Copernicus and Kepler

One of the most prominent and striking craters on the Moon, Copernicus (at the right in the image) is found in the Oceanus Procellarum, slightly northwest of the center of the Moon's face. It has a vaguely hexagonal shape with beautiful terraced walls and in the center it does not have a single mountain but several peaks and groups of hills. Copernicus is easily spotted whenever it is sunlit because it is in the heart of a massive system of rays that extend at least 800 kilometers across the surrounding sea, overlapping with rays from other craters, notably Kepler's crater visible on the left of the image. These lunar rays are strips of material ejected during the impact that formed the crater and look somewhat like the thin spokes coming from the hub of a wheel. Several smaller craters are visible all around Copernicus, with some of these forming sinuous chains. North of Copernicus are the Montes Carpatus which to the west (left in the picture) disperse to form sparser hills. Further west is Kepler with its impressive system of Splash Rays extending over 300 kilometers over the Oceano Procellarum. The ejecta mantle appears lighter in contrasts to the dark basaltic materials of the surrounding ocean. Below Kepler is the interesting Encke crater, with its low rim and somewhat polygonal shape. Mosaic of 2 images - Nauris 21" f/3.8 @ f/10 - APM ED 2.7x ComaCorr Barlow - ASI 178MM - Green Filter

Sinus Iridum

Sinus Iridum, "Bay of Rainbows", is plain of basaltic lava that forms a northwestern extension to the Mare Imbrium on Earth's moon. It is surrounded from the northeast to the southwest by the Montes Jura range. This bay and the surrounding mountains is considered one of the most beautiful features on the Moon, and is a favorite among lunar observers. Sinus Iridum is formed from the remains of a large impact crater, which was subsequently flooded with basaltic lava, inundating the "sea" wall. Nauris 21" f/3.8 @ f/10 - APM ED 2.7x ComaCorr Barlow - ASI 178MM - Green Filter

The Aristarchus Plateau

The Aristarchus Plateau imaged in the first photo, located in the northwest part of the Moon's near side, has fascinated lunar observers since before the space age. Superimposed on the plateau is a spectacular channel (or rille), named Vallis Schröteri, and the Aristarchus Crater, the largest impact on the plateau and one of the brightest features on the moon. The plateau itself is surrounded by the lava flows of Oceanus Procellarum, and the whole region has a high concentration of sinuous rilles. The Vallis Schröteri, at left of image center, is 160 kilometers long and it is the moon's largest rille, wider at its crater head than elsewhere, which has given it the nickname of the "Cobra Head". The Aristarchus Plateau is a potential resource for useful elements like hydrogen, oxygen, iron and titanium and therefore it is a naturally of interest to future lunar missions. This area is also noted for the large number of reported transient lunar phenomena, the highest recorded for any lunar feature. West of Aristarchus crater (to the left in the image) is Herodotus crater with its slightly irregular, narrow rim and a flat inner floor, flooded with lava. East of the plateau, just at right of the center in the image, is visible the crescent ring of crater Prinz and further east are the Montes Harbinger, an isolated cluster of lunar mountains at the western edge of the Mare Imbrium basin. Nauris 21" f/3.8 @ f/10 - APM ED 2.7x ComaCorr Barlow - ASI 178MM - Green Filter

Craters Clavius, Rutherfurd, Scheiner, Blancanus and Moretus

The lunar south pole is located near the bottom of this mosaic taken a few days before the full moon phase. The mountains visible along the lunar limb at the bottom can rise about 6 kilometers above the surrounding terrain. The large prominent crater just above the center is Clavius. It is one of the largest craters on the Moon, with a diameter of 230 km (140 miles), as well as one of the oldest and was probably formed during the Nectarian period, about 4 billion years ago. In October 2020, NASA confirmed the existence of molecular water near Clavius, with its origin still debated. Another rather interesting crater, located entirely within the southern (bottom) rim of Clavius, is Rutherfurd crater. Rutherfurd's edge is higher than that of Clavius, while its floor is irregularly shaped and jagged. Porter crater, located above Rutherfurd, is the other large crater superimposed on the rim of Clavius. Just below and to the left of Clavius is crater Scheiner and to its right, below Clavious, lays crater Blancanus. While the rim of Scheiner is heavily worn, in particular in the northern part, the rim of Blancanus is considerably less eroded and still fairly well defined. Another notable crater in the region near the Moon's south pole is Moretus, in the lower right of this image. The floor of Moretus has been partially covered by lava and is relatively flat, with a central mountain formation that rises about 2 kilometers (1.3 miles). Due to the location near the lunar limb, Moretus appears oblong due to perspective. 3 Panel Mosaic - Nauris 21" f/3.8 @ f/10 - APM ED 2.7x ComaCorr Barlow - ASI 178MM - Green Filter

