Schickard: a Crater with Stripes
A walled plain that was filled alternately with dark and light materials.
Observer Comments
| Target Description | Being located so close to the western limb, Schickard is very sensitive to sun angle. My library of images gave me a choice of 12 days or full, and neither is perfect. I'm guessing "perfect" is probably 13 days. 12 days (featured here) showed the rim best, if I pushed up the levels. I first identified Schickard by looking due west of Tycho. This is approximated by the dotted line, recognizing that the true longitude line isn't a straight line (but probably close enough at this distance) and, more importantly, depending on how accurately I rotated the image to true north. Since this is not calibrated, it's likely the larger source of errort. Nevertheless, it provided me a strong candidate, which I confirmed by identifying Noggerath and Schiller. Schickard is a walled plain, which means (among other features) its basin is filled to roughly to the same level as the surrounding terrain. Unusually, Schickard is filled with at least two different materials, with the center being relatively light colored, and the north and south ends being filled with darker material. This is hinted at in the 12d image, and quite clear in the full moon image. The two dark patches on either side of the arrowhead are each within the walls of Schickard. This is reasonably clear on the north end, but the rim wall is effectively invisible to the south. I identified Schickard's location in the full moon image by the longitudinal comparison to Tycho (though my rotation is less accurate), and the shapes of the darker areas in comparison to shading on my lunar map. Overall, the combination of the 12d and full view works out quite well. Note capture details for the full moon are provided in the Reiner Gamma report, or any of the other full moon images in this submission. |
| Image Capture Description | Whenever there was a nice clear night with an attractive moon, and I was observing with the Seestar, I've made a habit of capturing an image of it. I've simply held onto these images in a library, spanning images from 2d to full. At 12d, this capture has proven useful for Billy and Schickard. |
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| Date and Time Observed | 2025-04-20 20:49:00 |
| Phase Age | 12 days |
| Lunar Phase | Waxing Gibbous |
| Illumination | 92% |
| Conditions | Transparency: Good. Seeing: Good. |
| Obs. Lat/Long | 42° 17', 073° 57' |
| Capture Software | Seestar |
| Capture Type | Single-image |
| Instrument | Seestar S50 f5.0-250mm FL |
| Camera | Seestar Built-in SONY IMX462 Sensor |
| Capture Details | Auto capture |
| Post Processing | Levels adjusted and fine bandpass sharpening applied in Affinity Photo |