March 31, 2021

Lambert, Lambert R, Timocharis (Mar. 2021)

We had a nice night with decent seeing recently.  I set up the CFF 290 Classical Cassegrain and used with it the QHY5iii485c camera at the telescope's native f/13.5.  Here is one data set, 2000 frames, processed in AutoStakkert!3, Registax 6, and Photoshop.

Lambert, at the corner of the right triangle of large basins, is a wonderful crater whose walls rise 2,000 feet from the floor of Mare Imbrium.  Just south of (down from) Lambert is the amazing Lambert R, an older crater whose floor and much of its wall structure was covered by the lava flow that created Imbrium itself.  Lambert R is a much older crater than Lambert.  To the right is Timocharis.  Between them is the mountain Dorsa Stille, which itself rises 3,000 feet from Imbrium's plain.  The other (washed out) crater in the triangle is Pytheas.

Think the smooth parts of the moon are actually smooth?  Think again.  All kinds of meteor and geologic debris cover the surface. Some items as small as 0.5km appear in this image.

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