Author: Jeremy Perez

Early January Mars

Mars
Mars – CM 3.2°
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

I made an observation of Mars on January 3, 2010 (06:00 U.T.) under average seeing conditions with brief moments of steadier seeing. I was unable to view the planet in blue light as clouds prevented me from doing so shortly after my IR/Magenta filter observation.

Date (U.T.): January 3, 2010
Time (U.T.): 06:00
CM 003.2* W
Ls 32.7* (Northern Spring/Southern Autumn)
De 17.7*, Ds 13.1*, phase 97%, 12.9″
Instrument: 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Magnification: 295x
Filters (Wratten) 30 (Magenta)
Seeing (1-10): 5 (brief moments of 6-7), Antoniadi (I-V) III
Transparency (1-6): 4

Notes:
The North Polar Cap (NPC) was brilliant (10/10) without any detail visible within it. A projection from the NPC is visible over it’s southern border (following the CM). Sinus Sabaeus (3-5/10) and Sinus Meridiani (3-4/10) were visible on and preceding the CM. No haze/cloud is visible over Edom (7/10) at this time. Arabia/Aeria/Eden appear bright (7/10) but no other detail is visible over these regions. Deucalionis Regio appears bright (7/10) and Pandorae Fretum appears dusky to dull (4-5/10) whereas Noachis is obscured by a very bright (8/10) Evening Limb Haze (ELH). Cecropia (and Ortygia appear dark to dusky (3-4/10). Mare Acidalium appears dark to dusky (3-4/10) and Niliacus Lacus (3-4/10) separated by a bright (7/10) haze over Achillis Pons. Margaritifer Sinus, Mare Erythraeum, and Aurorae Sinus appear dark to dusky (3-4/10) and mottled. dusky (4/10) projections are noted to extend from the northern borders of Mare Erythraeum. Chryse/Xanthe appears bright (7/10) with a faint haze over it. An extremely to very bright (8-9/10) Evening Limb Haze (ELH), Morning Limb haze (MLH), and Southern Limb Haze (SLH) are visible.

A digital image produced using Pixelmator.

Kepler to Marius

Sketch of Craters Kepler and Marius

Kepler, Marius and Surroundings
Move mouse over image to view labels.
Sketch and Details by Peter Mayhew

Object Name: Craters Kepler and Marius
Object Type: Lunar craters
Location: York, UK
Date: 28th December 2009

The terminator of the day-12 moon struck through crater Marius. With Kepler to its left, it was a fine sight. I was surprised to observe that Marius is larger than Kepler, although of course the latter is more striking to the eye due to its rays. Wrinkle ridges north and south of Marius appeared hummocky by virtue of their crossing the dome-ridden Marius Hills, to the west of Marius on and beyond the terminator. I include a labelled version.

Part of Basin Schiller – Zucchius

Basin Schiller - Zucchius
Part of Basin Schiller – Zucchius
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

After 12 cloudy days and nights I was anxious to get out under a clear sky to make an attempt at sketching a lunar target of opportunity. Before selecting a target I noticed the moon was moving through the Pleiades and created a very interesting binocular target. With the moon at 12.5 days into the lunation, the waxing gibbous phase was showing me the Schiller – Zucchius basin very nicely. I centered on two craters to one side of this 3 ringed basin. First the young Copernican period crater Zucchius (65 km.) with its terraced inner walls and shadowed floor looked deeper than its 3.3 km. measured depth because of the light and shadow. Sharing a common wall with this crater is the ancient and similar sized Segner (68 km.). This pre-Nectarian crater looked old and worn. Its rim was low and had nothing in the way of central peaks just a small nearly centered crater Segner H. Extending from the north side of crater Segner’s outer rim is a ridge which is a short wall segment of the second basin ring. What looks much like a shallow depression and measures about the same size as these two craters is the central ring of the basin and can be seen at the lower left (Northeast) in the sketch.
A photo of this entire basin credited to Gary Seronik can be seen on LPOD for October 17, 2004
http://www.lpod.org/archive/LPOD-2004-10-17.htm
I found myself sketching quickly in the cold air which was rapidly dropping in temperature as I sketched. After about an hour I considered the sketch finished and returned to the indoor warmth to thaw out.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Canson paper 9″x 12″, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic and gum erasers. Brightness was not altered but contrast was increased +2 using the scanner for this sketch
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian with 6mm (241x) eyepiece
Date: 12-29-2009 4:45-5:45 UT
Temperature: -8°C (18°F)
Clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi IV
Co longitude 60.6°
Lunation 12.7 days
Illumination 90.7%

