Stand Alone Crater Manillus

Lunar crater Manillus in the Sea of Vapors
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

There is a stand alone Eratosthenian crater (1-3 billion years old) on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Vapors known as Manilius. Manilius is 39 kilometers in diameter with a steep inner wall 3.1 kilometers above its floor. The crater rim and outer rampart are impressive in the eyepiece as is the illuminated inner talus slope and central mountain still capturing sunlight. As I was making this sketch at 241 power I knew this moonscape was know to have several small domes and when I finished I took a look at several of the larger ones under higher magnification. They are a little difficult to pick out from all the smaller bits of Imbrium ejecta piles. I didn’t concern myself with them during the sketch but Chuck Wood’s LPOD and Bruno Daversin’s image on April 12, 2006 show the ones close to the crater to the north and east. HYPERLINK “http://www.lpod.org/?m=20060412″ http://www.lpod.org/?m=20060412
This photo was taken during the waxing moon and I was viewing and sketching during the waning moon. Also since I was sketching with a Newtonian scope south is up in the sketch.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Canson paper 9″x 12”, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic eraser. Brightness was decreased -2 and contrast increased +2 using the scanner for this sketch
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian with 6mm (241x) eyepiece
Date: 11-8-2009 11:15-12:40 UT
Temperature: 9°C (49°F)
Clear becoming partly cloudy, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi II
Co longitude 167°
Lunation 21.5 days
Illumination 61%

Chicago, Illinois USA

Frank McCabe