Shoemaker area image near Dec 2007 libration

[Alphajuno]

Just found this site tonight and posted an image of the South Pole
taken near the Dec 2007 libration. I only had my camera for about 2
weeks, read about the libration and knew the Constellation program was
interested in this region. So here you go. It's a compilation of two
videos taken at 12/26/2007 at 0548 and 0550 UT - I split the
difference with the file time. Let me know if you need something
else.

dfrost_200712260549
David M Frost
alpha...@gmail.com
288 mm diameter
8350 mm (f10 scope imaging at ~f29 using Televue 2.5x Image
Magnifier)
DMK21AU.AS Imaging Source
640x480 (2 images were matched and combined)
Exposure was 1/60s or less, Baader green filter
Registax 4, Photoshop Elements 5.0
Taken December 26th 2007 at 0548 UT and 0550 UT
29 deg 30' 26'' N, 95 deg 2' 37'' W

[Jim Mosher]

David,

Thanks for posting your excellent image of the Moon's south pole,
including the region around Shoemaker.

Based on the photos I've looked at, Shoemaker is one of the more
elusive named lunar features, clearly visible only in seasons when the
south polar lighting is strong (that is, when the Sun is at a negative
lunar latitude), and even then, only for a few days around Full Moon.

I could be wrong, but I believe the feature pointed to as Shoemaker in
your photo:

http://03836013348458263988-a-g.googlegroups.com/web/dfrost_200712260549.jpg?gda=DT8f5EkAAAAjZ7b_aNLnH8m8ovSrVszLySaOGqcT_Uq01-uiEDvwaL2fM6Hi0V-qHgM_KSf6YxDCXTH1S7f5nteK04iJHQbOhAioEG5q2hncZWbpWmJ7IQ

may be the sunlight inner wall of the neighboring crater recently
named Haworth (situated behind the unofficially named "Malapert
Alpha"):

http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Haworth

There is also a possibility that the arrow labeled "Shackleton" is
actually pointing to a ridge system adjacent to that crater.

In the attachment, I have used the freeware software application
"LTVT" to map some other photos with slightly different lighting to
match the librations present in your image. The arrows point to what
I believe are the shadowed bowls of Shackleton, Shoemaker and
Faustini, all of which are seen as highly foreshortened ellipses. The
lower image is an aerial topographic map produced by the Kaguya
mission:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;323/5916/897

Although the projection is different, the scale and limbward
orientation is roughly the same, so it gives a feel for what the
Earth-based photos are showing if they could be "unrolled". Blue and
purple areas are low spots; yellow and red ones are high.

Shackleton is, I believe, quite clear in the photo by Alexander Zaitsev:

http://www.astroclub.kiev.ua/gallery/details.php?image_id=1167

and the corresponding feature can be recognized on yours.

Faustini is also apparent on Alexander's photo, and the one by
Maximilian Teodorescu:

http://lpod.org/coppermine/displayimage.php?pos=-1187

As one can see from the Kaguya map, Shoemaker is expected to be seen
in front of and (in these south-up views) to the right of Faustini,
with their rims touching. I believe that on the first two photos one
can see fairly clearly the shadowed bowl of Shoemaker, its sunlit far
inner wall, and portions of the near outer rim (where it slopes down
into the shadowed pale blue low spot shown on the Kaguya map). The
topography also slopes down between Shoemaker and Shackleton, giving a
thin band of shadow behind Shoemaker's far wall.

Since the Sun is always very low at the Moon's south pole, it's hard
to get a good picture of Shoemaker in part because of the shadows from
"Malapert Alpha" (on the right in your photo) and "Leibnitz Beta" (on
the left). One or the other of these usually spills over, and hides,
the near side of Shoemaker's rim, even when the Sun is south of the
Moon's equator, as it is in all these photos. In Alexander's photo,
the Sun is to the left of center, and shadow from Leibnitz Beta is
hiding the left-hand part of Shoemaker's near rim. In Max's photo, the
Sun is to the right of center, and that part of the near rim is
visible, but the shadow from Malapert Alpha is hiding the right-hand
part of the near rim. In your photo, the Sun has moved still farther
towards the right and the shadow from Malapert Alpha hides all but a
tiny stub of Shoemaker's near rim on the extreme left. As a result,
the shadowed bowl merges with the foreground low spot making the
crater shape indistinct.

-- Jim

P.S.: for a fairly clear view of Shoemaker with a stronger libration,
see the photo by Marc Patry at:

http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/LCROSS+Impact