On 27th December 2017 when the Moon was a day after first quarter (day 8.8), I took a series of pictures down the terminator from the north pole to Copernicus. These pictures can be seen on the pages to which they relate or as a mosaic here. On 8th January 2018 (Day 21, a day before third quarter) I repeated these pictures with the light coming from the other direction. In addition the libration is exactly opposite; in the earlier pictures it is favourable for the north-west, and in the later pictures it is favourable to the south-east. Indeed the change in longitudinal libration at almost ±8° is about as large as it can ever be The large change in latitudinal libration (totalling over 11°) is most obvious in the first of the pictures below but also results in slightly different orientations between other pairs.
Below you can see slightly reduced copies of the earlier pictures on the left and the corresponding picture from the 8th January 2018 on the right. In both cases the Moon was fairly low in the sky, so I used my atmospheric-dispersion corrector on both nights.
Move your mouse over the picture to see the names of the various craters. I've not bothered with scale markers on the later pictures. (The mouseover images on the left are reductions of the original mouseover images and the labels have not reduced very clearly, but I think they are legible. In any case they are largely reproduced on the right.)
| The day after first quarter. | The day before third quarter. |
|
Date: 27th December 2017 Day 8.8 Lunar Phase: 72.3° Colongitude: 24.7° Libration: +6° 56' in latitude, -7° 49' in longitude Camera: DMK 21AF04 Telescope: LX200-10 with Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector |
Date: 8th January 2018 Day: 21 Lunar Phase: 278.4° Colongitude: 164.0° Libration: -4° 48' in latitude, +7° 56' in longitude Camera: DMK 21AF04 Telescope: LX200-10 with Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector |
|
|
| The North Time: 19:14 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/618", gain 727, 1800 frames Processing: Registax6. 14 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 10, gamma 1.5 |
The North Time: 05:29 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/618", gain 870, 1787 frames Processing: Registax6. 21 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 10, gamma 1.5 |
|
|
| The Lunar Alps Time: 19:12 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/618", gain 727, 1800 frames Processing: Registax6. 16 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 5, gamma 1.3 |
The Lunar Alps Time: 05:17 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/736", gain 898, 1800 frames Processing: Registax6. 25 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 10, gamma 1.3 |
|
|
| The Lunar Caucusus Time: 19:10 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/618", gain 727, 1800 frames Processing: Registax6. 13 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 5, gamma 1.3, Focus Magic focus 2 pixels |
The Lunar Caucusus Time: 05:19 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/736", gain 898, 1800 frames Processing: Registax6. 22 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 5, gamma 1.3, Focus Magic focus 2 pixels |
|
|
| The Lunar Apennines Time: 19:07 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/618", gain 727, 1800 frames Processing: Registax6. 16 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 5, gamma 1.3 |
The Lunar Apennines Time: 05:21 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/736", gain 898, 1800 frames Processing: Registax6. 27 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 5, gamma 1.3 |
|
|
| Eratosthenes and the Lunar Apennines Time: 19:03 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/500", gain 741, 1795 frames Processing: Registax6. 26 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 5, gamma 1.4 |
Eratosthenes and the Lunar Apennines Time: 05:23 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/618", gain 898, 1793 frames Processing: Registax6. 22 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 10, |
|
|
| Eratosthenes and Copernicus Time: 19:01 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/500", gain 741, 1795 frames Processing: Registax6. 26 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 5, gamma 1.4 |
Eratosthenes and Copernicus Time: 05:24 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/618", gain 898, 1793 frames Processing: Registax6. 22 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 10, |
|
|
| Copernicus Time: 18:59 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/367", gain 741, 1800 frames Processing: Registax6. 16 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Wavelets 1,2 = 5, gamma 1.3 |
Copernicus Time: 05:26 UT Capture: ICCapture. 1/876", gain 898, 1800 frames Processing: Registax6. 21 alignment points, 100 frames stacked per point. Gaussian Wavelets Scheme 1, |
Home Back to NE Quadrant