Jeremy Perez – Page 144 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

The Highlands Between Grimaldi and Mersenius

Highlands Between Grimaldi and Mersenius
Sketch and Commentary by Frank McCabe

With the moon at nearly full phase, the sunrise illumination was approaching the western limb on this evening of observing and sketching. The region I focused in on includes the highlands just beyond the southwestern portion of Oceanus Procellarum between the Grimaldi basin and crater Mersenius. Both of these features are outside the boundaries of this sketch. Normally in this light I can hold the linear Rille Sirsalis in view continuously, but on this night it was visible only intermittently. Twin craters Sirsalis (43 km.) and Sirsalis A (49 km.) were clearly visible with their bright rims and dark shadowed floors. It is clear from some light reaching the floor of Sirsalis A that Siralis is the deeper of the two.
Lava flooded Billy, an Imbrium crater at 46 kilometers is separated from slightly younger crater Hansteen (45 km.) by Mons Hansteen. Beyond these features the remains of Siralis E a ghostly 72 kilometer crater remnant was visible in the morning sunlight.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 8”x 11”, white and black Conte’pastel pencils and a blending stump. Brightness was slightly decreased (-5) and contrast increased (+6) after scanning using Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 9mm eyepiece 161x
Date: 3-20-2008 4:50 – 6:00 UT
Temperature: -2°C (28°F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 66.9°
Lunation: 12.5 days
Illumination: 97.5 %
Phase: 18.4°
Observing Location: +41°37′ +87° 47′

Frank McCabe

Orange Embers and Blue Ice in Messier 18

M18
Sketch and Commentary by Wade Corbei

Here is an older sketch that has been hiding in the middle of my current sketch book. As the date indicates, this sketch was made back in October of ’07 when Sagittarius was still fairly prominant towards the south.

My notes also make note that I was a little more than 1 hour at the EP while plotting all the faint stars that surround this great open cluster, and that there was no Moon in the sky, which allowed for some great dark-sky observing.

I also noted that this cluster had a few stars of varying colors as well, a few that were slightly orange as well as a few almost ice-blue. The rich starfield of this region just adds to the overall experience of observing this large OC. This is indeed a fairly large OC as well. Although I tried several EP’s (15mm Expanse, 10mm, 6.3mm) I got my best over-all view of this OC with my 20mm.

The Hub of the Antennae

NGC 4038 and 4039 – The Antennae Galaxies
Sketch by Eiji Kato

This colliding pair of galaxies lies about 65 million light years away in the constellation Corvus. They are named after the long tidal tails that were strewn out some 200 to 300 million years ago when the galaxies first began interacting. As the collision proceeds, billions of new stars will eventually be formed. This fascinating merger gives us a preview of what may happen when the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies collide in the distant future.

Sources: HubbleSite News Center, NOAO

The Makings of a Coronal Mass Ejection

Sun – Featuring NOAA 10987, 10988, 10989
Sketches and Commentary by Erika Rix

2008 March 26, 1335ST – 1452ST (1735UT – 1852UT)
Solar H-alpha and White Light
PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio, USA, Lat: 40.01 / Long: -81.56
Erika Rix

Temp: 57.0 °F / 13.9 °C
Winds: West 18 mph gusting to 25 mph
Humidity: 33%
Seeing: 5/6
Transparency: 2/6
Alt: 50.4 Az: 157.5

Equipment:
Internally double stacked Maxscope 60mm, LXD75, 40mm ProOptic Plossl, 21-7mm Zhumell
ETX70 AT, tilt plate, 8mm Televue Plossl

Sketch Media:
H-alpha – Black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ and Prang pencils, white vinyl eraser.
Added –5 brightness, +30 contrast after scanning in color at 300 dpi. Tilting Sun program used for digital Sun insert.

White Light – white copy paper, #2 pencil, .5mm mechanical pencil, photographed sketch instead of scanning for better contrast.

