Clavius and her craterlets

Target
Clavius and her craterlets
31st October 2006
18:00 UT – 18:41UT
Bray Co Wicklow Ireland
Humidity 67%Temp 7C
Rite in the Rain paper Staedtler 2B, 6B pencils
Lat: 53:11:44N (53.1955) Lon: 6:06:31W (-6.1086)
Seeing 2
Transparency Average
Moon Data
1.98days past first quarter
Illumination 70%

Clavius – The marginal area of the Moon adjacent to the South Pole, which is densely covered by craters and large oval plains. The terrain is mountainous, especially close to the edge, and deep shadows make the observation and mapping of the area very difficult. – From A Concise Guide to the Moon Mars and Venus by Antonin Rukl -1978

I took advantage of the early darkness and the very lovely almost steady moon. Clavius looked very tempting so close to the terminator. So got out all the gear and started sketching , too at times, the deafning sounds of Halloween pyrotechnics.

Most of last winter I tried to observe and sketch Clavius, most of the time it was wobbling in and out of focus. Most of the time it presented very oblique and bleached out by sunlight. Last night there was some more defining features than usual, it was however difficult as it was so illuminated by our own stellar firecracker.

Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society
www.irishastrosoc.org

Fabulous sketch!!

Thanks Michael, I enjoyed this one.

Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society
www.irishastrosoc.org

I always admire people who have the patience and skill to sit down and sketch features of the moon! As for Clavius, it is certainly a very attractive feature to observe/image/sketch.

Suggestion for Deirdre ... Serpentine Ridge next?

Here is a teaser: www.perseus.gr/Astro-Lunar-L100-L033.htm ...