Moon and Porrima

Hi everybody.
I have just noticed Porrima (Gamma Virginis) is almost directly south of the Moon tonight Monday 4th May by about 2 degrees.
Porrima's magnitudes are: A = 3.5. B = 3.5. Sep = 2.9". PA = 359 degrees.
Vallis Schroteri, Aristarchus and Herodotus will on view too as well as a host of other lunar features.

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

It looks reasonably clear for most of us too...

Keith..

Go for it, my main man, Keith!

Both stars are yellow-white.
I wonder if it is possible to figure which component is the brighter.
There is only 0.05 difference in magnitude (Delta Mag)

Clear skies!

Aubrey.

Ah alas, I didn’t get to see it. My neighbour decided to light a fire ! My back garden was very smoky

Keith..

Gosh! What a disaster!
I'm sorry to hear that, Keith.

Thankfully I had no problems apart from the strong easterly wind.
Before Porrima appeared with my own eyes, my William Optics 158 mm apochromatic refractor was trying to split herself at 40X!
It was a glorious sight at 112X. The lower star was ever so slightly fainter than the upper one.
Through my small 70 mm apo at 11X the Moon and Porrima were in the same field of view of 6 degrees of course.

The Moon was very good indeed. Vallis Schroteri looked magnificent at 112X - as did Herodotus, Aristarchus, Prinz, Krieger Van Biesbroeck, Wolleston and Marius. Did anyone notice the Marius domes right on the terminator? There must have been over 20 of them. Further south had Schiller and Schickard.

All in all, I had a very satisfactory night of observing. Valerie was with me. I observed my very first S class star. It's at maximum magnitude right now: +9.5. The designation is AV Canum Venaticorum or AV Canum. I have submitted that magnitude on www.aavso.org

I also showed Valerie Upgren 1 that open cluster in Canes Venatici. There is no Upgren 2. Upgren 1 is about 7 degrees west of Cor Caroli.

The winds are due to die down tonight Tuesday.
So another night of observing for me.

Happy Days and nights from Aubrey

Hi Aubrey, 

Very many thanks for your 'heads- up on the event. I took a look at it my self, and Porrima was very nice indeed. 

In addition to observing Porrima, I also observed those lunar features you mentioned. Vallis Schroteri really stood out for me. I viewed it at 37.5X, 48X, and 133X. 

I attempted to sketch Cavendish at 272X, but the wind caused havoc, and there was a bit of a chill too. So after approximately 30 minutes, I put down the pencil, and packed-up. 

Clear skies,

Darren.