It was said that today NOAA 10989 produced an M2-class eruption causing a CME. I have to say that each of the three active regions had very bright plage seeming to curve around the dark specks of sunspots within each region. It’s not often I get such a great view of the sunspots themselves in h-alpha, but today 10988 had the largest umbral area and they all had one or two smaller dark spots. I could hardly wait to pull out the ETX70 with a white light filter to see the sunspots themselves in much greater detail.

Prom activity was very modest. After 3-4 strolls around the limb tweaking the Etalon, 6 areas of very small prominences came to view. The filaments on the disk were showy, especially the large blotchy one to the south of 10988.

With the white light filter, facula was clearly viewable around 10989, reaching out in several directions. Penumbrae were seen in most of the sunspots. I had hoped to increase magnification for a closer view, but with transparency becoming worse, as well as viewing in white light in the front yard rather then in the protection of the observatory, the white light view was already too soft. Increasing magnification would have made it impossible.

That’s No Moon…

Mars – Cimmerium and Elysium Regions
Sketch and Commentary By Carlos E. Hernandez

I made a pair of observations on December 28, 2007 using my 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain. I noted a significant amount of detail over the Mare Cimmerium and Elysium regions of Mars. I welcome any comments on my observations.

Date (U.T.): December 28, 2007
Time (U.T.): 01:20 (left image, IL) and 01:50 (right image, Wratten 38A)
CM: 227.5*W (left image) and 234.9*W (right image)
Ls: 009.0* (Early Northern Spring/Southern Autumn)
De: 0.7* North, p 1.00, Dia. 15.7″
Instrument: 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Magnification: 163x, 273x, and 359x
Seeing (1-10): 6-7, Antoniadi (I-V): II
Transparency (1-6): 5

Notes:
01:20 U.T. (Left image, CM 227.5*W, IL): The South Polar Region (SPR) appears obscured by a very bright to extremely bright (8-9/10). Mare Australe appears dusky to shaded (4-6/10) north of the haze. Electris, Eridania, and Ausonia appear to be obscured by a bright to very bright (7-8/10) haze. Mare Cimmerium appears dark to dusky (3-4/10) and mottled. The northern border of Mare Cimmerium contains projections (Laestrygonum Sinus, Cyclopum Sinus, and Cerberi Sinus, preceding to following). “Valhalla” was visible north of Mare Cimmerium as a dusky (4/10) band. Hesperia appears as a bright (7/10) diagonal strip between Mare Cimmerium and Mare Tyrrhenum. Mare Tyrrhenum appears dark to shaded (partially obscured by a very bright (8/10) morning limb haze (MLH). Zephyria, Aeolis, Aethiopis, and Aetheria appears bright (7/10). Amazonis and Arcadia appear dusky to shaded (4-6/10) and mottled. A very bright (8/10) orographic cloud is visible over Olympus Mons over the north-preceding (evening) limb. Trivium Charontis, Phlegra, and Azania appear dark to dull (3-5/10). The Propontis Complex (Propontis I and II, Castorius Lacus, and Euxinus Lacus) appears dark to dusky (3-4/10). Elysium appears bright with a very bright (8/10) cloud over it’s north-preceding sector. Panchaia appears bright (7/10) and Lemuria (dusky (4/10). The Hyblaeus Extension appears dark to dull (3-5/10) following Elysium. Syrtis Major appears to be obscured the very bright (8/10) MLH. The North Polar Cap (NPC) appears brilliant (10/10) along the northern limb.

01:50 U.T. (Right image, CM 234.9*W, Wratten 38A (Blue) filter): Mare Cimmerium appears dusky (4/10). The southern limb, preceding (evening) limb, northern limb, and following (morning) limb appear very bright (8/10). A very bright (8/10) orographic cloud appear over Olympus Mons over the preceding limb. A very bright (8/10) cloud appears over Elysium.

The best of luck in your own observations of Mars.

