Isabel Williamson Lunar Observing Program

Isabel Williamson Lunar Observing Program

Description

The Moon is by far the most detailed astronomical object to observe through a telescope and the comprehensive Isabel Williamson Lunar Observing Program (IWLOP) will guide you through a complete tour of our near neighbour's incredible surface. The tour includes many outstanding craters, mountains, valleys, scarps, ridges, and more, not only showing you how they appear, but also describing the history of their formation over four billion years. The RASC Observing Committee created the IWLOP in 2005 as a certificate program for intermediate-to-advanced observers; since then, more than a dozen RASC members have earned their IWLOP certificates and many have provided constructive comments, leading to several minor revisions and corrections in 2013.
 
 

About Isabel Williamson

Isabel K. Williamson (1908 - 2000) was an amateur astronomer who became one of the most enthusiastic promoters of observational astronomy for the Montreal Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada RASC. Having joined the Centre initially in 1941, over the next 30 years she took on several roles of authority that included: working as Editor of a monthly bulletin; becoming President from 1950 - 52, and taking on Director of Observations from 1964 - 1968. Particularly interested in Aurora and Meteors, she received two main awards for her devotion and work to the Centre; the first was in 1949 when she received the Chant Medal for observations of the Giacobinid meteor shower of 1946, and later in 1982 receivership of the Society's Service Award for her stewardship and training in the Observatory (later named after her).
 
 

The Program Objectives

In honour of her contribution to promotional and practical astronomy, in 2005 the RASC offered the Isabel Williamson Lunar Observing Program. The program was revised and corrected based on user feedback and the latest program guide is the Revised 2nd Edition (2013). The Certificate is awarded to any RASC member who completes the following two sets of Required observing objectives:
 
 (1) Introducing the Moon - Make 4 general-view observations of the Moon that cover several aspects and topics;
 (2) Main Observing List - Observe 135 geological features and regions on the lunar surface.
 
  There are additional parts, including (3) Libration Challenge Features (optional), (4) Observable Craters with Canadian Connections, and (5) the Lunar 1000 Challenge (see the guide).
 
  The main goals of the program, however, are to give the observer an appreciation of the lunar surface, and a greater understanding of how those features observed formed over a period of time. The program can be completed within 6 to 12 months (or longer), and all features can be observed with telescopes of 80-mm aperture and up.
 
 

(1) Introducing the Moon

The first five objectives:
 

• (A) Lunar Phases and Orbital Motion
• (B) Major Basins and Pickering Unaided Eye Scale
• (C) Ray System Extent
• (D) Crescent Moon - less than 24 hours from New (optional, Challenge objective, as of 2011)
• (E) Binocular and Unaided Eye Libration

