Media Combinations – Page 33 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Clearing the Confusion

Rosenberger and Vlacq near the Terminator
By Frank McCabe

This region of the moon is often called the confusing southeastern lunar highlands
for all the large and medium sized look-alike craters. This appearance continues
to the lunar far side as can be see in lunar orbiter photos. But looking again the
picture really changes dramatically at low sun. The two large craters I have
chosen for this sketch are both ancient (pre-Nectarian) and pre-date the early
basin formation on the moon. Rosenberger crater (96 km.) is the largest of the
pair to the left (east) in the drawing. This four billion year old crater has a
rim worn down to the level of the surrounding highlands by numerous crater impacts
and inner wall subsidence that has obliterated most of the wall terracing. It is
2.6 kilometers from the highest rim point to the mostly flat crater floor which in
the low sun was showing off its low central peak. A crater of 14 km. was about to
be consumed by shadow at the time of this sketch. This floor crater is Rosenberger
S. The other large crater to the southwest of Rosenberger is Vlacq, a crater of 89
kilometers and from all appearances perhaps the youngest of the pair. The twin
peaked central mountains and terraced walls give this crater a younger look. It
also appears from the bulging of the wall shared with its larger neighbor that the
body that struck the moon forming Vlacq came in second.
The observing and sketching was enhanced by steady seeing intervals that lasted
several minutes at a time.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 9”x 10”, white and
black Conte’pastel pencils and a blending stump. Brightness was slightly decreased
after scanning.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 241x
Date: 11-28-2007 5:30-7:00 UT
Temperature: -3°C (26°F)
partly cloudy, breezy
Seeing: back and forth between Antoniadi II and III
Co longitude: 135.2°
Lunation: 18.5 days
Illumination: 80.3 %

Sunny Day Flyby

Sun and Jet, SW prominence and visitor
By Erika Rix

2008 01 20, 1140ST -1205ST (1640UT – 1705UT)

Solar h-alpha

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio, USA, Lat: 40.01 / Long: -81.56

Erika Rix

Temp: 10.4 °F / -12.0 °C

Winds: from the West at 9.2 mph gusting to 19.6 mph, scattered clouds

Wind chill: -8 °F / -22 °C

Humidity: 57%

Seeing: 5/6 with moments of 3/5

Transparency: 5/6

Alt: 28.4 Az: 164.8

Equipment:

Internally double stacked Maxscope 60mm, LXD75, 40mm ProOptic Plossl, 21-7mm Zhumell

Sketch Media:

Black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ and Prang pencils, white vinyl eraser.

Added -37 brightness, +1 contrast after scanning.

Tilting Sun program used for digital Sun insert.

The first thing that caught my attention this morning during the observation was the
bright substantial prominence on the SW limb. A careful scan around the limb of the
Sun showed a total of six prominences, all quite a bit smaller and varying in
shapes. The SE prom resembled the letter A. Moving to the NE, the next prom looked
like a flag waving to the North. Further NE, the prominence hugged the limb,
spreading out like an inchworm. The next three on the NW side were slender fingers,
two of them dual fingers.

It was very difficult to move around wearing my coveralls, oversized thick winter
gloves that I had to borrow from my husband because I still can’t find mine after
the move last spring, and heavy winter muck boots. Leaving the gloves off my
fingers for more than a few minutes made them a little painful with the wind that
came in over the observatory wall as well as the metal knobs on the telescope. I
was able to do part of the sketch with Paul’s gloves on, but had to add the finer
details without them. Tuning and focusing the scope was a chore as well.

I did manage to catch a bright plage area to the eastern 1/3rd of the disk. It was
fairly small and compact and I almost missed it altogether as I was moving the disk
around in my FOV looking for surface details. Other than that, surface details
were insignificant. I lacked the ambition to drag out my ETX for white light filter
views to see if there were any signs of a sunspot near the plage that I saw in
h-alpha.

