A FIELD TEST OF CHUCK'S NEW ATLAS

image by Henrik Bondo

We daily look at all the fantastic photos on this site - even during Chuck Wood's vacation.

Is it time to start making a new amateur-based Observer's Photographic Atlas of the Moon? On August 4, and again on December 1, 2007 Chuck suggested such a new 32-section lunar atlas. And a page in the Wiki-Moon is devoted to this atlas (see Navigation Bar at left). The idea has been supported by several observers with comments and suggestions. Based on Chuck's layout I have made a small "field-test" of the concept using my full disc photos taken with differrent solar colongitudes for a more-or-less uniform lighting. After adjusting the photos to zero libration views with the free LTVT software, I have cropped the 32 tiles from a series of 641x641 pixel screenshots at an identical 4x zoom, and finally created the above lunar mosaic. The smaller mosaic of uncalibrated images shown below identifies the longitude of the Morning Terminator in each tile, and shows how poorly the pieces would fit together if not corrected for the varying lunar distance and librations.

Wouldn't it be a happy welcome back for Chuck, if the imagers reading this were to look through their your shelves for better examples of the tiles needed to make this atlas and e-mailed one of their favorite tiles to tychocrater@yahoo.com with a "Welcome back and thanks for the LPOD site"? Imagine his smile if Chuck, upon returning home, opened his e-mail and found an atlas already there - or at least some of the building blocks needed to make one!!

Henrik Bondo

(click to see a larger version)

P.S.: Please don't take my test as a "Golden Standard". It is not meant like this. Especially regarding the polar areas there is a vast range of solar colongitudes that can be used with benefit. My spirit has only been a humble one of "Let's get started and give Chuck a little beginning-work-encouragement returning home from vacation".

Editor's note: Chuck Wood is on vacation. Today's LPOD has been contributed by a member of the-Moon Wiki. You can do the same while we await Chuck's return.

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