Saturday the 28th of March saw the launch of MoonWatch and as luck would have it, the weather decided to play ball. The conditions weren’t fantastic as a thin veil of cirrus cloud drifted overhead, but still it was more than adequate for catching the slender crescent of the Moon with the 25×100 binoculars before it set.
The view was a truly stunning sight as the Earthshine lit up the dark side of the Moon to reveal the hidden Maria. Conversely the shining crescent highlighted several noteworthy features along the eastern limb of the Moon. The Mare Crisium which was partially visible looked wonderful as the wrinkled edges of the basin jutted out against the dark shadows while the prominent crater Langrenus just further to the south was bathed in complete darkness.
Also on show was the ancient Vendelinus and the overlapping crater Lamé alongside the smaller circular shapes of Barkla and Kapteyn just to the north east of these two battered lunar relics. However, I have to say that it was Petavius that stole the show; the large impact crater revealed it’s tall central mountains in all their glory as they cast a huge black swathe across the lunar surface. Clinging on to the southern rim of Petavius I could also make out the uneven outline of Hase and Hase d while sitting just eastwards of these two rough features lay the silhouettes of Adams and Legendre. Looking below this small jumble of craters I was also able to observe the eye-catching Furnerius but much like Langrenus it was completely hidden in shadow and offered no other detail.
By this time the Moon was now disappearing from view behind the rooftops which more or less forced me to bring my session to an end, but what a session! In addition to making some very nice observations I also managed to produce a rough drawing that I converted into the digital sketch that you can see above. Hopefully it conveys a general impression of the wonderful and absobing view that held me captive for twenty amazing minutes.
[Image edited: 01.04.09]