Crater Rosse

Good chance to see the crater Rosse tonight - named after William Parsons the Earl of Rosse who lived in Birr. It's visible near the terminator. Look for the large feature that resembles a "horseshoe" - that's the walled plain Fracastorius. The bright crater near the "open" side of "horseshoe" is Rosse.

More on Rosse here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Parsons%2C_3rd_Earl_of_Rosse

Peter.

Fractastorius, to Madler along the terminator
May 21st 2007
21:00UT – 22:45 UT
Bray, Co Wicklow

Lunation 5.16 Days
Seeing 1 – 2 Transparency good
200mm Reflector / Williams Optics Bino Viewers 20mm eyepieces
2X Barlow/120 X
300gm Paper/Soft Pastels/Conte Crayons/Blending stick

I have had these bino viewers for a lend for two weeks now and this was the first time I had the chance to use them.

I was looking at the moon from around 7pm local time as I was keen to see what they could do. Oh boy !!! what a view, really extraordinary, even though the seeing was bad it was good. I looked at Vallis Rhetia Wow its long alleyway bent toward me a superb target.

Petavius was also tempting with its central mountain jutting up like sticks in a fire. What can I say, the drama of the terminator called and said Fracastorius was doing a powerful light show with some of its close craters. Fracastorius D, H and Beaumont were presenting like a series of vertebra arching into the darkness.Tiny Rosse just visible on the mare floor just a little North of Fracastorius ( South is Up)

Wonderful effect created by this instrument, toward the end of my session at around 23:00 local time, the seeing became steadier and the floor of Nectaris revealed some subtle variations in greys and lines so I gave it some attention.
I enjoyed the extra dimension these gave me for my sketch; I look forward to some more deep moon exploration with them this month.

Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society

Thats my favourite area of the moon, lots of features. Here's a pic of the area from last year. Sorry - forgot to mention crater Rosse in this, but its clearly visible North East of 7. Fracastorius with ejecta from Tycho running NE through it.