C/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang)

C/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang)
C/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang)

Hey Artists!

In this year of bright comets and while waiting for comet ISON, I will
mainly send sketches of these objects to show what can be seen in the coma!
Comet IKEYA – ZHANG was a bright and activ comet which showed interesting
structures in the coma. I observed before it was dark (twilight) to see the jets !
This comet is the same one as Hevelius observed in the year 1660.
Info on the sketch.
I used crayons (watercolor) on black paper.
Loc.: Trondheim, Norway.

Best wishes and clear sky from Per-Jonny Bremseth.

Two Crescents

Crescent Moon - April 12, 2013
Crescent Moon – April 12, 2013

Today I present two crescents of the two clear nights (12.04-2013 and 15.04-2013). Although … some people think that these sketches are a little … ghostly … 😉

Yours Robert

Sketch details:
Object Name: Two crescents
Object Type: Moon.
Location: Poland, Oborniki
Date: 12.04-2013 and 15.04-2013
Equipment: Newtonian telescope 409/1800 (Capella 41), and 22 mm eyepieces
Object: ? Artist: Robert Twarogal (Ignisdei)

Crescent Moon - April 15, 2013
Crescent Moon – April 15, 2013

Grimaldi, Hevelius, Cavalerius

Grimaldi, Hevelius and Cavalerius
Grimaldi, Hevelius and Cavalerius

Object Name: Grimaldi, Hevelius, Cavalerius
Object Type: Lunar craters
Location: Twello, The Netherlands
Date: April 23, 2013
Media: White pastel pencil on black paper

It has been more than a year(!) since my last lunar sketch, but on the evening of April 23th I dragged my 3″ f/16 Polarex refractor outside for some good old sketching.
The most prominent feature on the lunar surface was a line of large craters formed by Grimaldi , Hevelius and Cavalerius. Although the Moon didn’t climb higher than 30 degrees above the Southern horizon, magnifications up to 200x could easily be used. High cirrus clouds made the image a bit hazy (and I had to stop sketching after an hour because of thickening clouds) but the seeing was quite good. The sketch was made through an old 7mm Orthoscopic eyepiece (171x). The image is mirror reversed (north=up, west=left).

Clear skies!
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl

Lunar Terminator – August 25, 2012

Lunar Terminator - August 25, 2012
Lunar Terminator – August 25, 2012

Hi,

I send my sketch of the Moon. The sketch was made on Aug. 25, 2012, by means of white watercolor and dry pastel. That night the moon was 8 days after the new moon. He was low on the horizon but still was strong in my telescope. This is my first picture of the moon.
GREETS

Date: 25th August 2012
Location: Pasry in Poland
Telescope: Newton 8 ”
Media: white watercolor and dry pastel, black paper

Gassendi Crater

Gassendi Crater
Gassendi Crater
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2012 06 01, 0238 UT – 0446 UT Gassendi
PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas, Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com

Celestron Omni XLT 102mm, 24-8mm Baader Planetarium Mark III Hyperion, 2x Barlow, 250x
Temp 71° F, 60% humidity, S: Antoniadi II, T: 5/6
Eyepiece sketch black Strathmore Artagain paper, Conte crayon and pastel pencil, charcoal pencil
Phase: 45.8 deg, Lunation: 11.21 d, Illumination: 84.8%
Lib. Lat: +05:08, Lib. Long: -04:13
Az: +209:11, Alt: 41:03

Located on the northern border of Mare Humorum, crater Gassendi is an impact crater formed during the Nectarian period (-3.92 to 3.85 billion years ago) that later was modified after volcanic activity, becoming a fractured-floor crater. Gassendi is believed to have been filled with lava from the inside, raising its floor, creating stress fractures in the process. This would explain it being considered a walled plain with a shallow depth of 2.8 km. The central peaks (~1200 m high) remain and several rilles (called Rimae Gassendi) were formed on the lava-filled floor during the Imbrian geological period -3.85 to –3.2 billion years ago.

Crater Gassendi A was formed during the Copernician period (–1.1 billion years ago to the present day) and overlaps Gassendi’s northern rim. The pairing of Gassendi and Gassendi A resembles a diamond ring and makes a very striking feature to observe 3 days after first quarter or two days after last quarter of lunation. My observation was nearly three days after first quarter.

