Moon with Halo
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla
Hi!
Tonight I saw an impressive halo around the Moon. It looks like a shiny shockwave on the shining clouds.
Sketch information:
Object: Moon (94% of full) and halo
Scope: Naked eye
Place: Poland, Wroclaw – near city center
Weather: Quick passing clouds. Seeing 6/10. Light Pollution.
Date: 7 February 2009.
Technique: White pastels on black paper
Tooling: N/A
NGC 6826, The Blinking Planetary Nebula
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard, translation by Frank McCabe
Our club organized a trip for visual telescope use at the observatory to Astroqueyras of St Véran. Six members of the group for 9 days (from the 18 to 26 of October, 2008) observed during the pre-winter period, with a program focused mainly on planetary nebulae. These were our preferred targets using the 9 m focal length Cassegrain telescope of 62 cm aperture.
Weather conditions were not optimal, but each period of good seeing was used to the maximum.
We familiarized ourselves with the instrument the first night and pointed it at obvious targets…. We spent a considerable length of time on NGC 6826, the blinking planetary with a blue in color at magnifications up to 1900x. With this instrument at these high magnifications, the central star does not blink and the central shell shows a very special form with an edge almost straight. The external hull shows zones that are nearly symmetrical and alternating between bright and dark but aspect slightly different…. Some details of contours and nuances ideally complement this observation.
Solar Prominences on February 13, 2009
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix
2009 Feb 13, 1600UT – 1700UT
Solar prominences in h-alpha, western limb
PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
Erika Rix
DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell
Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil.
Temp: 3° C, Humidity 60%
Seeing: Wilson 3, Transparency: poor
Scattered, winds 7mph from NNW
Alt: 34.4, Az: 159.2
Approximately 30° inward from the eastern limb, a crescent-shaped plage was seen with a dark dot during my h-alpha observation. No AR was noted in white light. There were a few proms scattered about to the north and south, but the prominences on the western limb really stood out. At first glance it looked like two detached proms, but adjusting the outer etalon and increasing magnification, that section of limb came alive with prominence structure.
North is to the 4.5 o’clock position and west is the 2.5 o’clock position in my sketch.
Saturn and moons in mid February 2009
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
Saturn in mid-February 2009
While I was awaiting the waning gibbous moon to reach a higher position in my southern sky, I decided to try my hand at a Saturn sketch. With the rings nearly edge on I find that the ring system is much less intimidating to portray. To begin the sketch I used a Conte’ crayon and circular compass to draw a faint circle on black paper. I then grabbed an old mechanical drawing tool called a French curve to convert the circle into an ellipse after plotting a few points to create an equatorial bulge. When the shape looked alright for the bulging globe, I sketched the rings and then the globe while looking through a 6 mm eyepiece (magnification 241x). Saturn usually give me trouble while sketching, so after 15 minutes I found myself making too many errors so I erased the sketch and started over on the reverse side of the paper. The second attempt went better and after an hour I considered the planet sketch finished. I made a note of the positions of the moons I could see and added Tethys (10.3) to the west of the planet and Enceladus (11.9) viewed intermittently and Dione (10.5) to the east. Titan and Rhea were visible in the eyepiece at low power but beyond the margins of the sketch. The planets equatorial zone and the north and south temperate zones were bright and distinct. The darker regions over the remainder of the disk were less distinct through the polarizing filter I was using.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 7”x 9”, and a white Conte’pastel pencil and Conte’ crayons. The globe of Saturn is about 2.5” inches in diameter and was done using sharpened pieces of Conte’ crayon. Brightness was slightly decreased (-3) and contrast increased (+3) after scanning using Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 241x, single polarizing filter
Date: 2-13-2009 5:25 – 6:45 UT
Temperature: -2°C (29°F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Pickering 6.0
Frank McCabe
January Waxing Crescent Moon
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
January Waxing Crescent Moon
As January comes to a close, I must say I am happy to see it going away. We have been having a cold and snowy winter so far with very few clear nights. However tonight I saw the sunset with Venus appearing about the same time and a beautiful two and one half day old crescent moon about 7% illuminated. As twilight deepened the earthshine presented itself quite well. Temperatures here near Chicago remain well below freezing so I made this observation out my kitchen bay window without the benefit of optical aid. By the time I gathered my sketching material the moon was already beginning to sink behind a few basswood trees along my line of sight. The moon was impressive and the comfort of indoor warmth made for ideal sketching climate.
Sketching:
Naked eye sketch out a large window
For this sketch I used: dark blue construction paper, 11”x 9”, white and black Conte’pastel pencils and a blending stump, for templating the moon as a circle I used a salt shaker bottom.. Brightness was slightly decreased after scanning.
