Some Fun with the Moon

So on a recent night with the sky full of intermittent clouds I decided that I would return to our nearest neighbour, the moon. With such a bright target, it wasn't a huge issue when clouds passed in front as most of the time I could still make things out.

My first target of the night from the Lunar 100 was L20, a crater known as Posidonius. This floor fractured crater is located on the north-easter edge of Mare Serenitatis. The interesting thing I noted about this crater is that I could clearly see that the surface of this crater had some hilly elements and there was another semi-circular rim within the main rim.

Next up was L34, a plain of basaltic lava flows known as Lacus Mortis which is latin for "Lake of Death". In my image you can make out the prominent crater Bürg and beneath this you might be able to make out some darker lines which form part of an extensive system of criss-crossing rilles collectively designated Rimae Bürg. It was much clearer to see this visually but my webcam has at least picked up some of it.

My final target on the moon was L72 which is the dark-halo craters present on the floor of Atlas crater. I could clearly make out the darker patches when looking at the crater visually and even in the webcam image below you should be able to make them out.

I did attempt to use my recently purchased x2.5 Barlow and whilst it was much better than my previous barlow the image still wasn't great. Seeing conditions were pretty crap which didn't help, but i suspect it is just a mutlitude of issues adding up. Next on the list is a new webcam so we will see how that performs when I get it. After that I suspect I need to find a way to get better focus control.