The Moon

Have you ever actually seen the craters on the moon ? I did last night. I took my 20-80 spotting scope to work last night and took a look around 2AM. It was a fading moon, but still about 3/4's. It took a couple of minutes to get everything steady, because I was trying to do this off the hood of my truck, and it wasn't all that easy to get focused in with a slight gusty wind and dewy hood top, but I got there. At 80X it's a delicate touch to clarity.

But...

Bingo. Looking to the right side, shadowy horizon of the moon I could very clearly see the individual craters. It's not like looking at a black & white photo. It's more 3D. You can see depth, span, and structure ! They're Huge !

I'll try to get a pic from my phone, in the next couple of days, but don't expect much too soon. I only have a couple/3 minutes to get outside from work.

If you have a high power scope give it a shot.

Will hafta try it, thx for mentioning.

It is pretty neat. If you know the planets positions in the night sky, take a look at Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. You can usually see three or four moons of Jupiter, and as Galileo said, "the ears of Saturn". Mars is neat during the portion of its orbit when it is brightest. Mercury and Venus are very bright, but usually seen in the early AM or after sundown. GJ

I looked at the moon the first night I had a spotter. It is really cool being able to see the shadows to help give it some depth.