The third and final part of the excellent seeing conditions lunar imaging sessions of September 2015.
This last morning I was together with my brother in law at the observing location, and we were able to view, both on the laptop screen and at the eyepiece, some truly exceptional views of the lunar surface. This time I had enough “optical power” to get a magnification of around 600x, a value that allowed us to see something that very few amateurs have seen; craters, rilles, shadows, all looking like something seen from an spacecraft window orbiting the Moon.
I should get to the images now…
The setup was as for the previous sessions: 355mm (14 inch) F/5 homemade Newtonian working at F/20 (using a Baader Hyperion 2.25x Barlow lens), ASI120MM-S camera with Red filter.
First two-part mosaic shows craters Clavius and Moretus near the lunar South Pole:
Second three-part mosaic shows craters Arzachel, Alphonsus and Ptolemaeus with smallest details of around 400 meters:
Another two-part mosaic of crater Arzachel and Rupes Recta and nearby Rima Birt. There is also a faint rille almost perpendicular to Rupes Recta (the Straight Wall):
And the final mosaic, acquired just before a large cloud front rolled in, changing the weather for a few days.
It depicts the region of Rima Hadley, where Apollo 15 landed.
And a comparison view with the LRO images for the Hadley Rille. Small craters of 450 meters are discernible:
Nearby, (towards the lower left part of the mosaic shown previously) another interesting lunar formation, Ina volcano, shows some inner details: two darker “eyes”- patches of lava. Below, another comparison with the LRO view:
Hope to get again some excellent seeing conditions soon, as the Moon gets higher in the sky the next weeks.
Max
maximus photography 
No words to describe later posts.. history in the making. Thanks for giving us mortals, chance to orbit the moon again 🙂
🙂 Glad you’ve enjoyed the images Clau! Hope to get similar results the following month. Maybe you’ll join me in the very early mornings of cold October.
Foarte, foarte bune, intreaga serie. Felicitari.
Multumesc Dragos. Am avut noroc de seeing bun si instrumente pe masura. Altfel, nu atingeam limitele superioare de rezolutie ale unui astfel de instrument. Limita actuala a amatorilor e pe la 300-350 metrii pe suprafata Lunii, ceea ce se si observa in imaginile astea.