[AZ-Observing] Cleomedes

Hello folks;

Well, after a month of having the 7 inch Maksutov down for repairs, I got the 
replacement RA motor from Meade this week and got it installed today.  Some 
testing proved that it was tracking very well indeed and a trip out to the 
observatory at midnight showed that I was blessed with some good seeing.  Using 
the scope with 10mm and 12mm Lanthanum eyepieces led me to rate the seeing at 7 
out of 10, quite good for my backyard in north Phoenix, Arizona.  Running the 
fan for 30 minutes allowed me to try higher power, but that was asking too 
much, so this observation is at 265X in a Meade 7 inch f/15 Maksutov.

Cleomedes is the central feature of Rukl #26.  It is a very prominent crater to 
the north of Mare Crisium.  The walls are not slumped, quite the opposite, they 
appear to be to be pretty smooth in texture.  The central peak is elongated in 
a N-S direction.  There is a fissure in the floor of Cleomedes called Rima 
Cleomedes and this "Y" shaped rift is immediately obvious as a dark cleft in 
the flat bottom of this crater.  Two overlapping smaller craters are at the rim 
of the main crater, they are on the NW lip.  These two craters are Cleomedes A 
and E, they have bright white inner walls and a pretty deep for minor craters.

A fun evening;
Steve Coe

stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx
Author:  Deep Sky Observing--The Astronomical Tourist
Saguaro Astronomy Club web site:
www.saguaroastro.org

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