In April 2025, I completed the Astronomical League’s Lunar Program (Imaging). This list provides access to that submission. It’s arranged in the order of the program, which starts with tasks and objects that can be viewed with the naked eye, works up to binoculars, and then to telescope targets.
Of course, when you’re executing the program with imaging, you’re using a telescope on all targets. That makes it easier in some ways, but harder in a profound way. With visual astronomy, for most targets you’re basically signing a log sheet that certifies, “I saw it”. Of course, you could be wrong, but they take your word for it. With imaging, you label a photo. If you’re wrong, the reviewer will know.
One of the surprises to me was the importance of sun angle. I used a mix of stacked, wavelet sharpened images captured in SharpCap, and single images captured in Seestar over a couple of years on random dates. While the SharpCap images are MUCH better, I only had a couple of them. The Seestar image, if the sun angle was right, we generally better than the SharpCap image if the angle was too far off.
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Lunar Program (Imaging) Reports 41-48 of 48 total to date.
| Thumbnail | Title/link | Target Class | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
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Hippalus: Sunken crater with Arcuate Rilles | Telescope Objects>Craters ~10 Days Old | Who knew arcuate rilles were a thing? Now I do. |
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Another Walled Plain: J Herschel Crater | Telescope Objects>Craters ~10 Days Old | A "walled plain" is a term of lunar art describing an ancient impact crater later filled with lava. |
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Pitatus: Half a Walled Plain, with Cracks | Telescope Objects>Craters ~10 Days Old | This crater was filled with lava, from the inside, but it has interesting cracks. |
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Crater Billy: Way Out West | Telescope Objects>Craters ~14 Days Old | Happy to locate this impact crater based on shore features. |
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Reiner Gamma: A Swirl | Telescope Objects>Craters ~14 Days Old | The Moon's most visible swirl, and its most mysterious object class. |
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Schickard: a Crater with Stripes | Telescope Objects>Craters ~14 Days Old | A walled plain that was filled alternately with dark and light materials. |
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Observing Moon in Conjunction with M45 | Optional Objects>Telescope Objects | A rare opportunity to image both the moon and the Pleiades in the same FOV. |
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Optional Object: Total Lunar Eclipse of March 2025 | Optional Objects>Optional Objects | I couldn't resist adding this observation as an "Optional Object" even if it's not in the checklist. |