Sunspot 1302

Solar activity is up compared to last year but there still isn't a huge amount going on. This sudden sunny spell tempted me into the garden today to see what was on offer. Here's the Sun as of 10 o'clock this morning:


Much more interesting than the last time I took some sunspot pictures! So much so that I got out the webcam and took some videos of the main sunspot towards the centre (sunspot 1302). The detail has come out quite well:


The conditions were fairly still so I managed to get sharper focus than usual. It makes a change from the Moon!

Endymion

The final image from the latest set moves us back up to the north-east limb of the Moon, close to Mare Frigoris ("Sea of Cold"). The most prominent features in this region are the craters Endymion, on the edge of the shadow, and Atlas and Hercules to the south:


I really like the depth of this picture and the feeling of something going on beyond the shadow. Here is the labelled version:


Looking back at my posts from the last year I noticed that I haven't included anything other than Moon pictures! Admittedly the Moon is my favourite target but I think it's about time I branched out for a post or two.

Petavius

A further short hop south brings us to Petavius, another prominent crater. Petavius has a particularly wide terraced rim in relation to the width of the crater as a whole. The crater floor has been mostly filled by lava-flow but the multiple central peaks are clearly visible and rise up to 1.7km above the new crater floor. There is also a deep fracture that runs south-west from the central peak, which may be the whitish line visible in the picture:


You may recognise the crater at the top of the image as Vendelinus, one of the subjects of the previous post. Before the clouds got the better of me I managed to grab a 30 second video of Petavius at higher magnification. Not surprisingly the resultant image isn't great but here it is anyway:


For completeness here is a labelled version of the low magnification image:

Langrenus and Vendelinus

Moving to the south of Mare Crisium skirts along the eastern edge of Mare Fecunditatis ("Sea of Fertility") and brings the craters Langrenus and Vendelinus into view:


Langrenus is an easily identified crater even at full Moon, particularly due to its relatively high albedo, whereas Vendelinus is much more difficult to spot unless it is near the terminator. As one would anticipate from looking at the photo, the more irregular shaped and battered Vendelinus is the older crater.

Here's a copy of the same image with the main features labelled:

Mare Crisium

Now that the short summer nights have passed I've dusted off the kit and am looking forward to the autumn and winter skies. This week has seen plenty of gaps in the cloud but also quite a lot of haze and a full Moon, so to ease myself back into taking pictures I've started with some Moon shots (not that I need an excuse for taking Moon pictures anyway).

By chance the last couple of years have presented me with more waxing Moons than waning Moons, so despite the hazy sky it was pleasing to have a waning gibbous Moon to offer something a bit different. I'm going to start with a picture of Mare Crisium which follows on nicely from my last post from the spring regarding Proclus. Mare Crisium (the "Sea of Crises") is located towards the north-east of the Moon and is easily picked-out above and to the right of Mare Tranquillitatis. Proclus lies between these two "seas" and my earlier post shows Proclus at full moon (ideally the picture should be rotated about 30 degrees anti-clockwise). This time we see Proclus and Mare Crisium at the terminator (and a more accurate orientation!):


The high albedo of Proclus is still apparent but its ray system is not as obvious as in the full Moon picture and mainly visible to the west. Despite the poor seeing conditions and minimal processing, I think the picture has come out quite well.

Here is a modified version with some of the key features labelled: