Catena Davy -22/06/18

Hello everyone.



I set up my William Optics 158 mm F/7 apochromatic refractor on Friday evening 22nd June 2018 in my back garden.
The sky was clear although there was some turbulence. (Sunset occurs at 21.57 local time).
A glorious sight awaited me when I pointed the scope at the 9 day old gibbous Moon.
I used powers up to 225X and focused on the area around the 35 km Davy crater and its smaller 15 km Davy A crater.
To my great surprise, I could see a small bright line heading eastwards from Davy.
Antonin Rukl's Atlas of the Moon informed me I was looking at the famous Catena Davy (Map 43).
Initially I used my Pentax 10 mm eyepiece and the bright 50 km long line was easily visible.
I then increased the magnification up to 140X, 167X and finally, 225X.
What was remarkable to observe was no less than 4 tiny craters across the crater chain.
2 of them are labelled: C and YA. The largest of which are 3 kms in diameter.
It was a most beautiful sight at 225X. I did not go any higher.
This was my first time to observe Catena Davy.
I have been observing the Moon since 1977.
It was clearly worth waiting for!!

I should also point out that between 10 to 10.15 pm local time, I was seeing the 3 central peaks of Copernicus appearing out of the darkness.
(Copernicus was right on the terminator)
The Moon often has loads of surprises for everyone.

Clear skies from Aubrey.

Nice one.....interesting report. I am not one for visual observing but I enjoyed reading re your interesting evening. Some time ago I bought a second hand 8" SCT.....a closer look at the moon will be one of my first visual adventurers when I eventually get it set up......running in tandem to my refractor shooting images in some other distant part of the sky.

Kinch.

Hello, Kinch.
I also greatly enjoy and admire your wonderful images of anything and everything.
Normally when an amateur astronomer like yourself gets involved in imaging, my experience tells me that they don't seem to do anything else.
Me -I just love observing.
Last night when I finally got to bed, do you think I could sleep?
Because of what I had been observing for over 2 hours, it seemed to take an age to finally nod off!

Thank you for your kind words.
I will be looking forward to what you will be reporting on this brilliant website through your second hand 8" SCT.

Kindest regards,

Aubrey.

I was out observing observing the moon and Jupiter. I was using 127mm Mak with my WO binoviewer. There was some roiling, this might have been the Mak not being at optimal thermal balance.
The views of the moon were stunning, two eyes are definitely better than one. The amount of details visible in Clavius was amazing, really small craters visible on the floor. Looking down on Copernicus was a pleasure, so much ejecta on the mare floor popped into view.
Moving along the terminator was a delight, points of light visible on the dark side when mountain tops were illuminated by the rising sun.
One of my favourite aspects of lunar observing is the shadow play, so many different views of the shadows as they creep across a crater floor or a mare is something to behold.
To anyone who has never viewed through binoviewers, do it, it is an experience like no other and I cannot see myself going back to mono viewing.
Paul

Hi Paul.
I did have that strong feeling you were going to be out observing the moon at the same time as me.
Where would we be without our Moon?
That binoviewer seems to be giving you real treats in recent times.
I didn't bother with Clavius -sorry to say.
Catena Davy and Copernicus were both blowing me away last Friday night.
But I did enjoy the black line of Rupes Recta also.

Has anyone had a shot at observing Venus lately?
Once I reach 225X, the planet seems to shimmer quite a lot more than, say, 167X.
And that is even before sunset.
I'm loving it all the same. The gibbous disc is getting larger and the phase is shrinking.

I wish you clear skies,

Aubrey.

Thanks for great reports Aubrey and Paul.

I was taking advantage of the lovely evening too, and testing a new scope - a SkyWatcher Evostar 120 ED. I got this from Ktec Telescopes (at a very competitive price) and am really enjoying it so far. I'll write a fuller report in due course, but like Paul and yourself, I concentrated on the moon last Saturday and wanted to add to your reports. The views along the terminator were fantastic, despite the fact that the seeing was not great. The central peaks in Copernicus, and the mountains around Plato towered over the surrounding plains. The detail in the rim of Plato was excellent, but I could not spot any craterlets. I did however just about make out Rimae Plato, which was satisfying because it is a pretty small feature.

The new refractor is far more portable than the big SCT so I hope to get out to some of the observing sessions again. Hopefully there will be an opportunity to check out Paul's binoviewer!

Thanks for reading,
Mike