Planet parade last night under pretty horrible conditions, but it was a spectacular sunset. Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars all with their respective apparent diameters through the telescope.
Mars Reappears from Behind the Moon
Watching the screen to see that tiny ball poking back out from behind the Moon was a sight to see for sure.
#mars#moon
First #Saturn of 2024 and also my first moon transit ever. The dark smudge is Titan.
Why a smudge? Cause Saturn is still really far away and lower in the sky which makes clarity more difficult. But look at those rings getting thin 👀
Using this ruler, it’s much easier to understand that the crater directly south if the rile, Silberschlag, is ~8 miles (13km) in diameter while the larger crater Southwest of there, Agrippa, is 27 miles (44km) in diameter.
Rima Ariadaeus
Sometimes the context of sizes is hard to understand looking at circular craters on the Moon. For reference, this image includes Rima Ariadaeus in comparison to the surrounding area. This rile is ~186 miles (300km) long and 3.1 miles (5km) wide.
#moon#astronomy
Watch a timelapse of the current solar activity, filmed from my backyard observatory this morning.
The sun is still insanely active, this is all unrelated to the show last week.
Montes Caucasus,Aristotles & Eudoxus Craters. I have always enjoyed this region. The craters are pronounced from the ragged terrain, the mountains leading up to them separate the day/night sky, all of which is nestled between the smoother Mare Frigoris and Mare Serenitatis.
First Quarter #moon from last night. Seeing conditions were incredible and the @Celestron C6R performed exceptionally well for high resolution imaging.