The excitement of the session, other than witnessing the beautiful SW prominence,
was a jet crossing in front of the Sun. The contrails started out small and then
resembled a shock wave as it crossed in front of the solar limb to the NE and then
spread out even more as it traveled further away. It almost reminded me of a
Moreton wave from photos I’ve seen. I’ve tried to add that affect to my sketch,
realizing that shape of the jet is most likely very inaccurate at best. My
concentration was on the contrails, and the jet shape was just a few flashes in
front of me as I was trying to capture the whole scene. The most remarkable part of
the contrails was the “pulling effect” as it crossed the limb. It looked like the
jet was pulling streamers, almost smears, of plasma away from the Sun. Very cool,
indeed.

Twists of the Solar Flux

January 18, 2008 Solar Prominences
By Erika Rix

20080118

Solar

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA, Lat 40.01/Long -81.56

Erika Rix

Still not quite recovered from the neck surgery, Paul was good enough to open and
close the roll off roof of the observatory for me. I was able to carry down the
battery supply for the LXD75 for tracking as well as close up (after my session) the
southern drop down wall that enables me to view the Sun at the lower altitude. The
enclosed area within the observatory certainly helps control the stability of the
scope with the winds today at 11.5 mph. The temperature was comfortable at 26F, but
with the lack of surface details, I wrapped up the session in just less than an
hour’s time.

The haze limited the performance at higher magnification, but with a little
patience, I had moments where I could drop down to 7mm (57x) with the zoom eyepiece.
Seeing flipped back and forth and the best views seemed to be around 30x
magnification.

There were 7 areas of prominences that I was able to record with no significant
surface detail. Three of these areas were sketched.

The brightest prominence was about 55 degrees PA and I did a three sketch sequence
of it noting the small changes in appearance over 40 minutes’ time span. This was
after the original overall sketch of the limb. The basic outline of this prom
really didn’t change a great deal. But looking closely within the structure, there
was quite a difference in the intricate network.

At 1209ST (1709UT) at the end of the session around 70 degrees PA, a very bright
small blob of a prominence appeared and then left just about as quickly. It may
have just been that I was able to see it well during a brief moment of steady clear
seeing. Still, it was very noteworthy and I was happy to catch it.

Sketch media: black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ and white Prang pencils,
white vinyl eraser, fixative

Post processing: -25 brightness, +4 contrast, resized and created collage by pasting
selected prominences on black background. Used digital disk for position angles
from Tilting Sun program.

Sunrise Ray

Pitatus and Hesiodus in the Morning
By Frank McCabe

Pitatus and Hesiodus in the Morning

On this evening I was able to take full advantage of a break in the weather with
the nearly nine day old moon high in my southern sky. As luck would have it
craters Pitatus (98km.) and Hesiodus (44km.) were positioned in full light beyond
the sunrise terminator and displaying some of their best features. What initially
caught my eye was the famous “sunrise ray” beaming across the floor of Hesiodus
through a break in the northwestern wall. This sun ray play was underway for about
45 minutes before I began this sketch. Partially illuminated near the floor center
of Hesiodus was little crater D with much of its rim reflecting sunlight. Hesiodus
and its larger neighbor Pitatus are both ancient worn Nectarian period craters on
the south border of Mare Nubium. Pitatus is a floor fractured crater with lava
having flooded the floor through the many cracks especially near the inner walls.
Most of Rimae Pitatus was in shadow at the time of this observation and the low
elongated central peak was dazzling in the sunlight. Although the shallow floor of this
crater was in light, the lava on the floor is dark and in places is interrupted by
brighter regions. The entire floor is mostly smooth and gradually rises and falls
especially close to the inner rim. For me the view was about as good as it gets in lunar observing.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 12”x 9”, white and
black Conte’pastel pencils and a blending stump. Brightness was slightly decreased
after scanning.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 9mm eyepiece 161x
Date: 1-17-2008 0:05-1:15 UT
Temperature: -1°C (30°F)
partly cloudy, slight but cold wind
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 21.2°
Lunation: 8.8 days
Illumination: 66.4 %

A Winter Evening Moon

A Winter Evening Moon
By Frank McCabe

After a very long spell of overcast nights, the clouds parted long enough for a
sketch of the winter crescent moon.

In the afternoon as the moon appeared high on the meridian from behind the clouds;
I put my 107 mm reflector telescope outside to reach temperature equilibrium. As
twilight began I got started. Using a 203 mm diameter protractor template, I drew
a white circle on black paper to represent the lunar disk. I then added a small
amount of Conte’ crayon powder and blended it inside the circle with my fingers
like a mirror maker adding fine grinding abrasive and water to a mirror tool. I
turned on the equatorial platform drive and now I was ready to observe the moon
and sketch.

