PCW Memorial Observatory – Erika Rix

Janssen, Fabricius, and Metius were a little showier, but what really caught my eye was an area that I thought was a tray of domes similar to Mons Rumker. If anyone has Rukl, this area is on map 25, about 50km wide by 60km long. It’s right below Gardner and just to the west of ghost crater Maraldi D. Of course looking at Rukl’s drawing, it looks nothing like a tray of domes…but the way the light was hitting it tonight, it had me convinced. Out came the 8mm TV Plossl!

While observing my domeoids, little prongs of light were catching my eye and getting brighter by the second. At first I thought it was Carol’s ring of fire or maybe Stonehenge. And I couldn’t for the life of me remember the actual areas for those two. To me, it looked like the prongs that holds a diamond onto a ring. Vitruvius (19 deg N, 31.3 deg E) was filled with darkenss, with a pointy area on either end. There was a crisp outer edge, fattening on the western edge. Just to the northwest of Vitruvius shimmered the diamond prongs.

There are no specific names for the protrusions that poked above the darkness just beyond the terminator. I can only assume they are the peaks of Mons Vitruvuis. The valley that Apollo 17 landed in was in complete darkness as well, but sunrise was well on its way. It was a race against time when I decided this is a must sketch moment….both with the lunar sunrise and with the trees next door swallowing up my view.