NexStar 50 Lunar Club Observation Log
Name: Steve Yarbrough
NexStar Telescope Model(s): NexStar 114GT with 7mm & 21mm Siebert Optics Eyepieces
along with a 2x GTO Optics Shortly Barlow.
Note: All observations are as viewed (not corrected for the upside down view of a
reflector telescope). In addition, unless otherwise noted, observations were obtained
using the 7mm Siebert Optics Eyepiece along with the 2x GTO Shorty Barlow (approx. 286
power) and an orange planetary filter, which provides great contrast for lunar viewing.
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Object: 1 - Albategnius... Crater
Date Observed: 8/17/02 PM
Comments: Large crater with a perfectly formed small crater off center on floor
and another one that was rougher. One peak in the middle. It was next to a
slightly larger crater. View would have been better a couple of days earlier.
Object: 2 - Alpine Valley... Valley
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Appears as a dark streak almost straight from left to right. It terminates at
the Alps mountain range.
Object: 3 - Alps... Mtn Range
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: This is a spread out range of mountains. Has a very large smooth dark crater at
about 5:00 from the range.
Object: 4 - Rupes Altai... Fault
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Single long mountain trail that terminates at the rim of Piccolomini Crater. The
perimeter is smoother on the left side of the range.
Object: 5 - Apennines... Mtn Range
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Was nicely shadowed by the terminus. The range extends to the lower left from
smaller mountains at a nicely formed crater. Mountains were fairly tall in center of
range. Located on the edge of Mare Imbrium.
Object: 6 - Archimedes... Crater
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Was centered on the terminus during this viewing. It is a fiirly large crater
with terraced walls. The bottom appeared smooth but was totally in the shadow of the
crater walls (no peak was showing above the shadow). This crater is just below Mont
Appennines.
Object: 7 - Aristarchus... Crater
Date Observed: 8/3/02 AM
Comments: Small but bright crater with a brighter exterior surrounding area at about 1:00.
There is another crater at about 2:00 about the same size but much shallower. The crater
is fairly deep but no floor features are visible. Also a crescent shaped valley/fault is
located at about 4:00.
Object: 8 - Bailly... Crater
Date Observed: 8/3/02 AM
Comments: Was just on the edge of the horizon so it wasn't very visible but it looked to
be a very old crater. On the horizon to the right was a mountain range which was
protruding into the sky at the horizon.
Object: 9 - Billy... Crater
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Small crater to the NE of Plato. There are a couple of lone mountain peeks at
about 10:00. The crater has a smooth floor and no remarkable features.
Object: 10 - Cassini... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Mid-sized crater without much of a pronounced wall. It has 2 other smaller
craters inside it.
Object: 11 - Clavius... Crater
Date Observed: 8/2/02 AM
Comments: Large crater with a number of other craters within it. Two of them are on the
rim and are mid- sized craters themselves. The top one destroyed a part of the main crater
rim. There are 5 craters on the floor that progress perfectly from smaller to larger and
form a crescent shape starting at the bottom of the main crater. Very interesting random
occurrence that doesn't look random at all, since each succeeding one gets larger in
perfect sequence.
Object: 12 - Copernicus... Crater
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: A mid-sized crater with two very small peaks in the center. The wall is nicely
terraced. Surrounding area is fairly smooth with a mountain range below it.
Object: 13 - Dionysius... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM & 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Small bright-rimmed crater on the edge of Mare Tranquillitatis. There are
several other craters in the area of similar size but none of them have a rim as bright as
this one.
Object: 14 - Euclides (Euclid)... Crater
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Very small crater with surrounding area being a little brighter than its
surroundings. There are two other craters, of almost identical size, below it which form a
tall triangle.
Object: 15 - Furnerius... Crater
Date Observed: 8/12/02 PM
Comments: Mid-sized crater with smooth walls. One lone small crater on the
interior which is slightly off center. No peak visible on the floor of the
crater.
Object: 16 - Gassendi... Crater
Date Observed: 8/3/02 AM
Comments: Large crater on the edge of Mare Humorum. Mid-depth with one large and two
smaller peaks in the center. The upper portion of the crater wall has been smoothed out
and there is a crater on the south wall. Also appeared to be an area going vertically on
the west side of the crater floor which appear to be small string of hills/mountains.
