The week of May 11-17 takes us from Day 25 to Day 1. This week we will highlight the moon crater Schickard, visible on Tuesday night close to the terminator.
Schickard: [SW/P4; L=55°W] When you look at Schickard, you should immediately notice something unusual: Schickard’s floor has stripes! It is dark on both the north and south ends, but there is a wide central stripe of lighter material. You are looking at terrain that is made up of two different chemical compositions and is a result of a combination of lighter highland material that was blown in from the formation of the Mare Orientale basin and dark basaltic material (molten lava that welled up from underneath) on the northern and southern portions of Schickard.
OF ADDITIONAL INTEREST IN SPACE
On Sunday night, the Moon is at perigee meaning it is at the closest point in its elliptical orbit around Earth. This makes the Moon appear slightly larger and brighter in the sky and can also strengthen tides.
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It is highly recommended that you get a copy of Sky and Telescope’s Field Map of the Moon, the very finest Moon map available for use at the telescope. It is available for $10.95 at www.skyandtelescope.com and on Amazon. All features mentioned in this blog will be keyed to the grid on the Field Map and will look like this: Plato: [NW/D9]
Credits:
Courtesy of Gray Photography of Corpus Christi, Texas
Lunar photos: NASA / USGS / BMDO / LROC / ASU / DLR / LOLA / Moon Globe. Used by permission
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