ago. It's a very interesting area for sure.

This area does jump right out, even when just casual scanning the moon. 

[desertstars]

I've been fascinated by the Moon since I was a small boy. My father used to tell people that, when I was a toddler, I would repeated the word "moon" until someone took me outside to either let me look up at it, or prove that it wasn't visible just then. I don't remember any of that, but I do recalled studying the Moon for hours at a time through a 50mm refractor on a table-top tripod (I'd set it on the hood of the family car with the Moon low in the west). The relationship is still going strong some sixty years later.

[spongebob@55]

I didn't put this in the lunar forum, as I'd be preaching to the choir. Many of us prefer to observe when the moon is not around, shining all that natural light on our already light-polluted sky. However, if you want to add a bunch of objects to your objects found list, and also have a lot of fun learning, the moon IS the place to go with your scope! The more you observe it, the more you start to see! You can add mares, Mts, craters, Apollo landing sites and other stuff to your list of finds. I now look forward to the moon coming around and pick up where I left off with its previous visit. The book Turn Left At Orion has lots of lunar targets labeled for you. 

 

Joe

Thanks for posting.   I forgot about Turn Left at Orion had lots of lumar targets in it.  Haven't looked at that since I re entered the hobby 7 years ago.  Thanks.  

I recently purchased a Mak to do lunar observing and have done so since the LP is so bad in my back yard.

SB

Edited by spongebob@55, 11 December 2019 - 10:27 AM.

[Peter Besenbruch]

From Wiktionary's Latin definition:

 

Case        Singular  Plural
Nominative  sinus     sinūs
Genitive    sinūs     sinuum
Dative      sinuī     sinibus
Accusative  sinum     sinūs
Ablative    sinū      sinibus
Vocative    sinus     sinūs

 

Also, I tend to use the Virtual Moon Atlas by Christian Legrand and Patrick Chevalley (the latter also does Skycharts, or Cartes du Ciel).