Object: 17 - Gauss
Date Observed: 9/22/02 PM
Comments: Could only see about ½ of the crater since the remainder was in
darkness. There are a couple of well defined medium size craters toward the
interior of the moon from Gauss but was not sure if any of these were Giodorno
Bruno. There is also a very interesting formation at about 10:00 which looked
like a couple of mountain ranges with a valley going toward Mare Crisium.
Object: 18 - Grimaldi... Crater
Date Observed: 8/3/02 AM
Comments: Almost looks more like a Mare than a crater. Very smooth large dark area with no
apparent rim. The outside area to the SW of the crater is brighter than the rest of the
surrounding area. There a couple of tiny craters on the outside to the NW and one tiny
crater on the outside to the SE. This crater seemed to show up better without the 2X
Barlow... Best image was obtained with the 7mm eyepiece by itself..
Object: 19 - Hainzel... Crater
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Two Medium-sized craters that are overlapping. The top one is slightly larger
and older than the lower one. There doesn't appear to be much of a crater rim where the
two intersect. The larger crater appears to have a fairly smooth peak in the center but
none was visible on the smaller of the two craters.
Object: 20 - Hercules... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Very round crater with smooth floor, except for a perfect smaller crater at
about the 11:00 position.
Object: 21 - John Herschel... Crater
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Very old crater with a fairly smooth and broken down rim. It has one small
crater and several tiny craters in the interior of the main crater. It also has one crater
on the rim/wall at about the 2:00 position.
Object: 22 - Hesiodus Sunrise Ray... Occurrence
Date Observed: 10/15/02 PM
Comments: Crater with a section of the wall missing. The gap in the wall cast a
sunlight “beam” in the shadow area so I assume that was the Sunrise Ray although
I’m not positive. May have been a little late for optimal viewing but it wasn’t
visible the night before (which was supposedly the 8th day of the cycle).
Object: 23 - Kepler... Crater
Date Observed: 8/2/02 AM
Comments: Small crater with bright rays or debris (it actually looked more like debris
than rays) emanating all around it. It is in a large Mare and is dotted with one tiny
crater to the West and 2 to the East which form a straight line. The floor was in a shadow
and I couldn't see any other features.
Object: 24 - Linne... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Appears more as a tiny brighter white colored area than a crater. Even with 7mm
+ 2x Barlow, could not see any features.
Object: 25 - Manilius... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Had a very white rim (brighter than the surrounding craters). Not as much of a
prominent mountain in the middle... More of a slight bulge.
Object: 26 - Maurolycus... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Several craters layered on top of an older large crater. Two medium-size
craters, one on top of the edge of another one. They are located at the lower part of the
older large crater. Also a very small crater was above it.
Object: 27 - Menelaus... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Very bright crater with a very smooth floor. It is located at the top edge of
Mare Serenitatis. Had a couple of rays emanating from it... One stretched across the mare.
Also had a mountain range extending to the left.
Object: 28 - Messier A... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Very small crater appears as a perfect bright white circle with a very thin rim.
It is located in Mare Fecunditatis. Was just on the edge of the terminus and was greatly
highlighted by the contrast from the shadow.
Object: 29 - Petavius... Crater
Date Observed: 8/12/02 PM
Comments: Large crater with multiple peaks in the center. There also appears to
be a fault line radiating from the peaks to one edge of the crater. That same
edge appears to have 2 crater rim lines.
Object: 30 - Piccolomini... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Broad crater with a terraced edge and a sizable mountain in the middle. Just
below were a series of 7 smaller craters which formed an almost perfect circle.
Object: 31 - Pico... Mountain
Date Observed: 8/2/02 AM
Comments: Very large impressive isolated peak. Since it was very close to the terminus, it
was casting a very nice shadow to the left. There are a few other isolated smaller peaks
on a diagonal from left to right at about the 4:00 position.
Object: 32 - Plato... Crater
Date Observed: 8/2/02 AM
Comments: Very interesting large crater with extremely dark very smooth floor, which
appears to have been filled in with a lava flow. It is located on a small fairly rough
terrain patch between two Mares.
Object: 33 - Plinius (Pliny)... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Crater with a very nice mountain in the middle. It is located between Mare
Tranquillitatis and Mare Serenitatis. It appeared more defined than the surrounding
craters.
Object: 34 - Posidonius... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Very large crater with another small crater almost centered in the floor of the
main crater. The top and left sides of the wall is nicely terraced. There is also a small
crater at the bottom rim of this crater. It is located on the edge of Mare Serenitatis.
