High Resolution lunar images (Part II – September 4, 2015)

The second part of the HR lunar views posts.

The following images were acquired on the morning of September 4th, 2015 with the same setup (14inch F/5 homemade Newtonian with SkyWatcher optics, Baader Hyerion 2.25x Barlow lens (EFL ~6000mm) and ASI120MM-S camera with Red filter). Each frame prom the mosaics is a 800 to 1100 image stack in 8-9/10 seeing conditions. The view at the eyepiece at 400x was fantastic…the only regret from that morning was that I had no larger magnification available.

First shot is a four-frame mosaic showing Rimae Hyginus, Triesnaker and Ariadaeus area near the terminator.

The resolution for craters is around 500 meters but smaller details (such as the rille on the floor of crater Boscovich) of around 300 meters are observable. Following is a comparison with the LRO images.

Another mosaic, this time a two-frame shot, shows the well-known large crater Clavius and the lunar limb in an orbital flight-like view.

Next, Vallis Alpes with it’s narrow rille well defined:

And the last mosaic, which I consider my best-looking lunar image to date. It shows the pair of craters Aristoteles and Eudoxus to the right, Vallis Alpes in the upper left part and crater Cassini left from the center of the image. A large variety of lunar features in one image…

One of the most memorable imaging session for me, with long stable seeing moments.