Werner Airy Basin
A buried Basin - September 16/11 While moon-gazing tonight, something caught my eye that I hadn’t noticed before. SW of Mare Nectaris, and subtly darker than the surrounding highlands, was what looked like a large round impact basin barely visible under dozens of newer impact craters. The more I looked, the more real it seemed -- yet I couldn’t recall hearing anything about it. When I came back indoors I did a Google search, and found out it is a known feature called the Werner-Airy Basin. If you, like me, haven’t seen it before, look for it next time the phase is suitable. These pictures were taken afocally, holding my digital camera up to the eyepiece of my 12" f5 Dobsonian. The exposure is 1/100 at f3.3, ISO 50.