The week of November 18-24 takes us from Day 21 to Day 27. This week we will highlight the crater Maginus and Catena Davy viewable after midnight on Tuesday.
Maginus: [SW/Q9; L=6°W] Located at the eastern tip of the diamond formation that includes Tycho, Longomontanus, and Clavius. Maginus has sometimes been referred to as a “little Clavius” (the large crater just to the S.E. of Maginus). Can you see the similarities?
There is a wealth of smaller detail within Maginus that is revealed by larger telescopes. How much are you able to see?
Catena Davy: [SW/L9; L=7°W] This fascinating crater chain was made when a comet or asteroid was torn into pieces by the gravitational pull of the Earth or the Moon. The alignment of smaller pieces flying through space then slammed into the Moon in machine-gun fashion, leaving a trail of small craters in a straight line. The largest of these craterlets is only a few miles wide and requires high magnification and good seeing.
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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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