I have been looking forward to an opportunity to sketch the moon for some days. Last night we had cloudless skies and wonderful day 11 moon, so out I went. What a disappointment it was though, because the air was very wobbly, meaning that nothing came into sharp focus, and use of high power was impossible.

Being bloody minded I persisted anyway, sketching the wondrous crater Wargentin at medium power.  

Wargentin is notable because it is a crater which has been filled completely to the brim with lava, which overflowed one of its rims. Whilst this was visible under such poor seeing as I found yesterday, I later found out details that I should have seen but missed; for example the Y shaped wrinkle ridge that cuts through its centre. I had no indication yesterday that such a structure exists yet it is clearly visible in photographs at similar magnification and lighting. (e.g. here).

However, I was able to detect several identifiable small craterlets, and also the interesting tonal variation in Schickard, whose lighter toned region probably represents highland rock ejected by the Orientale basin impact.

So, inspite of the poor seeing and frustrating sketching conditions, I did get some benefit from the sketching process; I observed new features and learned about them, as well as identifying new targets for the future. And who can resist a name like Nasmyth?