Last night's (6th) Moon

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:27 am

Did anybody have a telescope on the Moon last night?

I was out side with my 10" DOB and after spending some time collimating. Turned the OTA towards lunar.

x50 (24mm TV Pan) I was bold over by the magnificence of the spectacle that be-fell my eye.

In all the years I've been observing. I don't think I have seen Earth shine as bright.

Mare Crisium looked fabulous. But it was the views of the, UN-Illuminated portion, which court my attention.

Plato was clearly visible, together with bright Aristarchus.

It was truly a wow moment.

David Frydman · Post by **David Frydman** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 7:25 am

I did not see this, but if the sky is very transparent earthshine can be very bright. Also I think the brightness of the Earth varies maybe due to cloud, so the Earth may have been brighter than normal.
I have seen big variations in earthshine with binoculars. It depends also of position of the Moon and athe age of the Moon. Maybe the Moon was at a higher elevation than usual for the age of the Moon at the time of the observation. It also varies according to the darkness of the sky as twilight fades.
So it could be a combination of favourable circumstances.

Regards, David.

kevinh1974uk · Post by **kevinh1974uk** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:48 am

I agree Paul - the Earthshine was amazing. I even got the interest of my non-astronomically minded wife on it.

David Frydman · Post by **David Frydman** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 2:33 pm

April 7th 12.01 to 12.02UT lovely sunny day small amount of thin cirrus.
Following an aircraft I noted the faint crescent Moon quite high up. I would not have noticed otherwise as I was not looking for it.
I could see no sign of the dark outline of the Moon.
I took 9 photos with 6x optical, 4x digital zoom Canon A720 compact.
I cannot see any sign of dark limb, which is not surprising in such a bright sky and lowish contrast moon.
1/800 second f/4.8 80 ISO. minus 1/3rd stop.
Hope it will be clear in the evening.

David.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:43 pm

Thank you for the replies.

I'm set up again tonight. And I am hoping to see the occultation of 37 Tau.

This will be difficult in a bright sky but I like the challenge.

Ender Of Days · Post by **Ender Of Days** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:21 pm

I did get the 1 pic through my Lumix,
it was a simple point and shoot and although not perfect it was the best I got

But it does show the Earth shine,

As said,its a rubbish picture but the moon looked Awesome in the darkening blue sky,

JJ..

David Frydman · Post by **David Frydman** » Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:31 am

I would be very happy with that photo from a non DSLR I presume.
I suppose you used a tripod. I usually don't and only occasionally are my photos as sharp as that hand held but braced against anything available.
The angles are usually akward for me to set up a tripod indoors.
I think it is a good photo not rubbish at all from presumably a bridge or compact camera.

Regards, David

mike a feist · Post by **mike a feist** » Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:39 am

hello : Last evening using binoculars 10X43 etc I observed the crescent Moon when it started to get a bit dark and the Pleiades fitted in the same fov as the crescent. at about 2118 BST I noticed the post-occultation start about a crescent width below the bright limb (in 65mm scope) and this was easily seen at 2125 in the bino as well. (I missed the appearance at the bright limb.....the info on occulations generally give times for the dark limb events and not the bright...such info would be handy...esp as in this case when the disappearance occured I imagined that the sky was too bright anyway. ,maf

Ender Of Days · Post by **Ender Of Days** » Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:21 pm

David,Yep its a bridge camera,and no tripod just rested on top of a mirror (hence why all the others were really blured)

JJ..

David Frydman · Post by **David Frydman** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 7:39 am

I got a few A3 size prints which were sharp hand held with Konica Minolta Z6 some years back of the very bright twilight evenig comet just braced against a sliding balcony door. Although most of the 40 or so photos were not very sharp. This was in neighbours top floor flat and I had no time to go and set up a tripod.
Exposures were around four seconds from memory. I had to make do with what what available and had little time before comet set.
Probably similar camera to Lumix.
It is best to use a tripod obviously but sometimes when out I have to use the top of a handy fence in the street. It is probably not mine to use but I just borrow it for a few seconds.
Years ago I remember just lying on the grass and pointingg a camera in the general direction with it jammed against the grass and my free hand and tha photo was sharp and pointed correctly.
For Aurora photos I have used a friend's door car mirror 4seconds 58mm f/1.2 200 ASA film. I asked my friends not to move. It was minus 25 degrees C. Lovely sharp photos. 65 degrees north latitude.

Lovely cloudless morning again.

Last night good earthshine in 8x40 binoculars but with Moon amongst tree branches could not really make out earthshine with unaided eye.

Regards, David.