Date: 1-28-2009 11:10-11:40 UT
clear skies
Lunation: 2.64 days
Illumination: 7 %
Frank McCabe
Solar prominences 2009 Feb 05, 1655UT – 1725UT
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix
2009 Feb 05, 1655UT – 1725UT
Solar prominences in h-alpha
PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
Erika Rix
DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell
Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil.
Temp: -6.4C, Humidity 49%
Seeing: Wilson 3, Transparency: poor
Mostly clear with thin layers of cirrus, Winds: 3.5mph SSW
Alt: 23.7, Az: 139.1
There was an area that I suspected was a new AR just NW of center while observing in h-alpha. It appeared to have two small plage with a single tiny sunspot to the west of them. After pulling out the ETX70 with a white light filter, all that I could see were moments of visible granulation and there were neither faculae nor pores to be seen.
To the south, in h-alpha, there was a very bright smaller prom with several tiny fingers of proms around it. Heading about 30 degrees west around the limb I noticed a thick medium sized prom that was very faint and the base of it was nearly impossible to see.
On the NW limb were two slender proms that on closer inspection it was obvious that they were actually one intricate arch of a prominence with delicate tendrils attaching at different points within it. A filament was visible to the north of it, nearly reaching to the limb.
Other than a short thick filament to the north about 15 degrees in from the limb, as well as a few tiny proms not already mentioned, I just soaked in the surface view and called it a day.
Cassini, Aristillus, Autolycus craters and part of the Caucasus Mountains.
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla
Hello. This is my next sketch of the Lunar surface. On this sketch: Cassini, Aristillus, Autolycus craters and part of the Caucasus Mountains.
Object: Moon. Cassini, Aristillus, Autolycus craters and Caucasus Montes
Scope: Schmidt-Cassegrain 5” + barlow 2x + Antares SW 7,4mm
Magnification: about 338x
Place: Poland, Wroclaw – near city center
Weather: Not good. Seeing 5/10. Light Pollution. Light clouds.
Date: 2 February 2009
Technique: Black & White pastels on black paper
Tooling: N/A
Solar Prominences at PA 120 degrees on February, 3rd, 2009
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix
2009 Feb 03
Solar
PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA, Lat 40.01/Long -81.56 Erika Rix
What first appeared as a loop close to PA 120 degrees, became a beautiful structure with intricate fingers creating an arch. Then looking to south of it in my view (which would be heading north solar orientation wise) was a very large, faint addition to the prominence. Thankfully seeing was good enough today to increase the magnification for a closer look. It topped out close to 57x mag at Wilson’s scale of 4.
I used Strathmore Artagain, Conte’ crayon and pencil, Prang watercolor pencil. I took a photo of it in the shade rather than using the scanner. It seems to reproduce the black paper sketches best for me.
The solar graphic was from the Tilting Sun program.
Lunar Craters Mercator and Campanus
Sketch and Details by Dale Holt
Mercator and Campanus
I scanned the terminator with my 6” refractor, looking for a feature that caught my eye just a little more than the next, that formation that shouted out “sketch me”.
I was drawn to a pair of craters on the terminator, delightfully lit by the Sun and filled with shadows of the moment.
The upper of the two craters in my sketch is Mercator named after a Belgium Moon mapper (1512-1594). It is a flooded crater of 46km diameter with a flat and smooth floor which contrasts well with the very similar sized Campanus just below which is 48km in diameter but has a central peak and more dramatic terraced walls was named in memory of Giovanni Campano a Thirteenth Century theologian, astronomer and astrologer a common combination for the time. A considerable amount of research through my lunar library has led me to identify the small but bright crater to the right of Mercator as likely to be Marth, a German Astronomer 1828-1897, illumination prevented observation of its interesting double wall.
Telescope 6″ F9 Triplet refractor by Superscopes
Magnification 338X
Sketch made on Daler Rowney black paper with Conte Pastels, Derwent Pastle & watercolour pencils with plenty of blending stump action for effect
Dale Holt
Chippingdale Observatory
Chipping
Hertfordshire
England
Mare Crisium
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla, text by Rich Handy
This superbly drawn sketch of Mare Crisium by Aleksander Cieśla shows that the 638 Km
Nectarian aged Sea, even during Full Moon, still displays details such as its platform
massifs, isolated mesa like formations, and its circular scarps that identify it
as a Multi Ring Basin.
Sketch Details
The Fullmoon.
Object: Moon – Mare Crisium
Scope: Schmidt-Cassegrain 5” + Speers-Waler 7,4mm
Filter: Moon&SkyGlow
Place: Poland, Wroclaw – near city center
Weather: Good. Seeing 7/10. Light Pollution.
Date: 12 January 2009
Technique: White pastel crayons on black paper
Tooling: Contrast and gamma levels only