(2) Main Observing List

The 135 features to observe
 

No.	Feature	No.	Feature	No.	Feature
1	Mare Crisium	46	Zagut, Rabbi Levi & Lindenau	91	Stadius
2	Eastern Basin Group (Mare Crisium / Mare Fecunditatis Area)	47	Delambre	92	Clavius
3	Mare Anguis	48	Aristoteles & Eudoxus	93	Fra Mauro Formation
4	Vendelinus	49	Sacrobosco and Playfair	94	Montes Recti
5	Langrenus	50	Maurolycus and Barocius	95	Copernicus
6	Petavius	51	Gemma Frisius	96	Mare Imbrium / Eratosthenes / Copernicus System
7	Furnerius and Fraunhofer	52	Montes Haemus & Mare Serenitatis Lacus Group	97	Wilhelm & Heinsius
8	Geminus & Lacus Spei	53	Rima Ariadaeus	98	Blancanus & Scheiner
9	Endymion & Mare Humboldtianum	54	Abulfeda & Catena Abulfeda	99	Longomontanus
10	Snellius & Vallis Snellius	55	Abenezra & Azophi	100	Bullialdus
11	Cleomedes & Macrobius	56	Dorsum von Cotta & Dorsum Buckland	101	Kies, Mercator & Campanus
12	Stevinus	57	Linné	102	Mare Cognitum & Kuiper
13	Mare Fecunditatis	58	Cuvier	103	Reinhold & Lansberg
14	Vallis Rheita	59	Manilius	104	Dorsum Zirkel and Dorsum Heim
15	Promontorium Lavinium & Promontorium Olivium	60	Montes Caucasus	105	Montes Carpatus
16	Franklin & Cepheus	61	Rima Hyginus	106	Sinus Iridum
17	Steinheil and Watt	62	Stöfler and Faraday	107	Klaproth & Casatus
18	Palus Somni and Proclus	63	Airy, Argelander & Vogel	108	Palus Epidemiarum
19	Newcomb	64	Rimae Triesnecker	109	Lacus Timoris
20	Metius and Fabricius	65	Hipparchus	110	Montes Riphaeus
21	Sinus Concordiae	66	Albategnius	111	Hortensius & Hortensius Domes
22	Janssen	67	Werner & Aliacensis	112	Mare Insularum Volcanic Complex
23	Montes Pyrenaeus	68	Montes Alpes & Vallis Alpes	113	Promontorium Kelvin & Rupes Kelvin
24	Atlas and Hercules	69	Aristillus & Autolycus	114	Mons Delisle & Mons Vinogradov
25	Mare Nectaris	70	Montes Apenninus & Apennine Bench	115	Kepler & Encke
26	Rupes Cauchy & Cauchy	71	Walter	116	Gassendi
27	Sinus Amoris	72	Huggins, Nasireddin & Miller	117	Mons Gruithuisen Gamma & Delta
28	Capella and Vallis Capella	73	Regiomontanus & Purbach	118	Schiller & the Schiller-Zucchius Basin
29	Fracastorius	74	Arzachel	119	Montes Harbinger
30	Hommel	75	Ptolemaeus & Alphonsus	120	Letronne and Flamsteed
31	Piccolomini	76	Goldschmidt	121	Rupes Liebig
32	Wöhler	77	Montes Spitzbergen & Mons Piton	122	Aristarchus Plateau & Vallis Schröteri
33	Posidonius	78	Archimedes & Montes Archimedes	123	Mersenius & Rimae Mersenius
34	Dorsa Aldrovandi and Mons Argaeus	79	Deslandres	124	Billy and Hansteen
35	Jansen	80	Moretus & South Polar Region	125	Zucchius, Bettinus & Kircher
36	Lacus Mortis and Bürg	81	Maginus	126	Marius & Marius Hills
37	Theophilus (Sinus Asperitatis & Mare Nectaris Area)	82	Davy & Catena Davy	127	Schickard & Lacus Excellentiae
38	Cyrillus (Sinus Asperitatis & Mare Nectaris Area)	83	Rupes Recta	128	Vieta & Fourier
39	Catharina (Sinus Asperitatis & Mare Nectaris Area)	84	Montes Teneriffe & [[Mons Pico]	129	Phocylides & Wargentin
40	Rupes Altai	85	Plato	130	Mons Rümker
41	Mare Serenitatis	86	Tycho	131	Reiner Gamma & Galilaei
42	Sinus Asperitatis	87	Eratosthenes	132	Sirsalis & Rimae Sirsalis
43	Plinius	88	Gauricus and Wurzelbauer	133	Pythagoras, Harpalus & Bouguer
44	Lamont, Arago, & Ross	89	Timocharis	134	Grimaldi
45	Moltke & Rimae Hypatia	90	Pitatus	135	Lacroix & Southwestern Limb Region

(3) Librational List (optional)

The 10 main objectives
 

No.	Feature
L1	Mare Australe
L2	Mare Marginis
L3	Mare Smythii
L4	Hubble
L5	Gärtner and Democritus
L6	Markov
L7	Seleucus
L8	Bailly
L9	Ulugh Beigh and Aston
L10	Mare Orientale

Additional Information

• Details on observing objectives can be found in the LWLOP guide , containing a more detailed description on each feature listed.
• Deluxe Observing Forms for all the features listed in the IWLOP.
• Obituary notice from the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 94, p.202.

Other Observing Programs

• RASC: Explore the Moon Program
• Chuck Wood's Lunar 100.
• Astronomical League Lunar 100 Observing Program.
• Rukl Index Map (the revised and updated digital edition of Antonin Rukl's well-known atlas of the moon's nearside, in 76 sections and 8 libration maps, plus historical disallowed nomenclature and hundreds of nicknames from dedicated telescopic observers of the moon and from the Apollo astronauts).
• CAES catalog (a huge Rukl-related catalog of telescopic test-objects on the moon's surface, and other odd surface formations).

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