Big Moon.

[Mark Wagner]

So we're at full moon.  Who observes this thing?

I do!

There are a couple programs I find useful.  One is for PC - Virtual Moon Atlas.  Freeware and excellent.  I know people use and have used the excellent print Rukl atlas.  But the zoomable and immediacy of VMA is a can't be beat if you can use it.

The other that I discovered just this morning it the NASA site online Daily Moon Guide.  Interactive, fun and fact filled.

Have any nicknames for the moon?  I had an observing friend (Dean) who used to refer to it as "The Great Oblitorator" and the "Giant Plaster Ball".

Can't wait for NM week....

-- 
Mark

[Jeff Crilly]

>
> On Aug 9, 2025, at 8:46 AM, Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Can't wait for NM week....

It’s been quite bright the past couple nights. I’ve been looking at it , but not observing.

NM is almost 2 weeks out , but 3rd qtr is just around the corner…. Which is good.
I’m hoping to get out around d “old moon” around 8/18 or so. I have a commitment for NM.

-jeff

[Steve Gottlieb]

After all these years, I would have thought you could find the full moon without needing an app. Sheesh. ;-)

Steve

> On Aug 9, 2025, at 8:46 AM, Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>

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[Mark Wagner]

It takes both hands, Steve.  I don't use GoTo.

[David Kirjassoff]

I do!  It just barely clears my backyard trees now.  I like the Sky & Telescope laminated mirror image moon map.

 AT72EDII, ASI678MC, SharpCap and Autostakkert. 

[Richard Navarrete]

That’s interesting, David. The moon does not clear my backyard trees this time of year, but it does in the winter.

Richard

Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

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[Jay Freeman]

Observing the full moon can be very interesting if you treat it as an albedo and color map whose details reflect the small-scale detail and chemical composition of the lunar surface. It doesn't take more than a little thinking to figure out why some of the Apollo landing sites were chosen to be where they were.


Then there is the drama ...

(Close paraphrase of an actual text exchange ...)

[Pete Manly]: So just get on your little tricycle and pedal out of town by the end of astronomical twilight, and there'll be no need for any trouble ...
[da Weasel]: I'll see you in the corral, Manly ... at High Moon.



-- Jay Reynolds Freeman, Deep-Sky Desperado
---------------------
Jay_Reynol...@mac.com
http://JayReynoldsFreeman.com (personal web site)

[Jay Freeman]

Hey, it's hard to find anything when the background sky is that bright ...

-- Jay Reynolds Freeman, Deep-Sky Weasel

---------------------
Jay_Reynol...@mac.com
http://JayReynoldsFreeman.com (personal web site)

[Mark Scrivener]

Is there an NGC or Messier number for this thing?

On a serious note, I went to download Virtual Moon Atlas and Windows blocked the install (I assume because it was not a signed installer, not a good indicator). Before bypassing this I looked more carefully at the download page. Only 19 reviews, one of which reads: 

"Really good project, but comes with a trojan called "AdminService.exe" that installs directly in the System32 folder, claims to be a Qualcomm Atheros service (with absolutely no description nor dependencies) and reduces yor system performance up to about 20%."

 Any of you more savvy software folks want to comment on this? I generally avoid unsigned software as the page could be easily hacked and who knows what you are installing, but this is not a 100% rule for me.  

Mark

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[Steve Gottlieb]

> Is there an NGC or Messier number for this thing?

For the full moon, it’s NGC destroyer #1.

[Akarsh Simha]

On Sat, Aug 9, 2025 at 14:15 Steve Gottlieb <astrog...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Is there an NGC or Messier number for this thing?

For the full moon, it’s NGC destroyer #1.

The Sun feels very neglected from the NGC destroyer catalog

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[Jay Freeman]

No doubt has Darth Vader at the helm, somewhere deep under Tycho ...

--  Jay Reynolds Freeman, Deep-Sky Resistance Fighter Pilot

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[Jay Freeman]

But when the sun is up, you can't see the stars anyway, so what's the point?

-- Jay Reynolds Freeman, Deep-Sky Logician

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[Matthew Buynoski]

For the full moon, it’s NGC destroyer #1.

The Sun feels very neglected from the NGC destroyer catalog

Now just hold on a minute. We (few) amateur solar astronomers 

must strenuously object to categorizing the Sun as a destroyer of 

astronomical views. The Sun is a very deserving astronomical 

object in its own right, being continuously active and always 

presenting new and fascinating vistas: more interesting than 

stodgy, boring old Jupiter, or even Saturn, and certainly 

vastly better for viewing than Uranus or Neptune, silly little

colored dots that they are :-)

.

.

.

What’s more, you don’t even have to disturb your circadian

rhythms to look at it. And you can view it all year long* right 

from your front yard: no travel time or expense, no cold winter 

nights, no dew, no hassling with permits or grumpy rangers.

.

.

.

(OK, OK, yes ... atmospheric seeing during the sun-observable 

times tends to be terrible — can’t have everything :-)

*Save for viewers living poleward of the Arctic and Antarctic circles.

[David Kirjassoff]

Plus the sun is easy to spot with the naked eye.  Once. 

[Jay Freeman]

All this is piffle ... my doctoral thesis project involved the study of the interstellar medium -- we all knew full well that the stars, nebulae, galaxies and all that other junk were mere debris, to be swept away and ignored in contemplation of the grand sweep of the cosmic panorama whose density sometimes approaches a few hydrogen atoms per cubic centimeter ...

-- Jay Reynolds Freeman, Deep-Sky Condescending Snob

[Mark Wagner]

Since Mark S. had a problem with VMA, I thought I'd dig way back in TAC for a tool put together by the talented female observer Akkana Peck, for lunar observing.  Her webpages are also very interesting.  She and husband Dave North (amateur astronomer) now reside in Los Alamos NM

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Moon https://share.google/HwBaxMFayASBI5Mjw

[Ted Hauter]

Being about a 95% daily solar amateur I do not know facts of Full Moon targets or for most targets for that matter so I looked up John Read's quick guide paraphrasing:

Day 14 is one of the best days to see 85 km wide Tycho's full extent following each ejecta to it's entirety. 

Proclus crater is the brightest albedo area with contrasting Palus Somni (marsh of sleep) directly to it's fanned out reaches that deeply contrast much darker Sea of Tranquility. 

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