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Ephemeris: 02/20/2024 – Schiller, an odd lunar crater
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 41 minutes, setting at 6:17, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:34. The Moon, halfway from first quarter to full, will set at 6:39 tomorrow morning.
The moon tonight is in its gibbous phase, with more than half of it being illuminated by the Sun. In binoculars or a small telescope, looking at the bottom part of the moon, near the South Pole. All the craters appear to be elongated, foreshortened actually, because the moon is spherical. But one crater stands out as being more elliptical than the rest it’s called Schiller. It’s about 111 miles long, and much less in the other direction. It still appears elongated when seen from overhead by a spacecraft. It looks like the footprint of a long narrow shoe. It is either the result of a low angle hit from the asteroid or two overlapping low angle asteroid craters. I suspect the latter, though I have no expertise in the matter.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
06/16/2016 – Ephemeris – The Moon tonight
Ephemeris for Thursday, June 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 4:23 tomorrow morning.
The Moon is bright as it moves toward full. In binoculars, the brightest spot on the Moon is visible on the left edge of the Moon at 10 p.m. In telescopes it becomes a crater named Aristarchus. The sea below Aristarchus where the terminator, the sunrise line cuts across is Oceanus Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms. Below that is the small circular sea called Mare Humorum, the Sea of Moisture. Below that we’re back in the lunar highlands with lots of large craters, rather to many
The Gibbous Moon at 10 p.m., June 16, 2016 showing some interesting features near the terminator.
to mention here. The transcripts of these programs with illustrations are available at bobmoler.wordpress.com. That’s Moler spelled simply M-O-L-E-R. The Moon illustration will point out the features I’ve discussed.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
08/07/2014 – Ephemeris – Two large craters of the lunar highlands visible tonight
Ephemeris for Thursday, August 7th. The sun rises at 6:35. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 8:59. The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 4:07 tomorrow morning.
The gibbous Moon is getting brighter as it becomes more sunlit from the Earth’s prospective. The disk of the Moon will be 89 percent illuminated by the sun tonight. The bright crater Aristarchus, which I’ve talked about before, on the upper left of the moon is now in sunlight. On the lower left there are two interesting craters for the small telescope. Split in half by the sunrise line terminator is the large crater Schickard 137 miles (227 km) in diameter. Craters near the limb of the Moon are foreshortened by the fact that the Moon’s nearly spherical so they there appear elongated. One, more elongated than most, is nearby Schiller which is actually 108 by 43 miles (179 by 69 km), which may be two overlapping craters or a really low angle asteroid impact.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The lunar craters Schickard and Schiller on the lunar terminator at 10 p..m., August 7, 2014. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.
The craters Schickard and Schiller from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit NASA from Virtual Moon Atlas.
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