EARTHSHINE OBSERVATION

ARISTARCHUS BRIGHTENING

30 JUNE 1979

02:46 TO 03:19

By

David O. Darling

I set up my 12.5 f5 Newtonian reflector to observe the 6.04 day old Moon. I had invited my brother Dan to come over and observe with me for the evening. I was doing a follow up observation to see if we could detect any activity in the earthshine region of the Moon similar to what was seen on 29 May 1979.

It was at 9:46 P.M. CDT 29 June or 02:46 UT 30 June 1979 that we both observed a faint blue glow on the crater Aristarchus. This glow was not as vivid as the one I seen last month, but it was very bright and plainly visible.  It was at 02:56 UT that both Dan and myself could see two aurora type streamers extending  out of the crater. One streamer extended south and the other extended to the northwest. The overall length of the cloud was about 150 miles. At 03:04 UT the streamers disappeared the blue glow returned to a small nebulous patch and at 03:19 UT the crater Aristarchus returned to it normal earthshine appearance.

Made Using Starry Night Enthusiast 4.5

Rendition of 6.04 day old Moon on night of observation located 14º above the western horizon at an azimuth of 260º. The blue spot indicates the location and appearance of the phenomena.

SOLAR TERRESTRIAL ACTIVITY REPORT

When examining the solar activity for the 30 June all three solar phenomena show increased activity.