I photographed this Clavius Region on the Moon's southern hemisphere this evening with a Meade LX200GPS 8" SCT and a monochrome camera. For a enlarged view, click on the photo.
The largest crater in this image is Clavius. It is one of the largest crater formations on the Moon and the second largest crater on the visible near side. It is located in the rugged southern highlands of the Moon, to the south of the prominent ray crater Tycho. It is easily identified even with standard binoculars.
It is named for the Jesuit priest Christopher Clavius who was adhered strictly to the geocentric model of the Solar System all the heavens rotate about the Earth. Though he opposed the heliocentric model (where the planets and Earth revolve aroun the Sun) of Copernicus, he recognized problems with the geocentric model. He was treated with great respect by Galileo, who visited him in 1611 and discussed the new observations being made with the telescope; Clavius had by that time accepted the new discoveries as genuine though he retained doubts about the reality of the mountains on the Moon.
