LUNAR CENTUM

After three years of not starting the Astronomical League’s Lunar 100 observation program I have found another opportunity to jump start this project. Recently I became a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada ( Société royale d’astronomie du Canada ) and they have two lunar observing programs.

1. Explore the Moon – a beginner’s lunar observing program
2. Isabele Williamson Lunar Observing Program

The Explore the Moon program consists of two possible exercises, a binocular version that consists of 40 observing targets and a telescopic exercise that consists of approximately 100 observing targets.

The Isabele Williamson program has well over 1000 observations and will be an amazing challenge. So, my plan now is to complete the 40 observations in the Explore the Moon binocular program, then move onto the telescopic program and along the way fill in any overlapping observations with the Astronomical League’s Lunar 100.

After I complete all three of these lunar observation programs I will then evaluate if I will attempt the thousand plus observations in the Isabele Williamson program.

Hopefully, this will get me started…

This blog will track my quest to obtain the Astronomical League’s Lunar Program pin. I will be recording my observations as they occur and provide as much detail as I can. My quest to view the Lunar 100 is driven by a life long fascination with the moon that started during my childhood which encompassed the heady days of the Apollo lunar missions and has continued to the present.

I am not sure how long it will take for me to complete my quest. I have set no artificial deadlines, no self induced pressure or any ill intended penalties. This quest is meant as a welcomed distraction from the normal day to day stresses that come from living in Northern Virginia, and as such will be accomplished in its own time.

And so it begins….