Simple crescent on 1. February
Very thin crescent on 2. February

Old crescent on 1. February

Version 2.2.2011 Martin Elsaesser, www.mondatlas.de

Winter fog covered the lowlands around munich, so a trip to the mountains was required to observe the old crescent. I drove to the well known Sudelfeld, which has a clear view of the south-eastern horizon. Temperatures in the valeys were about -16°C, with only -8° above the clouds/fog.

morning twilight
Bright venus shines in morning twilight, while preparation work on the ski slopes continues.

morning twilight
The snow canons create their own layer of ice-fog, which luckily stayed below my position. Scorpius rises above the "Oberes Sudelfeld".

old crescent, -40h
The old crescent rose behind the peaks of the "Wilder Kaiser", a wonderful sight across the valey of the Inn river. The crescent was easily visible with the naked eye. Inexpensive russian 20x60 binoculars gave a good view, too. The image was taken with a 500mm "Russentonne".

old crescent, -40h
The crescent rising higher, above the far-away peaks.

movement of the old crescent
A merge of several crescent shots, showing the motion parallel to the mountain ridge.

sunrise is near
Shortly before sunrise behind the distant mountains, with some contrails above and fog below.

sunrise behind the wilde kaiser
A dazzling first glimpse of the sun appears behind the Wilder Kaiser.

shadows in the morning fog
The low but bright sun casts long shadows in the ice-fog below.

All around a wonderful morning observation, which served as preparation for the more difficult crescent on 2. February.

Old crescent on 2. February

The very difficult old crescent of 2. February was again observed from the Sudelfeld, due to fog in the lowlands. Weather conditions wery very good.

At 9° elongation and -19h age, the crescent could easily be observed with the established video-technique. The view was initially blurred by air currents near the horizon, but soon cleared as the crescent rose higher, showing a very fine arc. The crescent could easily be followed till after sunrise.

I could NOT see the crescent visually this time with a pair of 20x60 binoculars. At these elongations, we probably need higher magnifications. I will try on the young crescent tomorrow, weather permitting.

across the valey
The view across the valey to the "Wilder Kaiser", where the crescent was expected to rise.

crescent rises behind the mountains
The crescent could easily be seen with the video-technique, as it rose behind the mountains. The view was initially blurred by bad seeing.

thin crescent arc
The view of the crescent improved as it rose higher, where the blurring was far less. The image was taken after the sun had also risen above the mountains.

Young crescent on 4. February



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