Sketch cut short: Cichus

Hi All,

I hope you and those close to you are doing well.

On Sunday 21 February the sky looked very good from about 6pm. So, I decided I set up my 250mm Newtonian on a Dobsonian base in my driveway. By the time the mirror cooled which was close to 7:30pm clouds were blowing in. I decided to try to sketch the crater 'Cichus' between the break in clouds. Unfortunately, what you see below is 'work in progress' because the clouds were too heavy to complete it.

I really liked this crater as there is another, albeit smaller circular-shaped crater on its western rim. The smaller 'C' crater is 12 x 12 km, or 4 times smaller than the main crater.Also, another very nice feature can be found North of Cichus, and situated between 'Palus Epidemiarus' and 'Weiss'. In the eyepiece it appeared as a triangular-shaped embankment. I can't seem to find a name for it - although I haven't searched too much for it today.

So, If anyone does know its name I'd love to hear from you.

I used a 9mm 'Expanse' eyepiece, which provides a 66° AFOV, so plenty more features to add if I get the chance to finish it.

Maybe, the weather will cooperate next month; then again that's probably wishful thinking

Clear skies to all,

Darren.

Hello, Darren.

Great to see you are still producing superb lunar sketches!

Thankfully I did observe the Cichus crater fairly recently on Sunday 31st May 2020.

Your unnamed feature remains unnamed because it is simply a raised section of the lunar surface. South of Cichus is Cichus A, and your piece of raised ground lies between these 2 craters. However it is still a super catch! Cichus C looks delightful in your sketch too. You can see this whole area on Map 63 or Antonin Rukl's Atlas of the Moon.

By the way, on that same page you will also discover what happened to Mr. Cichus. He was an Italian astronomer and astrologer who was burnt at the stake for heresy at the age of 30. Poor chap! His official name was Francesco degli Stabili (1257-1327).

And yes, the clouds did prevent me from observing later on Sunday night.

We are supposed to clear skies tomorrow night (Thursday). Sadly I won't be available to do any observing as I have something else to attend.

Very best regards from Aubrey.

Hi Aubrey, 

Very many thanks for your kind message. 

I was delighted to read that you have observed 'Cichus' recently. It is such beautiful crater. 

Also, many thanks for the information on the raised terrain. Based on the shadows I observed it looks like it has fairly steep slopes. 

In terms of Francesco degli Stabili, I wonder what did he say to warrant such a horrific death? And what would they have done to Elon Musk if he was around back then? 

Good call on the weather last night too... I got out for a bit... More about that later. 

Clear skies, 

Darren.