Four Old Battered Ones

On a frosty early morning in the fall of 2006, just a couple of days past third
quarter moon, I selected for sketching a famous old battered region between Mare
Nubium and Mare Cognitum. This region includes four large craters that were
damaged by low flying Imbrium ejecta that caused them to look old and battered
before their time. Nearest the terminator to the north is crater Guericke (59km)
with its flat lava flooded floor that opens to Mare Nubium. Crater Parry, smaller
at 49 km in diameter is older and also flat floored. The other two craters which
look ghostly in the sketch are larger and older and share common walls with Parry.
These craters are Bonpland (61 km.) to the west and Fra Mauro (96 km.) to the
north of Parry. The wall of Parry encroaches on Bonpland and both together on to
Fra Mauro to betray the cratering sequence of these three.
  
  Sketching:
  For this sketch I used: copy paper 8.5”x11”, #2HB graphite pencil,
  Pink pearl eraser.
  Telescope: 6 inch f/ 7.9 Dobsonian at 208x ( first light for this scope)
  Date: 10-15-2006 10:30-11:15 UT
  Temperature: 0° C (32° F)
  Clear, calm
  Seeing:  Antoniadi III
  Co longitude: 190 °
  Lunation: 23 days
  Illumination: 36 %
  
  Frank McCabe