Thursday, December 10, 2015

Record crescent / Rekordsichel

Today’s morning skies were crystal clear. Without especially paying attention, the tiny moon crescent caught my attention. Before seeing it, I thought today would mark the new moon date – and it does, as I found out a minute later when having a look into the calendar.
The exact epoch of new moon today was 11:59 CET (Central European Time) and it was already past 7 am. So, this was a new personal record for me. The thinnest crescent I saw with unaided eyes so far was a 19.5 hrs young moon (see Moon near Mercury). I could spot the moon until 7:36 but was unable to do so 5 minutes later. Sunrise was at 8:24, so less than an hour later.
I used the chance and took a couple images through a 102/1000 refractor telescope using a new fringe killer filter to reduce chromatic aberrations.

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Der Himmel heute Morgen war kristallklar. Ohne besonders darauf zu achten, fiel mir die dünne Mondsichel ins Auge. Bevor ich sie sah dachte ich, dass heute Neumond sei – und dem ist auch so, wie ich eine Minute später herausfand, nachdem ich meinen Kalender anschaute.
Die genaue Epoche des Neumondes heute war 11:59 MEZ, und es war bereits nach 7 Uhr morgens. Dies war also ein neuer persönlicher Rekord für mich. Die dünnste Sichel, welche ich bislang mit unbewaffneten Augen sehen konnte war eine 19,5 Stunden junge Mondsichel (siehe Mond bei Merkur). Ich konnte den Mond bis 7:36 erhaschen, 6 Minuten später jedoch nicht mehr. Der Sonnenaufgang war um 8:24, also weniger als eine Stunde später.
Ich habe die Gelegenheit genutzt ein paar Bilder durch den 102/1000 Refraktor mit einem neuen Fringe Killer-Filter aufzunehmen, welcher Farbfehler verringert.

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3 comments:

  1. Greetings Christian!
    A very nice observation! And it was quite amazing that it caught your attention while not looking for it!? I do not recall my visual record, but recorded it photographically just last year at 14 Hours. I searched but did not spot it visually in the still-bright sky. So congratulations! -Dean

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  2. Hello Dean!
    Yes, I did not especially look out for the moon. The view out of our bedroom is directly to the east and sky transparency was exceptional - even for my kind of remote location. There is not much civilization in this direction, too. Probably, I will never see such a tiny crescent in the west - lots of towns in this direction...
    Interestingly, the ecliptic was not particularly steep.
    Additionally, I believe it is easier to see it in the morning sky, when the eyes are still kind of dark adapted.
    Best, Christian

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  3. Amazing, really amazing. My personal best-time is around 19hrs, which was an evening observation. Maybe I should try a morning observation, too.

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