Gassendi’s southern rim was swallowed by the lava of Mare Humorum leaving only a thin crest line to support its circular shape. Dorsa ran from the southern rim to Gassendi O (11 km wide). The sharp ridge that defines the border of Mare Humorum to the SW of Gassendi adds to the crater’s unmistakable identification.

At the beginning of my session, Spica and Saturn lined up to align with the Moon. Spica was 2.08 degrees north of the Moon and Saturn was 6.9 degrees north of the Moon. Extending further north, Arcturus was nearly in line as well at 31.8 degrees north of the Moon

Craters Mercator, Campanus and Ramsden at Sunrise

Craters Mercator, Campanus and Ramsden
Craters Mercator, Campanus and Ramsden
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After another canceled public telescope viewing Friday evening due to thick clouds and light snow, I was pleased to see a nice Saturday filled with sunshine followed by a clear night.

With no particular sketching targets in mind, I scanned the terminator for interesting sketching targets and stopped when I could see sunrise at Ramsden (26 km.) along with all those crisscrossing rimae (rilles).

Northeastward away from Ramsden and across Palus Epidemiarum, I also added two additional ancient craters Mercator (49 km.) and Campanus (49 km.).

This break in our poor Chicagoland spring weather was long overdue.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: 400 series black Strathmore Artagain paper 9″x 9″, white and black Conte’

pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic eraser.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian with 6mm (241x)

Date: 4-21-2013 01:00 – 02:45 UT

Temperature: 7.2°C (45°F)

Weather: clear, calm

Seeing: good Antoniadi II-III

Co longitude: 35.4°

Lunation: 10.6 days

Illumination: 74.1%

Frank McCabe

An Interesting Contrast – Riccioli and Grimaldi Craters

Riccioli and Grimaldi Craters
Riccioli and Grimaldi Craters
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Aloha!

After a bit of a slump, I decided to get out & observe a little of our Moon. On the lunar west limb I spotted 2 craters that appeared so different from one another that I was intrigued. I knew that one was Grimaldi but was not certain about the other. I sat down to sketch at the eyepiece on a night of good seeing conditions in Hawaii.

Riccioli Crater is the large (140 km) lunar impact crater at the western terminus of the sketch. It is bordered to the southeast by the larger (230 km) Grimaldi & to the northwest by Hevelius. Hedin is still in the darkness and only the edge becoming lit.

Riccioli appears elongate with rough crater walls casting sharp jagged shadows into the basin. There is also visible roughness & debris within the crater. This debris & other striated formations in the region are believed to have been created by ejecta from the formation of the Orientale impact basin to the southwest not seen here. The roughness of Riccioli is in stark contrast to Grimaldi which appears smooth by comparison. Grimaldi, covered in lava makes it appear more like a mare than a crater.

There appears to be a dark line or peak running from Riccioli to crater Lohrmann directly to the east. Multiple small brightly lit rimmed craters surround this area. A double crater with 2 bright rims of light can be seen at the northeast edge of Riccioli.

Both Riccioli & Grimaldi craters were named by 17th century Jesuit priests & colleagues Francesco Maria Grimaldi & Giovanni Baptista Riccioli, who were responsible for many of the names given to features on the Moon today.

Thia (Cindy) Krach
12.5” Portaball 169x
Maui, Hawaii
4/23/13
Black Fabriano paper
white & black charcoal pencils

Full Disc H-Alpha – April 22, 2013

H-Alpha Sun - April 22, 2013
H-Alpha Sun – April 22, 2013

Object Name: Sun
Object Type: Star
Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
Date: April 22, 2013
Media: White pastel pencil on black paper, colorized and mirror reversed with Photoshop

Sunny weather + long lunch break = solar observing!
This afternoon I took 30 minutes to sketch the Sun in h-alpha. It’s been so long since my last solar sketch, I even had to search for the pastels. I made a full disk sketch, the active region AR1726 was large enough so see in detail even at low magnifications. For this sketch I used a 22mm LVW (32x) in my 70mm h-alpha telescope.

Kind regards,
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl