Hello lunatics,
The Aug. 14 lunar session is coming to the end and I saved the best shot (whose I’m proud of) as the last one!
As rarely happens, I’m completely satisfied with this photo whose sharpness, sun angle and light balance are all OK to my eyes for a change!
I consider it as one of my best ever lunar pics, hope you can enjoy with it as well!

SINUS IRIDUM

I couldn’t resist to image more and more the same area also on the following night and later on September with a waxing Moon still low in the sky!
And the good seeing never missed…who knows why…
Thank you for your attention!

Hi all,
We’re now looking at the well known Copernicus region also including Carpatus mons.

CARPATUS-COPERNICUS-STADIUS

Beyond the nice moonscape we all know, I’d like to draw your attention to some very elusive rilles which are extremely hard to pick from ground based telescopes.
Those are the Draper rille which is barely visible here on the top-left corner as an U shaped line tilted by 45 degs and another (for me) unknown rille whose a small portion is visible in the extreme top-right corner of the image.
I could just find a couple of images of the Draper rille, none of the two was taken from Earth:

LUNAR ORBITER

APOLLO 17 (left side only)

These 2 images from space are quite self-speaking about this tiny rille snaking close to the Carpatus!
And if someone is knowing the other rille, please tell me its name!

Thank you in advance and…More to follow.

Hi all,
Today’s lunar course is taking our view over the amazing Framauro region despite the rising sun disturbing a lot the scene.
This should be likely the moonscape observed by Apollo 14 crew on Feb. 5, 1971 before of landing a while north of that crater.

FRAMAURO AND NEIGHBOURS

More to follow.

Hello again,
Yet another image out of Aug. 14 session with the Hesiodus rille walking across Palus Epidemiarum ending to the sunfalling Pitatus crater.

RIMA HESIODUS

More to follow.
(Hope you could resist for a long time yet!)

Hello everybody,
Yet another nice session taken on last August, day 14.
Looking at the lunar south-western sector you can’t resist to take a picture with that nice family: Schiller (on the left), Longomontanus (on the bottom-right corner) and Wilhelm (on the top-right corner).

SCHILLER - LONGOMONTANUS - WILHELM

More to follow.

Greetings to everybody,
Last lunar image taken on Aug. 12, 2009 which nicely portraits a very familiar crater formation: Stofler (middle-top on the image), Licetus (bottom-left corner) and Maurolycus (on the limb) completely filled with shadow.

STOFLER-HERACLITUS-LICETUS - AUG. 12, 2009

Playing with the histogram, I was courious enough to look more in depth into Maurolycus crater and I got a nice surprise indeed!
The ghost of the crater floor suddenly took its classical form as the Sun light was coming from the right!
In a short, a waxing crater inside a waning Moon! Amazing!

MAUROLYCUS GHOST

The image on the right (Jan. 17, 2005) is showing the typical Maurolycus floor, the enhanced image on the left is basically showing the same reliefs and the same depressions as the light is coming from the right!

I didn’t see something like this any time before, nor in any place on the web!
I’d dare to call it as “self moonshining” because the Moon is illuminating itself through a spreaded light coming from a crater rim.
Last, this image is for those are still believing to a tubeless telescope as home of spreaded light coming all around from a subject as wide as the Moon.That’s my answer.
Thank you for your attention.
More to follow.

Dear all,
It’s my biggest pleasure to share with you a special image indeed which is the first from me on 2010, the first of Mars and the first of my new telescope!
In fact, I had the longest ever spell of poor weather I can remember, but after 106 days I could finally break my inaction in a some way.
The special telescope I’ve built for myself only is a genuine Cassegrain 400mm with the usual Gladius-like design, but much bigger in size and weight. It also features a f/4 imaging solution at the parabolic primary’s focus by replacing the secondary mirror for deep sky imaging.
This telescope was named Gladius XVI (16, in roman letters) because this is the “key number” (16″ f/16) with it and the optical set has been manufactured by italian optician Luigi Marcon, my trusty supplier with glass!
Visually speaking, Mars is a boring beacon whose light is hard to tame without filters. I could even perceive in some steady moment the elusive Deimos moon when this was far away enough from the planet!
On Jan. 23 eve, I could finally fit my camera there and catch the Mars light for the first time!
Although conditions were all but great, these were enough to take an image.
Find it in my blog webpage:

MARS JAN. 23, 2010

Colors are very close to those I noticed at the eyepiece, but not the contrast which was quite enhanced through the image.
It looks to me Mars this year is showing some weaker albedo variations than last years. I’m not sure if it’s me or the seeing or what else…
I’d like to know your visual impressions.
Let’s hope I could have some steady night soon or later to enjoy the new beast here with me.
Your comments are welcome!
All the best.

Hello everybody,
After a long spell with high sun lunar images, you can look now at some area close to the limb.
In this scene you can see the Appennines and the mons Haemus promontorium leading southward on the bottom-right corner of the frame.

APPENNINES AND MONS HAEMUS

The image was a bit log-stretched with highlights to put on more evidence the dark mons Haemus against the bright peaks of the Appennines.
Hope you liked it.
More to follow.

Hello everybody,
Today’s image is showing the Aristarchus Plateau.
The high sun angle is better revealing crater blankets, radial ejectas and small impact craters everywhere probably caused by the Aristarchus itself when forming.
This area is definitively interesting and nice to see regardless of the illumination.

ARISTARCUS PLATEAU

More to follow.

Hello everybody,
I’m now sending lunar images taken on late 2009.
Yet another remarkable libration helped me to catch the elusive mare Orientale at its best.
For the first time, I could even pick the farside Cordillera staying behind the mare itself!
I got this panorama by sticking 3 images:

MARE ORIENTALE

To be also noticed a sort of courious “dipole” with the bright crater Byrgius A on the bottom-left corner against the dark Grimaldi basin on the bottom-right corner. in the middle, the neverending Sirsalis rille.

More to follow.
Thank you for your kind attention.