Regards,
Carlos E. Hernandez

Sparkling Winter Blossom

NGC 2174
Sketch and Commentary by Bill Ferris

NGC 2174 is a truly spectacular nebula; one belonging on every amateur’s “must see” list. My sketch captures a 109X view in the 18-inch Obsession. The emission nebula ranges throughout the 45′ diameter field of view. The bright star near the center is 7.6 magnitude HD 42088. A clump of seven 8th through 10th magnitude stars blazes immediately to the north and east. Another 60+ stars are scattered across the field. A UHC filter enhances the breadth of the nebula. An OIII filter seems to give the dark rifts more oomph. The brightest portion of NGC 2174 surrounds HD 42088. From here, prominent branches extend to the north and southwest. More subtle patches of fluorescing gas are strewn about the field. What a magnificent object! You’ll find NGC 2174 in the northern-most reaches of Orion. 4.6 magnitude Chi2 (62) Orionis shines just 1.5 degree to the west.

A Cluster Between the Two Dogs

M47
Sketch by Michael Vlasov

According to the fine folks at SEDS, M47 lies about 1600 light years away, contains around 50 stars, and spans 12 light years. Overall, the population of stars is similar to that of the Pleiades. It contains two orange K-type giants with masses about 200 times that of the sun. It is estimated to be 98 million years old and is receding from us at 9 km/sec. Charles Messier cataloged it in 1771, but due to an error in marking its position, it was not recognized as a Messier object and so re-discovered by William Herschel in 1785. In 1984, a book by Hodierna came to light in which he described the cluster as “a Nebulosa between the two dogs” in 1654, making him the original discoverer on record.

Pythagoras Complex

Pythagoras and Environs
Sketch and Commentary by Richard Handy

Pythagoras of Eratosthenian age, is a large 130 km complex crater perched high in the northwestern quadrant above Mare Frigoris and very close to the Moon’s limb. If you have a Rukl Atlas you’ll see this region on plate 2.

Here are the sketch details:

Feature: Pythagoras and environs
Time: 6:30 UT to 8:30 UT
Lunation: 14.04 days Phase: 17.1 deg. Colongitude (geocentric): 77.3 deg.
Illumination: 97.8% Libration in Latitude: +5 deg. 41 min. Libration in Longitude: -4 deg. 28 min.
Seeing: Antoniadi II-III Weather: clear, calm.
Telescope: 12″ SCT Focal ratio: f/16 (1.6X nose piece on binoviewer)
Binoviewer: W.O. Bino-P Eyepieces 12.4 mm Meade 4000 series plossls
Magnification: 393X
Sketch medium: White and black Conte’ crayon and White Crayola chalk on black Strathmore paper.
Sketch size: 18″ x 24″

A Dust Lane Runs Through It

NGC 4565
Sketch By Serge Vieillard

Located 31 million light years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, lies the spectacular edge-on galaxy, NGC 4565. It’s length is bisected by a prominent dust lane, and is thought to resemble our own Milky Way if viewed from outside. Serge Vieillard sketched this galaxy with graphite pencil, and inverted it to resemble the view through the eyepiece.

The Fall Spectacle of 2007

Comet 17P/Holmes
Sketch and Commentary By Frank McCabe

Comet 17P/Holmes can be seen close to Mirfak (Alpha Persei) this night. The comet remains brighter than 4th magnitude. Under clear, cold skies I was able to sketch the comet without optical aide after spending an hour dark adapting. In order to see the extent of the comet I used averted vision on the comet and on some of the fainter stars. The constellation Cassiopeia is also included in the sketch to the left of Perseus. For sketching I used a piece of white sketching paper 7” x 10” and 2H and HB graphite pencils. After scanning and inverting, I adjusted the star magnitudes from written notes and cleaned up some of the star shapes to round using Microsoft Paint. The sketch took about 30 minutes to complete after starting at 4:00 UT 11/16/2007.

Frank McCabe