New image uploaded to files

[Arnold Ashcraft]

Folks:
I have uploaded a new image to the files section. It was made
from a video taken at 3:09 am EST under average seeing conditions.

File Name CAshcraft_20090214_080924UT
Name of observer: Clif Ashcraft
Email address of observer: wa2...@optonline.net
Aperture of telescope: 184 mm
Focal length of telescope: 2578 mm
Type of camera used: The Imaging Source DMK31
Camera detector dimensions: 1024x768 pixels (uncropped)
Exposure information: 1/250 sec
Time and date of exposure: 2009-02-14 080924UT
Ret #25 and NIR blocking filters used.
Location from which exposure was taken: Perrineville, NJ

Clif

[Jim Mosher]

Clif,

The strong librations make this a valuable photo despite the less than
ideal conditions under which it was taken. I am attaching a labeled
version of the north polar area identifying some of the IAU-named
landmarks and estimates of the positions, in relation to them, of the
six possible LCROSS impact points (A-F) that Kurt identifies at:

http://groups.google.com/group/lcross_observation/web/finders

Your photo also captures the newly named minor north polar craters
Aepinus, Florey, Gore and Grignard, which I have also labeled:

http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/HotTopics/index.php?/archives/351-Nineteen-New-Names-Approved-for-Earths-Moon.html

I found LCROSS Target B (officially known as Hermite A) surprisingly
difficult to find -- you can see it as a very narrow, highly
foreshortened ellipse centered at around pixel (420, 605) in your
original photo. It seems to resemble Shackleton with its steep outer
cone, but even at this extreme libration very little of Target B's
shadowed interior can be seen. The interior of the newly named crater
Aepinus is much more obvious even though it is farther from the Moon's
apparent center (and hence should be even more strongly
foreshortened). Your photo makes it appear that an impact cloud at
Target B would be very hard to distinguish from the background
terrain.

Target C (now known as Erlanger) is even more difficult to detect. As
one might guess from the satellite photos, it is probably hidden by
the bright ridge between Byrd and Peary. The still unnamed crater just
above the "B" in Byrd is much easier to see.

Target F (now known as Fibiger), which we have located on earlier
photos, is probably close to the indicated position. The bright
features just below the dot are, I believe, the ridge (or crater wall)
separating it from Byrd D. It doesn't appear to me that the far rim
of Fibiger can be detected in your photo.

The location indicated for Target D is just a guess since that region
is entirely in shadow in this lighting; as is the vicinity of Target
A, although a little bit of the Earthward rim of Nansen F (on whose
floor Target A lies) can be seen at about 7 o'clock from the "A".

Target E (a prominent but still unnamed crater quite close to the
north pole) also appears to be in shadow, but by comparing your photo
with a Clementine basemap warped to the same geometry, it was possible
to locate it just beyond the edge of the bright ridge, as shown.

-- Jim

[Arnold Ashcraft]

Thanks for the labels Jim. I didn't know there was a crater named
after the great French chemist Grignard. Wonder if he had any
astronomical connections? I have noticed that a triad of interests
(chemistry, music and astronomy) occur repeatedly, sometimes all
three (works for me), but more commonly two of them (Wm. Herschel for
one example, Alexander Borodin for another).
Clif

> <CAshcraft_20090214_080924UT_labeled_by_JMM.jpg>

[Jim Mosher]

On Feb 14, 2:20 pm, Arnold Ashcraft <wa2...@optonline.net> wrote:
> Thanks for the labels Jim.  I didn't know there was a crater named  
> after the great French chemist Grignard.  Wonder if he had any  
> astronomical connections?  

The name was added just last month, so it doesn't appear on most
maps.

I don't know if Grignard had any ties to astronomy. Crater names on
the Moon are selected to honor scientists in general, not necessarily
astronomers. Many of the recent names have been selected from Nobel
Prize winners, which would include Grignard. Fellow prize winner
Fritz Haber had a much larger crater named for him at the same time,
and it is also visible in your photo although I didn't try to label it
since the dots and labels were getting a bit cluttered there. Haber's
crater is between and behind Sylvester and Grignard, with Lovelace
beyond it at the limb.

You can get a feel for the layout from the most recent IAU
nomenclature map of that area:

http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac_1_lo.pdf

There is also a page reserved for Grignard (and one for Haber) at:

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

-- Jim