Moon Phase Project

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Day 20 waning gibbous

 

Approx. Moon Rise / Meridian / Set: 2308 / 0508 / 1108
% Illuminated: 63%
Approx. Terminator: 19° to 6° E
Hightlighted Features: mare Frigoris, Serenitatus; crater Abulfeda, Maurolycus, Simpelius

Observations

Aug. 30, 2010, am

  • 100% clear, ? transparency, ? seeing

  • LX10 mounted on Orion Atlas EQ-G (for first time, hand paddle)

  • backyard, Ottawa, Canada

  • terminator ~ 18° E

This was my first night using my new (used) Orion Atlas mount.  Wow it's beefy!  I took a bit to set it up, but when it was it was sweet!  What have I been doing for the past year with that ancient LX10 fork mount?  I let it run for a couple hours while I went in to sleep for a bit (so moon higher in sky), but when I came out the hand controller for the mount was toasted.  Drat.  I still managed to snap off enough shots to make a nice mosaic though.  Note the large amount of libration when you compare this image to the one from Feb. 24th below.

click to enlarge      
     
LX10 (mosaic of 9 frames) - 740kb      

Feb. 24, 2011, am

  • 100% clear, 2/5 transparency, 2/5 seeing

  • LX10 mounted on Orion Atlas EQ-G (hand paddle)

  • backyard, Ottawa, Canada

  • terminator ~ 16° E

Had left setup out from previous night since forecast was for a couple nice days in a row.  Got up at 3am again to image the Moon.  Since still without replacement EQDIR, ran hand controller and laptop cables into stairwell at back door.  That way I could sit down and not be in the cold while I did the imaging...it is February after all!  I got through all the f/3.3 shots and started the f/10 shots when thin high altitude clouds started to move in.

click to enlarge click to enlarge    
   
LX10 + 0.33x FR + M&S (mosaic of 2 frames) - 378kb LX10 + M&S (mosaic of 9 frames) - 1.9Mb    

Mar. 26, 2011, am

  • 100% clear, 4/5 transparency, 1/5 seeing

  • ED80 and LX10 mounted on Orion Atlas EQ-G (PC)

  • backyard, Ottawa, Canada

  • terminator ~ 9° E

Mount was still setup from several nights before.  Got up at 4am, ready to image by 4:30 but Moon still too low to see above trees and houses.  Had to wait until 5am to start imaging, finishing around 6:40.  The sky was starting to lighten but image contrast was still good up until I was finished.  I think my collimation and focus was very good tonight as Cassini and Vallis Alpes looked very crisp.

click to enlarge click to enlarge    
   
ED80 + M&S - 119kb LX10 + M&S (mosaic of 12 frames) - 1.1Mb    

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Last updated: 08-Nov-11

 

Copyrights to all content from the webpages hosted here belongs to Jim Thompson. Nov. 2009.