Astronomical phenomena March 2013

Astronomical calendar of March 2013.

06 march 2013 - Moon at the Perigee at 2:20 Moon reaches perigee, the closest point to Earth: 369,954 km from Earth.

10 march 2013 - - Comet C2011 L4 Pan-STARRS will be closest to Earth. The best time to observe comet Pan-STARRS will likely be on 12 and 13 March 2013 on the west.

11 march 2013 - -The Sun enters the astronomical constellation Pisces.

11 march 2013 - New Moon. Moon will be between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase takes place at 19:51.


19 march 2013 - Moon at the Apogee. at 5:13 Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point from Earth: 404,262 km from Earth.

20 march 2013 - Equinox of March. March Equinox occurs at 05:14 UT. The Sun will shine directly on the equator and the days and nights will be almost equal in the whole world. This is also the first day of spring (spring equinox) in the northern hemisphere and the first day of fall (autumnal equinox), in the southern hemisphere.

27 march 2013 - Full Moon. Earth is between the Sun and the Moon and so the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 09:27.


28 march 2013 - The Moon will be very close to the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo.

29 march 2013 - Uranus-Sun Conjunction at 02:00.

31 march 2013 Mercury at the highest elongation: 27.8°W at 24:00

This month visible planets:

Evening: Jupiter
Morning: Saturn
Mars, Venus, and Mercury are all too close to the Sun to be seen.

Read more »

Jupiter last night with DSLR and HDR

These are pictures of Jupiter last night at around 10:00 p.m. taken by DSLR camera Nikon D80 (top) and Sony HDR CX130 camcorder (below).

Last night it was warm, unusual for this time of the year.

These are quick processing photos. Video processing will be posted later.

Read more »

Maginus of the Moon in astronomical telescope images

Maginus (163 km), is a very affected crater, with a destroyed edge, located north-west of the great crater Clavius ​​on the south side of the Moon. Instead of having a sharp edge, well defined, Maginus has multiple impacts lace edge. The floor is also "riddled" with still a distinguished plateau with some peaks going fron the center to north-east. Maginus's important neighbors are Tycho northwest, and southwest is Clavius​​.


The most interesting photo in this article, I think is the first one, because of the hue and brightness which makes a very realistic landscape. Tycho is immersed in a completely dark and Maginus against the sunrise, has a lit interior west wall.

Moon age: 7 days
Stage: 51% (0% = New, 100% = Full)
Distance: 384.488 km

Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plössl, 2x barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 29/04/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: video captures, FastStone Image Viewer


The image below was created on Date: 11.05.2011.

Read more »

Sinus Medii Pallas and Murchison Photos by camera and telescope.

Pallas and Murchson (50 and 58 km) are two craters bonded, forming a "shoe". Their location are on the center of the Moon seen from Earth, in the northwest plateau of Sinus Medii. Both craters have weird edges on north, showing the teeth of an excavator that dug into them. These craters are surrounded by three major craters: Bode, Ukert and Triesnecker, the latter being on Sinus Medii at east.

Sinus Medii (Latin for "Golf of the Center") is a small lunar plateau, which lies at the intersection of the moon's equator and the first meridian. Notice that on this area which has a diameter of 335 km, are two smaller craters in the center, called Bruce (7 km) and Blagg (5.4 km).


Surveyor 6 landed on Sinus. On November 10, 1967, Surveyor 6 was the fourth in it's series that has made ​​a successful landing on the Moon. Mission sent a total of 29,952 images and acquired over 100 hours of lunar data on material composition.

Before Surveyor 6, on July 17, 1967, Surveyor 4 had an attempt to descend on the lunar surface, on Sinus Medii, but was a failure because the radio signal was lost just before landing, collapsing.

Moon age: 7 days
Stage: 51% (0% = New, 100% = Full)
Distance: 384.488 km

Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plössl, 2x barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 29/04/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: video capture, FastStone Image Viewer

Read more »

Detailed images of Walther crater by telescope

Walther (128 km), is part of a trio of craters: Walther, Purbach and Regiomontanus (in the middle): Walther is the southernmost of them. It has a depth of 4.1 km.

Walther, in an examination as a whole, it has a round shape but irregular, with central peaks on the floor in the center-east and a flat floor on the west, riddled with many small craters. In the photo below, it's easy to see what I wrote above, but considering that the image is upside down, and the north is where the red arrow shows. This crater is neighbor to the west with the large crater Deslandres (234 km).

Walther A, with a diameter of 12 km, is inside Walther, north of the central peak. On the floor are scattered remains of Tycho crater, located just 421 km from it. But Tycho's rays are scattered across all craters in the region, even far beyond Walther.

Moon age: 7 days
Stage: 51% (0% = New, 100% = Full)
Distance: 384.488 km


Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plössl, 2x barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 29/04/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: video captures, FastStone Image Viewer

Read more »

Craters Goclenius Magelhaens and Colombo. Video by telescope

Goclenius (72 km), Magelhaens (41 km) and Colombo (76 km) craters are located between two basins, namely Mare Nectaris and Mare Fecunditatis, row somewhat in line from north to south on the eastern side of the lunar cadran. Videos are upside down as seen through the telescope, so that north becomes south and vice versa.