Mare Humorum and craters Gassendi, Mersenius, Doppelmayer, Hippalus

The Mare Humorum, or Sea of Moisture, is a lunar feature about 400 km (250 miles) in diameter that appears oval to us due to perspective. Like all lunar maria, Humorum's formation began with a large impact that split the lunar crust. The depression created by the impact then got filled with lava that gushed out of the fissures in the bottom. The lava deformed during cooling and formed low-profile ridges that appear concentric at the rim of the basin. The ridges are easier to spot in oblique light when they cast shadows. The northern shore of the sea (top) is marked by the massive crater Gassendi, with within it the network of fissures known as the Rimae Gassendi, various hills and a double mountain peak. The western shore of the sea is bounded by a material beach and a mountain range along which are the large craters of Mersenius (top left) and below the craters of Cavendish and Liebig. The rim of Mersenius is heavily worn, especially in the lower northern part. On the southern shore of the sea, below, the Doppelmayer crater seems to sink into the lava bed. The lower half of Doppelmayer's rim is well defined, as is its high central peak. On the eastern shore of the Mare Humorum (bottom right of the image), there are the remains of the crater Hippalus, whose southwest edge, due to subsidence, disappeared into the sea. The area around Hippalus contains the best examples of arcuate grooves to be found on the Moon. Each of these concentric arcs is approximately 3 km (2 miles) wide. 2 Panel Mosaic - Nauris 21" f/3.8 @ f/10 - APM ED 2.7x ComaCorr Barlow - ASI 178MM - Green Filter

Crater and Rima Hyginus

C14 @ f/16 - ZWO ASI290MM - Baader Green filter - iOptron CEM120 - Singapore

Montes and Vallis Alpes and Craters Protagoras, Cassini, Aristoteles & Eudoxus

November 5th, 2020 The mountain range at left of the picture is named after the Alps in Europe. While the Alps of planet Earth were uplifted over millions of years as continental plates slowly collided, the lunar Alps were likely formed by a sudden collision that created the giant impact basin known as the Mare Imbrium or Sea of Rains. The Montes Alpes begins at the Promontorium Agassiz, just northwest of the floor-flodded crater Cassini (bottom left in the image), then stretches about 280 kilometres to the northwest. The peaks of the Alpes range in height from 1,800m to 2,400m. The northwestern third of the range is separated from the remainder of the mountains by the Vallis Alpes, a wide rift valley that extends from a narrow cleft in the Montes Alpes to the northeast, reaching the edge of the Mare Frigoris. The total length of this formation is about 166 km, and it reaches a maximum width of 10 km. Running down the center of this valley is a narrow cleft which is visible only with larger telescopes and when there is the right illumination, which occours during Sunrise and sunset before the respective lunar quarters. The large craters that lies to the east of the Montes Alpes range (center top of the image) is Aristoteles, a lunar impact crater named after the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. The inner walls of this crater are wide and finely terraced, while the outer ramparts display a generally radial structure of hillocks through the extensive blanket of ejecta. To the immediate south of Aristoteles lies the slightly smaller crater Eudoxus and these two form a distinctive pair for a telescope observer. An arc of mountains between these craters bends to the west before joining the walls. The smaller crater Mitchell is directly attached to the eastern rim of Aristoteles. To the west is the low, flooded feature Egede (text adapted from Wikipedia). C14 @ f/16 - ZWO ASI290MM - Baader Green filter - 4 frames mosaic - iOptron CEM120 - Singapore

Sunrise over Moretus and Curtius

May 30th, 2020 Lunar South Pole with craters Moretus, Curtius, Pentland and Zach. C14 @ f/11 - ZWO ASI178MM - Baader Green filter - iOptron CEM120 - Singapore

Crescent Moon

July 29th, 2017 This is a 10 frames mosaic Moon, displayed at about 75% of actual resolution. C9.25 @ f/10 - ZWO ASI178MM - Luminance - iOptron CEM60 - Singapore

Tycho and surroundings

September 2nd, 2017 C9.25 @ f/10 - ZWO ASI178MM - Luminance - iOptron CEM60 - Singapore

Crater Plato and Sinus Iridum

Craters Copernicus and Kepler

September 2nd, 2017 C9.25 @ f/10 - ZWO ASI178MM - Luminance - iOptron CEM60 - Singapore

Craters Atlas, Hercules & Endymion

May 1st, 2017 C9.25 @ f/10 - ZWO ASI178MM - Astronomik ProPlanet 742 IR-pass filter - iOptron CEM60 - Singapore

Mare Nectaris and Craters Langrenus & Wrottesley

May 1st, 2017 C9.25 @ f/10 - ZWO ASI178MM - Astronomik ProPlanet 742 IR-pass filter - iOptron CEM60 - Singapore

the Moon

The full Moon, perhaps one of the most evocative images we are used to since our birth. At the moment of this shot, on December 7 2003, the Moon was only one day away to become full. This shot is the result of a mosaic of 34 single images taken with a inexpensive webcam. Each image is the stack of the sharpest 200 frames from several AVI movies.