Thursday, November 19, 2015

''LUNAR X'' OBSERVED ON NOVEMBER 18

Wednesday , 18 November 2015 ,from 18:00 to 19:00 UT , I witnessed the phenomenon  ''Lunar X'' or ''Werner X ''.
This is a clar-obscur effect on the Moon.
The light and the shadow  ''...creates the  appearance of a letter ' X ' on the rim of the Blanchinus,La Caille  and Purbach craters'' according to Wikipedia.


My observation of the ''Lunar X'' it just happened.
I was actually experimenting the use of an IOR binocular head adapted for astronomical use on my home-made 125mm F/7 Newtonian reflector.
The exquisite main mirror of this reflector was made by late Gavril Beches of Timisoara, a very gifted and self-taught mirror maker and passionate amateur astronomer.
The binocular head was checked , fixed and colimated by Silviu aka ''zoth''.
The adapter to 1,24'' of the bino head was made by Tavi aka ''Erwin''.
First I enjoyed visually the show.
Next I took the afocal pics with my Coolpix S3300 compact digital camera hand held over the right channel /ocular of the binocular head charged with a magnification of 140x.
I rotated the ocular in the drawer and moved the ''Lunar X'' all across the visual field just  to be sure it is not an optical artifact or an aberration.



Lunar X 18.11.15 reflector 125mm



LunarX November 18

LunarX , afocal , 125mm reflector 140x

LUNAR X

LunarX 18.11.2015


Lunar X in bino head 140 x

To be 100% sure it is a good practice to observe the same phenomenon with different instruments.
 Out of curiosity,  I made observations of the ''LunarX'' also with my ''one foot achromatic'' or my short refractor of 45mm aperture and 300mm focus, in the ST mode.
The magnifications used were 30x / Faworski 10 mm Plossl and 75 x / Kasai 4mm Ortho.
At both magnifications the ''Lunar X '' was very nice and clearly visible.
I took some afocal pics at 30 x.
A star in ''occultation danger'' was noticed to the East.


Lunar X and possible occultation in 45mm x 300 mm refractor ,afocal , 30 x




Lunar X 18.11.15 in 45mm refractor 30x

It was a beautiful and unexpected gift ,thank you Lord !









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