Between this series of craters and Mare Nectaris, is a mountain range, which forms the Nectaris basin's edge.

More details about these craters, I will write in another article with photos of the video images processed in Registax.




Optics: CelestronC8 "-Newtonian telescope, plossl20mm, 2x Barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Device: Sony CX-130
Video mode: Full HD progressive 1920x1080
Filter: no
Date: 03/09/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing and editing: Sony Vegas 10

Read more »

Deslandres and the surrounding craters. Astronomical telescope images

These images are very clear, as the camera focus was best. In the pictures here, we have the huge crater Deslandres (234 km) north of the bright crater Tycho.  To view the telescope video of these photos, go here.

A very bright rays of Tycho with high albedo, are spread on the whole region, but these are not seen in the photos because of the Moon phase at that time, when the Sun was at a low angle.

The picture below explains in great detail all craters located inside of Deslandres, and neighbors, as I labeled them each name with color. Images are inverted as seen through the telescope.

As you can see, this area is very rich in craters of all sizes, feature which is common to the south of the Moon. In these pictures, are craters like: Lexell, Sasserides, Walther, Orontius, Hell, Nonius and others.

Info Deslandres crater.

Coordinates	32.5°S 5.2°
Diameter	256 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	5° at sunrise
Eponym	Henri A. Deslandres

Moon age: 7 days
Stage: 51% (0% = New, 100% = Full)
Distance: 384.488 km

Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plössl, 2x barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 29/04/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: video captures, FastStone Image Viewer

Read more »

Similarity of Arzachel crater and Copernicus

Notice a small crater, located on the floor of Arzachel, on the right of the central mountain. This is called Arzachel A. It has a diameter of 10 km.

Note terraces on the interior walls of the crater, very well shaped, in waves.

Arzachel crater (97 km) on the Moon, is a special one because it does not look like other craters in the area, which have large and lower margins like Albategnius, Ptolemaeus and even Alphonsus for exemple.

  Arzachel my opinion, is more like the crater Copernicus, which has a diameter of 93 km. Both have terraces, central peaks, and are similar in shape, but Copernicus, although smaller, is out much more in evidence, being very easy to locate with the telescope, because it is located on a large smooth area of Insularum basin, and for the very bright rays from the impact that formed the crater. But Arzachel has no rays, and it is not located on a large area, but between many bigger and smaller craters, on the highlands of the Moon.

Above, is a photo of the crater Copernicus from April 13, 2011. Note the similarity with Arzachel crater.

Moon age: 7 days
Stage: 51% (0% = New, 100% = Full)
Distance: 384.488 km

Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plössl, 2x barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 29/04/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: video capture, FastStone Image Viewer

Read more »

Video Taruntius crater on the Moon.

Taruntius (56 km), is a crater located between Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Fecunditatis. This video has inverted images as seen through the telescope. The atmosphere was very bad, but the idea is good to know where the crater is.





Optics: CelestronC8 "-Newtonian telescope, plossl20mm, 2x Barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Device: Sony CX-130
Video mode: Full HD progressive 1920x1080
Filter: no
Date: 03/09/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing and editing: Sony Vegas 10

Read more »

Mare Vaporum and Manilius on the Moon Pictures through the telescope.

Manilius (39 km) is like crater Plinius (43 km), on shapes, dimensions, they are just a few kilometers difference in size, and both have central mountains, but also because they are the only of its kind in the region.

Manilius, is located on the east of Vaporum basin, a plain at the foot of the Montes Apenninus. Mare Vaporum (245 km), has a round shape, distinctive and clearly defined, without interpenetration with other basins.

It is adjacent to lakes, called "Lacus": on north, Lacus Felicitatis, Odii, Doloris, and Sinus Fidei at northwest. West, Mare Vaporum is framed by Montes Apenninus.

Moon age: 7 days
Stage: 51% (0% = New, 100% = Full)
Distance: 384.488 km

Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plössl, 2x barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 29/04/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: video capture, FastStone Image Viewer

Read more »

Plinius and Menelaus craters on Mare Serenitatis/Tranquillitatis on the Moon

Plinius and Menelaus, located on the eastern Moon, at a distance of 227 km from each other from center to center, have a common characteristic, namely both have peaks in the center. Otherwise, Pliny is larger, more visible even through small telescopes, especially because it's located on the Tranquillitatis basin plateau, close to the mountain region Promotorium Archerusia. But Menelaus has an advantage compared to Plinius: the rays of a very intense albedo spreading in 3 directions: east, south and west, due to the impact of lunar scattered material. We understand that by dropping a stone in the sand ..

These images have areas of intense color, in which in the basin Serenitatis and Tranquillitatis's delimitations are observed. This phenomenon is observed only when the Sun illuminates the Moon at a high angle, otherwise, at a low angle, the colors are practically unnoticed.

Moon age: 7 days
Phase: 51% (0% = New, 100% = Full)
Distance: 384.488 km

Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plössl, 2x barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 29/04/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: video capture, FastStone Image Viewer

Photo above was made in May 11, 2011, with the same astronomical instruments.

Read more »