Author: richardhandy

Craters on the Sea of Islands

Reinhold

  Before sunset when I set up to sketch, the wind was howling out of the southwest.
The atmospheric disturbance continued through the nighttime hours and the seeing
remained poor all night. However, the sky was transparent and I set up in a part
of my yard that was most sheltered from the strongest wind gusts.

  I selected for sketching the craters on the floor of the lower Imbrian epoch Mare
Insularum. Basin ejecta debris could be seen strewn across much of the floor of
this sea.

  From southwest at the terminator is sharp rimmed, upper Imbrian crater Lansberg
(39 km.) totally shadow filled. Further to the northeast about 120 km. is
Eratosthenian aged crater Reinhold (48 km.). With some difficulty I was able to
make out some wall terracing on the western inner slope. A somewhat narrow rampart
was visible around the outer crater rim. East of Reinhold a short distance are the
craters Reinhold B (26 km.) with its flat floor and on its flat floor little
Reinhold A (4 km.) difficult to see most of this observation. On further to the
east the youngest crater in this sketch is 12 km. Gambart A. Some of its ejecta
were brightly visible superimposed on the maria’s darker lava. At the extreme
eastern corner of the sketch is old crater Gambart (25 km.) about the same size as
Reinhold A and like its twin, flat floored, shallow and lacking a central peak
which is uncharacteristic for craters in this size range.
  
  Sketching
  
  For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 9”x12”, white and
black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. Brightness was slightly
decreased after scanning.
  
  Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian 6mm eyepiece 241x
  Date: 10-21-2007 0:05-1:40 UT
  Temperature: 16°C (62°F)
  Clear, very windy (30 mph)
  Transparency good
  Seeing: Antoniadi IV
  Co longitude: 27.3°
  Lunation:  9.8 days
  Illumination: 66.9 %
  
  Frank McCabe

Second Take

394 ARI 

394 ARI – Struve 394

394 ARI is a nice sight and contians a primary and secondary of almost equal size and magnitude with a primary with an obvious yellow tint and a secondary with an equally noticeable blue tint. This double stands fairly alone in the FOV at this magnification, but it is a very nice and easily observed double residing in Aries.

A New Dawn across the Bay of Rainbows

Bay of Rainbows 

  Northwest of the Sea of Rains is the 260 km. crater known as the Bay of Rainbows.
At the time of this evening observation the shadow of the terminator was crossing
the bay beyond 4 km. Heraclides E. A good one third of the bay floor was in
darkness but already Promontorium Heraclides and much taller Promontorium Laplace
across the bay were basking in the morning sunlight. A long triangular shadow from
the latter was seen extending westward. The sunlight was also descending the walls
of what remains of the crater rim known as the Jura mountains. My drawing does not
begin to capture the beauty of this view. East of the bay in the brightly
illuminated Imbrium basin are craters LeVerrier and Helicon both about 20 km. in
diameter. South of this pair are the much smaller craters Carlini and Carlini A.
  
  Sketching
  
  For this sketch I used:  White copy paper, 6”x 9”, 2H graphite pencil and an ink
  pen. Brightness was slightly increased after scanning.
  
  Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian 12mm eyepiece 121x
  Date: 9-3-2006 0:30-1:15 UT
  Temperature: 20°C (68°F)
  Clear, calm
  Seeing:  Pickering 5/10
  Colongitude: 32.4°
  Lunation:  10.2 days
  Illumination: 71 %
  
  Frank McCabe

ET Phone Home

NGC 457

Here is my impression of NGC 457, a little funny guy that seems to swing through space with his arms stretched to get hold on some stars. The night was not very dark. The milkyway was only visible in the cygnus region. While centering the cluster, there appeared a small glowing patch to the north west. I did not know what it was, probably an anonimous grouping of stars. It turned out that the patch was NGC436, at about 40′ ! It came as a nice surprise.

Date : October 16, 2007
Time : 21.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Meade SP 26mm
Power : x20
FOV: 150′
Filter : none
Seeing : 3.5/5
Transp. : 3/5
Nelm : 5.1
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Rony De Laet
Belgium

http://www.geocities.com/rodelaet

An Extragalactic Pass in the Night

M51 

M51

I have been going through my sketchbook and finding those objects that I have yet to convert over to digital images. M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy) is one of many that were in need of such treatment.

A fairly faint object due in part to the LP in this part of the sky from my location, it is nonetheless an impressive object when viewed through the EP. With averted vision, I was able to clearly see the overall shape and structure, but not a whole lot of finer detail(s).

Wade V. Corbei
Lodi, California

Deep Southern Sea

Mare Humorum

Southwestern Mare Humorum
  
  Mare Humorum is a small circular sea on the southwestern side of the visible lunar
surface. The thick floor is intermediate in age between the Nectarian and Imbrian
basins. This sketch is focused on the southern perimeter of Humorum and includes
from west to east craters: Doppelmayer (66 km.); Lee (43 km.); Vitello (43 km.)
the youngest and only one of the three with a complete rim. The ghost-like nearly
lava buried crater Puiseux (25 km.) can be seen north of Lee on the floor of Mare
Humorum. Rupes Kelvin and Promontorium Kelvin are both visible east and north of
crater Vitello. I made this sketch while evaluating the performance of a 6” f /7.9
Newtonian telescope.
  
  Sketching:
  
  Date and Time November 2, 2006 1:30-2:30 UT
  8.5” x11” copy paper, 2 HB graphite pencil, black ink marker pen
  10.8 day old waxing gibbous moon
  Colongitude: 45.7°
  Illumination: 84 %
  Seeing: Pickering 4/10
  6” f 7.9 Dob. 6mm ocular 200x
  
  Frank McCabe

Starry Nursery

M42 

M42 and it’s close neighbor M43 are a delight to observe through any size telescope.
I captured these beauties on a clear August morning in 2006. This sketch was
rendered on Strathmore Windpower Sketch paper with a General’s Extra Black Layout
Pencil. Post processing and color added with MGI Photosuite III.

Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL

A Dance before the Laughing Giant

Jupiter Io transit 

Europa Transit of Jupiter
  
  The moon Europa, denoted by the tick marks as a bright spot against the North
Temperate Band was just beginning its transit across the disk of the planet
Jupiter. At about this same time the great red spot had just crossed Jupiter’s
meridian as the planet crossed my observing site meridian. I deemed this worth an
attempted sketch.

Sketching:
7/7/2007 2:50-3:15 UT
Scope 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian 9 mm UO eyepiece at 161x
4”x 6” white sketching paper, B, 2B, 4B graphite pencils,
Jupiter Sketch cut out and scanned with Europa added electronically using Microsoft
Paint
Seeing 7/10
Transparency average 2.5/ 5

Frank McCabe