Mark's Astro Pix - Moon - Zone 5

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KEY Lunar 100 objects that have not yet been photographed. Lunar 100 objects that have been photographed. Other objects that have been photographed.	The Lunar 100 list is from "Introducing the Lunar 100" by Charles A. Wood (Sky & Telescope, Sky Publishing Corp., April 2004, Vol. 107, No. 4, pp. 113-120). All rights remain with Sky Publishing Corp. I (MSS) have transcribed this list for my personal use and any errors are mine. Unless stated otherwise, all photographs will be oriented such that north is up and lunar west to the left.

03:19 UTC October 24, 2004
1/8 sec - f4.9 - ISO 400
3.0× telephoto
12 mm eyepiece (312.5x)
unsharp mask (5.0; 0.50; 0)
North is to the upper-left

The things that make Copernicus (L5) an archtypical large crater are: a flat floor, a central peak and concentric rings or shelves in the crater wall. The rough terrain to the left and arcing to the top is called the Carpathian Mountains.

Below and a little left are shadows from some of the Hortensius domes (L65), little (appearing) bumps on the otherwise smooth Mare Oceanus floor. Not visible in this photo are small, possibly volcanic craters in the centers of some the domes.

The dark halo crater, Copernicus H (L74), is just to the right of Copernicus itself. Only the smaller, darker spot of the halo is really visible. The Copernicus H crater itself is not resolved although the sunlight reflecting off the crater wall does show as a brighter point in the dark halo. The halo is probably formed when the meteor that creates the crater excavates darker material just under the surface which then rains down around the new crater forming the halo.

02:27 UTC April 1, 2004
1/4 sec - f4.9 - ISO 400
3.0× telephoto
12.5 mm eyepiece (300x)
unsharp mask (5.0; 0.50; 0)

Mighty Tycho (L6) is to the northeast. When illuminated by the Sun, Tycho is so bright and its rays so prominent that it is identifiable even in binoculars. This indicates it is a young crater.

A few of Tycho's rays are just visible, one of which passes west of the large but shallow crater Clavius. I'll always be fond of Clavius because it was the site of the U.S. Moon base in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Schiller (L30) is the unusual, oblong crater to the west-southwest. Schiller may be the result of a meteor striking at a very shallow angle. It rests on the northern edge of the Schiller-Zucchius basin (L59). Use Schiller as a starting point to trace out its rim, first to the west, where its identifying number appears, then to the south, near the terminator, around, near the left edge of the picture and back up to Schiller. It is about twice the size of the Schiller crater but has been almost hidden by subsequent cratering.

03:50 UTC June 14, 2008
1/15 sec - f4.9 - ISO 100
3.0× telephoto & 2.0× digital
12.5 mm eyepiece(600.0×)
This is an average of ten images. The contrast enhanced slightly and an unsharp mask (3.0; 1.0; 0) was applied.

A series of concentric rilles around the Humorum basin best seen near the Hippalus crater. A lucky catch with the light just right, this region has many, many interesting features plus surprises like this.

03:35 UTC July 14, 2008
1/4 sec - f4.9 - ISO 100
3.0× telephoto & 2.0× digital
12.5 mm eyepiece (600x)
This is a combination of nine photos. The brightness was adjusted, an unsharp mask applied (3.0; 1.0; 0.0) to the individual photos and then combined.

The long, snake-like shadows are the limits of huge lava flows that repeatedly oozed from and created the floor of Mare Imbrium.