Steve’s Virtual Planet

Binocular Lunar Observing Pt 2

In this post, we’ll continue the discussion of naked eye targets on our Moon. In the first post, we looked at some of the larger mare that present themselves during the week from new moon to 1st quarter. Let’s continue to “follow the terminator” and look for some more challenging objects to be found during the week up to 1st Qtr. We’ll use some of the so called “Pickering Dozen” to add to the hunt. I’ll call them “P12″ for short.

When the moon is at First Qtr (ie. illuminated “half way” on the right side), there are fewer of the prominent craters that appear later on. However, if you have located Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquillitatis, you can use these to find some more challenging mountains and regions on their edges. Between these two large features is a thinning kind of peninsula known as the Plinius Region. This is number 6 in the P12 list and named for the 41km diameter crater in its vicinity, Plinius. The crater is quite prominent and is paired up with a group of riles directly north of it called Rimae Linius.  You should be able to make out this feature to the left of the field at the juncture of both of these large features.

Number 7 of the P12 is immediately to the left, Mare Vaporum, The Sea of Vapors. At first quarter, this feature will be just to the right of the terminator just above the equator. It’s a smaller mare that looks a bit like an extension of Serenitatis to the south west.  That will be our reference point next time when we hike the Apennine Mountains near where the Apollo 15 mission landed!

Updated Sep 2, 2024