Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society DartfordThe Moon

The Moon

Observing the Moon

The Moons seems such an obvious object but there is much to be observed, with just your mark 1 eyeball try observing the different phases, the order they occur and the time of day best to observe them. Look for the highlands and seas and see if you can spot the wobble of the moon (libration).

However if you have a telescope try observing the Lunar 100, or imaging the Moon’s features.

BAA Lunar Section | Wikipedia Entry

Recommended Filters

Neutral Density (ND) filters to remove the glare
Fringe Killer to remove any colour cast from refractor telescopes.
Imaging Filters:
IR Pass filter to improve the seeing.

 

Slideshow

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Occultation of the Beehive by the Moon

On Saturday 13th April I’d hoped to go to the Observatory and image the occultation of the Beehive cluster by the Moon but alas Diane and I had forgotten that we were taking part in a local RSPB quiz. We’ve taken part on a number of other occasions with fellow member Deborah and David, her husband, who are also keen bird watchers, so we had said yes to this quiz before we knew about the events clashing.
 
The skies were still clear after the quiz so we headed to the observatory, we got to the Pavilion at about 22:30BST (21:30UT) to find that no one else was using it. We imaged the Moon with the Beehive cluster from the patio then imaged some lunar craters and took a tour around the sky with the 16″. The skies remained clear until 02:10BST at which time Diane and I packed up and went home.

201904132319UTMoonM44

Diane Clarke’s Lunar Images

Diane Clarke Blue Moon 2015-07-31

Diane2pcmoon
I looked out my window just as a break in the clouds revealed The 2% lit waxing crescent Moon, so luckily I was able to capture this image, shortly after the clouds closed and the Moon was again obscured. Canon EOS 750D ISO 1600,f6.7@1/90th Sec Sigma 18/250 Lens @ 250mm Taken at 21.00hrs 13.04.21 Jpeg from a RAW file Diane Clarke Belvedere

5.3Waxing-crescent-Moon-Venus
I took this picture while preparing to image NLC’s as the night was clear and quite mild, Venus became visible as the sky darkened & before it got lost in the late evening twilight, I did not see any NLC although they had been reported elsewhere in the UK. The picture was taken at 22.00 although somehow the camera’s clock was 4 minuets fast Canon EOS 750D Static tripod Canon Macro Lens EF 100mm f 5.6 @ 1/60, ISO 400 12.06.21 22.00hrs

Other Images
Sun | Comets | Mercury | Venus | Atmospheric Optics | Meteors | Auroa and NLC | Moon | Minor Planets | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn | Uranus | Neptune | Messier | Caldwell | All Deep Sky | Conjunctions | Transits | Solar Eclipse | Lunar Eclipse | Wide Field |ISS & Space Junk | Exo-Planets

All images are copyright. Permission must be sought to from the image owner to the use of any of these images.

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