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I went out the other night with the 10″ Dob and took a few more photos using my cellphone held up to the eyepiece. I had just finished my last author edits for Book 5 in the AlCent Sagas series, so I thought I’d share them as a sort of celebration. I used my new wide angle 9 mm eyepiece and the images are clearer further out to the edges. I also used a 13% Moon filter to dampen some of the glare. That 10″ mirror gathers a lot of light! (I often think of the old Police song “Walking on the Moon” while I’m observing.) Enjoy!
This dark area upper center is Mare Imbrium (“Sea of Rains”) and it is one of my favorite places to peruse. Lots of large, detailed craters, mountain ranges, and lone mountains rising from the smooth gray floor.Here is Mare Cognitum (“Sea that has Become Known”) just upper right of center. Copernicus is the large crater to the right, and Fra Mauro is the shallow crater in the middle.The southernmost dark area is Mare Nubium (“Sea of Clouds”). Bullialdus is the large crater in the upper left. I’ve learned most of the other crater names from the lunar charts I have, but they are too numerous to mention here!This area is the southern highlands. Tycho is the newer crater to the upper right of center with the central peaks and the rays of ejecta material. To its upper left is the large crater Clavius. Note the perfect arc of craters of descending size on its floor. I can sometimes spend hours wandering around the Moon. There is no substitute for aperture!This is the beast that helped me capture these images – my Explore Scientific 10″ Hybrid Truss Dobsonian telescope.
james crawford 