Frank McCabe

Two Views of M42

M42
Messier 42, 43 and NGC 1977

M42 Trapezium
Messier 42 Trapezium
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

M42 (NGC 1976) Ori diffuse nebula Difficulty level 1

M43 (NGC 1982) Ori diffuse nebula Difficulty level 2

NGC 1977 Ori diffuse nebula Difficulty level 3

Date of observation: 1995/01/25 22:08
Observing site: Hoshinomura
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 2/4/2
Instruments: 30×125 binoculars
Width of field: 1.6‹
This is the brightest and most interesting diffuse nebula among those that are visible from Japan. It shows very complex structures and extremely difficult to draw. North of this nebula a diffuse nebula called NGC 1977 is clearly visible.
NGC 1999: This nebula is relatively bright with complex structures. If this nebula was a separate object, it could attract more attention of observers.
M42: Even at this magnification the four stars of the Trapezium are resolved and a dark band intruding the bright nebulosity from the east is noticeable. There are three stars along this dark band. There is also a dark band south of the Trapezium.
M43: The star at the center stands out and the southeast side of the nebulosity is sharply defined by dark areas.

Mars – December 28, 2009

Mars
Mars – CM 313°
Sketch and Details by Kris Smet

Finally some good seeing tonight, i had a beautiful view of syrtis major, hellas, sinus sabaeus and the north polar region. finally some subtle darkness differences in syrtis major could be made out; where mare tyrrhenum runs into syrtis major and the northern tip was dark and kinda triangular. the little ‘bended hook’ was also visible. sinus sabaeus was also a bit darker. after a while i thought to see some irregularity in the npc/nph border, like a bit of it sticking out, slightly isolated.
Lybia & Aeria showed as bright patches, i guess Lybia could be clouded because it showed up brighter in blue light than Aeria.
the deucalionis region (in between sinus sabaeus and noachis) also looked brighter, but i think that might just be due to the it’s position between two darker areas.

Hopefully we can get a few more nights like this in january! it’s good sessions like these which make you forget previous frustrating views

I used my 8″ dob for this one @ 357x without filters.
the sketch is simply scanned and a bit unsharpened, no further color, brightness or contrast enhancements.

location: bornem, belgium

Lunar Trio

Wolf Crater
Wolf Crater

Montes Harbinger
Montes Harbinger

Schiller Crater
Schiller Crater

Sketches and Details by Dale Holt

I have assembled three sketches made at my hand over the Christmas holiday. The first caught my eye because of its shape under the illumination on the evening of observation. It struck me how it looks like a ‘love heart’ I later researched and found that this worn and likely flooded feature? Was Wolf no longer a Wolf’s den! But in my sketch perhaps a Wolf’s heart?

The second of my sketches, and personal favourite of the three is of the magnificent mountain range, Montes Harbinger, I was drawn by the brightly illuminated peaks and anthracite black, jagged and far reaching shadows reminiscent of the angry wood hungry teeth of an old rip saw!

Finally for the of my trio, completed last night it depicts the giant foot print of Schiller, seeing was good and detail plentiful, a wonderful way to spend an hour.

I hope these trio find favour with you? Drawn using my 6″ refractor in all cases & rendered with pastel & watercolour pencils upon black artist paper.

Happy New Year, Dale

NGC 6302 – The Bug Nebula

NGC 6302
NGC 6302 – The Bug Nebula
Sketch and Details by Scott Mellish

NGC 6302 “The Bug Nebula”
Planetary Nebula
Sagittarius
19/09/09
Ilford NSW Australia
56cm f5 dobsonian
Field: 15′
Magnification: 314x
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:38

Black Canford paper
White pen
White pencil
White pastel chalk
Blending stump

It had been a while since I visited the Bug Nebula.
As Sagittarius was getting a bit low in the west I thought I might catch it before it went behind the trees.
I was pleased with the eyepiece view and remembered the Hubble image of it.

While the Hubble image wins hands down with subtle detail, the view through a large aperture dob is certainly nothing to be ashamed of.

Scott Mellish

Mars in Color – December 27, 2009

Mars - December 27, 2009

Sketch and Details by Krzysztof Jastrzebski (jarzbi)

Object Name: Mars
Object Type: Planet
Location: Poland – Skawina
Date: 27.12.2009

Hello,
This is my pencil sketch improved in Gimp (cat white paper background,
set contrast an colorized). I made it with Synta 8″ dobs, vixen NLV 6mm
and polarization filter Baader. Mars without filter was to bright.