Image of the Moon at 4 Days

Here is a nice demonstration of libration.  The right-hand picture here was taken only half a day earlier in the lunar cycle than the one on the left.  However, the libration in longitude was very different.  When the left-hand picture was taken, the libration was -7° 7', which is almost as unfavourable as it gets for this part of the Moon.  When the right-hand picture was taken the libration was +5° 41' which is about 2° less than the most favourable it can get.  The difference in presentation is therefore 12° 48' which is about 75% of the maximum possible.  Look at the different presentation of Mare Crisium in particular.
And here is a higher-resolution picture of this phase with a libration very similar to the left-hand picture below.

Date and Time: 6th May 2003 20:26 UT (day 4.8)
Camera: ToUcam 740K
Telescope: 270 mm SLR lens
Capture: K3CCDTools. Mid gamma, 1/100", 5% gain
Processing: Registax. 168 frames, Wavelet 1 = 10

Date and Time: 3rd March 2006 18:57 UT (day 4.3)
Camera: ToUcam 740K
Telescope: ST80, 80 mm refractor
Capture: K3CCDTools. Low gamma, 1/250", 0% gain
Processing: Registax. 168 frames, Wavelets 1 = 10, 2 = 5,
gamma 1.7
Mosaic of two images, merged in iMerge,
unsharp mask 50,2, contrast -20 in PhotoImpact.

			Home      Back to the Moon