Hi everyone. Well, I made it -60 observing sessions in 1 year. This is quite a load to sift through at a later date. Last year (2013) I did 50. It shows with a bit of effort, we can do 5 observing nights in 1 month on average. I doubt it though if I could equal this record in 2015!
1. Last night (28th December), I observed a 6 day old Half Moon. I mostly used my 5mm Nagler which gives an overwhelming 225X. I closed in on the Mare Serenitatis and I could see the crater Bessel easily. But I was amazed to see 2 tiny craters on the western side of this sea: Hornsby and Krishna. Hornsby is round and 3 kilometres in diameter. It is named after Thomas Hornsby who lived from 1733 - 1810. He is famous for observing the Transit of Venus twice in 1761 and 1769.
The Krishna crater might not be a crater. It is at the southern end of Dorsum Owen and it might be considered as a depression on the lunar surface. Its dimensions are 8 X 3 kilometres. It definitely is the weirdest tiny shaped object I have ever seen on the Moon. It looked like one of those car roof boxes we often see from a side view. I surmise that the Krishna object the finest individual sighting I have seen with my 6.2" apochromatic refractor in 5 years.I wonder if I will ever see it again.
I finish with another great sight -2 rilles in the centre of the crater Boscovich. The shadow on the western side of the crater prevented me from seeing the 3rd. However 2 out of 3 isn't bad! These rilles are very thin in diameter and are 40 kilometres in length -a first time observation for me.
2. As the ice and fog were increasing I had a quick look at Neptune at 320X -slight blue alright.
3 Sigma Aquarii is a very tough double star. It is beside Neptune. Its magnitudes are 4.8 and 8.5. Separation is 3.7 are seconds. I barely see B at 225 and 280X. It is quite low now in the southern sky at 6pm.
4. Zeta Aquarii was exquisite on Sunday night. I could see the black gap between A and B at only 112X. Double star lovers should check him out before he goes from our skies.
Thank you for reading. Happy New Year to everyone. Let us keep observing throughout 2015.
Aubrey.
  