Full 8.3d Lunar Mosaic

This is a mosaic taken on the same night as the Ariadaeus close up - Newtonain prime with my trusty ToUCam Pro. 6 avi strips were captured and split/processed into a total of 19 image sections that were registered and overlayed onto each other in iMerge.

Polar alignment was not perfect so slight image rotation crept in across the strips causing an annoying blur on alignment. I should really have trimmed the frames down to have minimal overlap to reduce the iMerge induced overlap effect but it's not as good image of this phase of the Moon as I've captured before so I won't spend my time doing it now.

I rather like the rays around Bessel, Proclus, & Messier in the Mare Serenitatis, Mare Crisium, & Mare Fecunditatis respectively. The differing contrasts of Mare materials on the boundary of Serentatis & Tranquilitatis are quite evident as is the interesting contrast edge around Madler on the border of Mare Nectaris and Sinus Asperitatis. The last large scale feature I want to mention is the wonderfully named Palus Somni - the Marsh of Sleep. It sounds like something straight out of Lord of the Rings! The rays from Proclus on the western border of Mare Crisium beautifully frame is against Mare Tranquilitatis.

The prominent features on the limb start with Vallis Alpes in the north, down though the magnificently lit Cassini, to the pair Aristillus and Autolycus by the gap between the massive Montes Caucasus & Apenninus. Note the very bright peak of Mons Piton on the far side of the terminator towering 2.3km into the light of the rising sun.

Moving down is a region I previously imaged here - I do not know the name of the "scraped" formation between Mare Vaporum and Sinus Medii though, but it is so prominent during this lunar phase that it should really have a name!

The next prominent crater chain starts with Hipparchus and Albategnius just to the south of Sinus Medii (with its bright central peak and wall-busting resident crater Klein). I feel these are often overlooked by their larger neighbours Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, and Arzachel, but during this phase of the Lunar cycle they are still hidden on the other side of the terminator so they take the lime light for once!

Moving south another 20 degrees brings us to Werner and Aliacensis bordering the spectacular crater Walter, with its western walls rising out for the terminators darkness in a delicate ring of peaks. Then we enter the Southern Zone of the Lunar surface and its multitude of overlapping craters and chaotic terrain.

I was going to post a link to the full size original, but blogger does not seem to let me upload such a large image (2206x2206 image) .. ah well, maybe I should get myself a proper website :)