Object: 35 - Proclus... Crater
Date Observed: 8/12/02 PM
Comments: Very small deep crater at edge of Mare Crisium. The entire floor was
in shadow but the sunlit rim shone brighter than the surrounding area.
Object: 36 - Pyrenees Mountains... Mtn Range
Date Observed: 8/12/02 PM
Comments: Irregular mountain range separating two mares. It is surrounded by a
number of small craters. The lower side of the crater is near an oblong double
crater.
Object: 37 - Pythagoras... Crater
Date Observed: 8/3/02 AM
Comments: This large crater is very close to the edge of the horizon. Appears to have one
central peak but there were 2 shadows being cast across the floor, so there are actually
twin peaks. The terracing on the South side of the crater was clearly visible.
Object: 38 - Pytheas... Crater
Date Observed: 8/2/02 AM
Comments: Small and somewhat isolated crater with fairly bright rim. Could not see any
interior detail because the floor was totally shadowed. Is directly below Copernicus.
Object: 39 - Reiner Gamma... Discolor
Date Observed: 8/3/02 AM
Comments: This is a bright white area in the shape of an elongated diamond. There is a
small crater to the West and what appears to be a fault-line or valley to the SE.
Object: 40 - Reinhold... Crater
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Small to mid-size crater with nicely terraced walls but no features on the
floor. There are a few small isolated peaks on the outside of the crater between the 10:00
and 12:00 position.
Object: 41 - Rima Ariadaeus... Fault
Date Observed: 10/12/02 PM
Comments: It was perfect timing for viewing this fault line. Half of the fault
was on the bright side of the terminus and half of the fault line was on the
dark side. The fault looked like a dark perfect slit in the moon’s crust. It
isn’t quite perpendicular to the terminus and it is just above Mare Serenitatis
and is below the small crater Delambre. In fact, it is about half way between
the two.
Object: 42 - Rupes Cauchy... Fault
Date Observed: 8/12/02 PM
Comments: Looked like a faint knife slit in the surface of a Mare. It was right
at the terminus with one half in darkness and one half in light. It appeared to
have two tiny craters somewhat off center (to the left) and a small peak on the
right.
Object: 43 - Rupes Recta... Fault
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Very straight smooth fault line which appears to be in the middle of a large
very old crater (which has been filled in with a lava flow). There is one small crater to
the right of the fault at the midpoint.
Object: 44 - Schiller... Crater
Date Observed: 8/3/02 AM
Comments: This is a cigar shaped crater stretching from left to right located in somewhat
rough terrain. The left end of the crater is slightly larger. It is almost as though the
moon had suffered a glancing blow rather than a direct hit by this object. Another crater
is situated on the left end of this one.
Object: 45 - Sinus Medii... Bay
Date Observed: 8/17/02 PM
Comments: Medium sized smooth dark area similar to a small Mare. Was fairly
unremarkable but appeared to have somewhat off center (to the left) two tiny
craters and what looked to be a small peak on the right.
Object: 46 - Theophilus... Crater
Date Observed: 7/28/02 AM
Comments: Nice crater with a double peak mountain in the middle. Small crater on the rim
at about the 5:00 position and an area at about 2:00 (where it overlays an adjoining older
crater) appears to have collapsed, causing a terraced effect.
Object: 47 - Timocharis... Crater
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Small isolated crater appears to be fairly deep for its size and had the very
top of the peak showing above the shadow. A small part of the left side of the wall was
not in shadow and I could see that it is fairly terraced.
Object: 48 - Tycho... Crater
Date Observed: 8/1/02 AM
Comments: Deep mid-sized crater with a single peak in the middle. The shadow was cast
across half of the floor but the top of the peak was above the shadow. The left side of
the crater wall was visible and nicely terraced. This appears to be a fairly new crater.
Object: 49 - Vallis Schroteri... Valley
Date Observed: 8/3/02 AM
Comments: A crescent shaped valley next to the crater Aristarchus (see item #7). The
shadow made the rift show up very nicely. The valley terminates at a point between and to
the south of two craters.
Object: 50 - Wargentin... Crater
Date Observed: 8/3/02 AM
Comments: Although this crater is near the horizon and was somewhat difficult to see, it
appears to be the mid-sized crater in a group of 3 similar-sized craters which form a
triangle. The area where the 3 craters intersect has no visible wall. The floor appears
smooth and the area at the point where all 3 craters intersect is somewhat raised but is
very smooth (not like a typical crater rim).