The Moon - Craters Kepler and Copernicus - 2020-09-06 0514 UTC
Copernicus and Kepler are a stunning pair! Their namesakes are legendary in astronomy. Nicholaus Copernicus gave astronomy a heliocentric theory of the solar system, and Johannes Kepler derived the fundamental laws of planetary motion.
Near the upper left is Kepler. This crater is 32 km in diameter and 2.6 km deep. The crater proper features sharply terraced walls and a central peak. A gently sloping rampart surrounds the crater wall, and transitions downward to the dark basaltic plain of Mare Insularium below. A bright ray system extends outward for up to 300 km. Interestingly, one of Crater Tycho's rays intersect Kepler, a reminder of the real life connection between Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.
Copernicus, toward the lower right of the frame, is a larger example of the features found in Kepler. This crater is 93 km in diameter, and 3.9 km deep. It has three central peaks that overlook the crater floor. The ray system extends outward for 800 km. This bright, large crater can be seen from Earth with binoculars.
Meade LX850 (12" f/8), ZWO ASI290MM
Autostakkert! (stacking - best 10% of 3,000 frames)
Registax (sharpening)
Photoshop (final processing)
The Moon - Craters Kepler and Copernicus - 2020-09-06 0514 UTC
Copernicus and Kepler are a stunning pair! Their namesakes are legendary in astronomy. Nicholaus Copernicus gave astronomy a heliocentric theory of the solar system, and Johannes Kepler derived the fundamental laws of planetary motion.
Near the upper left is Kepler. This crater is 32 km in diameter and 2.6 km deep. The crater proper features sharply terraced walls and a central peak. A gently sloping rampart surrounds the crater wall, and transitions downward to the dark basaltic plain of Mare Insularium below. A bright ray system extends outward for up to 300 km. Interestingly, one of Crater Tycho's rays intersect Kepler, a reminder of the real life connection between Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.
Copernicus, toward the lower right of the frame, is a larger example of the features found in Kepler. This crater is 93 km in diameter, and 3.9 km deep. It has three central peaks that overlook the crater floor. The ray system extends outward for 800 km. This bright, large crater can be seen from Earth with binoculars.
Meade LX850 (12" f/8), ZWO ASI290MM
Autostakkert! (stacking - best 10% of 3,000 frames)
Registax (sharpening)
Photoshop (final processing)