Date Time: October 12, 2013 2110-2130 hrs
Weather: 0 degrees Celsius, frost warning on for this evening, no wind, some light, high level wispy clouds.
Attendance: Rebecca L, Brad H, myself
Equipment: 8" Meade LX200 telescope, 32 mm 2" eyepiece with 2X Barlow, cellphone camera, planetary imager
Objective: To view and image the Lunar Straight Wall for the first time.
Report: Thanks to some fabulous weather, was able to get the telescope out two nights in a row!
After listening to Curt N talk about the Lunar Straight Wall during his 'Whats up' talk during the October 5 Saint John Astronomy Club meeting, it was decided to make an effort to observe this phenomenon on the evening of Oct 12, 2013. Actually, the Lunar Straight Wall has been on my must see list for years. What makes it so tricky to see is that its only visible around the time of an 8 day old Moon, which is kind of a narrow window, when you consider all factors like weather, work schedule and other activities have to line up for the once a month chance to see it.
After setting up the scope, the Straight Wall was observed for my first time, then confirmed by googling Straight Wall. This showed lots of images taken by other amateur astronomers. With distinctive craters on either side of the 120 km long, 250-450 m high embankment, it was easy to confirm that this was indeed a confirmed sighting of Rupes Recta aka The Straight Wall!
Bradly enjoyed seeing all the details in the craters and Becky actually said she seen the Straight Wall.
After this images and a video were taken with the cellphone camera, in which the Wall could clearly be seen. Then the planetary imager was employed, which again showed the Wall clearly. The images below are from the planetary imager.
No Shooting stars or satellites were seen on this evening.
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