After coming home from work once again during the wee hours of the morning, and finding the sky once again mostly clear but murky and moonlit (pretty much like every predawn these first days of September) I decided to get the telescope out again to do some lunar observing and camera work again.
The Moon was still a Waning Gibbous, but it was getting closer to Last Quarter. This time it was in far Eastern Taurus, higher in the sky, and shedding a little less light than it had three mornings ago. Though it was hazy and there may have been high fog in the air (and also still maybe a little high altitude smoke), Transparency was better than it had been on Tuesday morning this week. This time, 3rd magnitude stars could barely be seen, though anything dimmer was impossible with the naked eye.
I had the 10" f/4 outside and set up by 4:05 AM, and at that time I also had a look at the Moon under 39x. I wasn't really trying to image any particular targets tonight; I just thought that Mare Imbrium might start looking interesting with the sunset line halfway through Mare Serenitatus and slowly heading its way.
Lunar Colongitude at 4:15 AM (8:15 UT Sept. 4) = 159.48°
Lunar Colongitude at 4:30 AM (8:30 UT Sept. 4) = 159.60°
This time, unlike Tuesday morning, I only spent one short session outside between about 4:15 AM - 4:30 AM. During that time I managed to shoot 7 photos using 39x power and 36 photos using 78x power. These photos were downloaded into Folder #69 in my Nikon Transfer folder on my laptop.
These are the best images of the session from what I've seen so far. All of them were taken using the Nikon Coolpix L20 digital camera handheld to the eyepiece of the telescope. I'm posting them here without much comment; obviously the Mare Serenitatus area and the heavily cratered highlands on the southern hemisphere were the most showy targets; though some shading can also be seen in Mare Imbrium's features and even on Plato. All in all, I was pleased with how the photos turned out! Once again, Seeing was great even though Transparency wasn't good at all!
The image below is of the whole Moon. 39x power. 4:18 AM (8:18 UT Sept. 4). Lunar Colongitude = 159.51°
The next image below shows the Moon's northern hemisphere under 78x power. 4:23 AM (8:23 UT Sept. 4). Lunar Colongitude = 159.55°
This last image shows the heavily cratered lunar southern hemisphere. 78x power. 4:27 AM (8:27 UT Sept. 4). Lunar Colongitude = 159.58°
I had the telescope back inside by 5:00 AM after what turned out to be a very short session. There was some dew on the telescope tube and dew cap, but, like Tuesday morning, I didn't really have it outside long enough for it to be an issue. Singing night insects were in full chorus again this morning.
5:00 AM Conditions - Temperature = 72°F, Dew Point = 66°F, Humidity = 82%, Wind = SW at 6mph, Pressure = 29.98".
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