This sketch is more of an impression of the moon rather than an attempt to achieve
a level of accuracy. The earthshine was nicely visible and since only 20% of the
lunar side facing the earth was illuminated the sketch was 5 times easier to do
than the full moon.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 12”x 12”, white and
black Conte’pastel pencils and a blending stump. Brightness was slightly decreased
after scanning.

Telescope: 4.25 inch f/6 Dobsonian and 24mm eyepiece 27x
Date: 1-12-2008 22:50-23:55 UT
Temperature: 0°C (32°F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 328.8°
Lunation: 4.5days
Illumination: 20.4 %

Semiannual Lunar Ritual

Vallis Schröteri and environs
By Jeremy Perez

And so, in the spirit of completing one Lunar sketch and observation every 6 months or so, I present Vallis Schröteri. On the night I made this observation, I was very impressed by the rugged terrain in the vicinity of this sinuous rille. The whole area looked like a badly skinned knee in merciful shades of gray. Although Vallis Schröteri was the celebrity, a few other features played staring roles. Mons Herodotus shone brilliantly while the craters Herodotus and Aristarchus stared out like spectacled eyes with the teardrop of Väisälä glistening on the burnished cheek of a nearby highland. Further to the north, Montes Agricola embraced the region like the tip of a rattlesnake’s tail.

There was so much to observe and sketch, I couldn’t possibly capture it all. I did learn from my previous attempts at white on black Conté sketching and went for a larger illustration. This sketch was prepared on a 9″ x 12″ sheet of black Canson Mi Tientes pastel paper. I used a blending stump to smooth the pastel where appropriate and to build up brighter tones. The brightest rims are straight attacks with the Conté pencil. The sketch took about 45 minutes at the eyepiece with another 15 minutes of additional touch-up indoors. White on black sketching is really a great way to tackle the moon–especially the terminator. I hope to keep working at it when time permits. I’ll still be using pencil and charcoal, but it’s nice to have this method accessible when I want it.

Object Information:

Vallis Schröteri is the largest sinuous valley on the Moon. Although hidden in shadow in my sketch, this valley makes its start at a 6 km diameter crater just north of Herodotus crater and widens to 10 km. This area is sometimes referred to as the Cobra’s head. It then winds 160 km and narrows to 500 m at it’s end. The rille is likely the result of volcanic activity as a lava flow carved its winding path through the landscape. Aristarchus is a remarkably bright crater with a pronounced ray system. It is 40 km in diameter and is believed to be a relatively young 450 million years old.

Subject Vallis Schröteri and Surroundings
Classification Sinuous Valley, Craters and Mountains
Position West
Phase/Age 11.7 Days
Size* Vallis Schröteri: 160 km length x 1000 m depth (max)
Herodotus: 35 km dia
Aristarchus: 40 km dia x 3000 m depth
Väisälä: 8 km dia
Dorsum Niggli: 50 km length
Montes Agricola: 160 km length
Mons Herodotus: 5 km dia

Date/Time April 28, 2007, 10:00 PM MST (April 29, 2007, 05:00 UT)
Observing Loc. Flagstaff, AZ – Home
Instrument Orion SVP 6LT Reflector (150 mm dia./1200 mm F/L)
Eyepieces/Mag. 10 mm + 2X Barlow (240X)
Conditions Partly cloudy, calm
Seeing Ant. III
Sources Atlas of the Moon by Antonín Rükl 2004; Observing the Moon by Gerald North 2000.
* Based on published data.

Fire and Ice

The Sun in Ha light on January 4th, 2008
By Erika Rix

2008 01 04
PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
Erika Rix
Solar

It was a beautiful sight today with the Sun gleaming off the snow. The snow was
melting fast as the temperature was slowly rising. Unfortunately, the snow didn’t
melt fast enough off the observatory roof, so I had to just drop down the upper part
of the southern wall and leave the roof completely on, otherwise, I would have had
to deal with water dripping on my gear in the observatory. As it turned out, it was
a good way to keep the winds at bay today, plus I’m sure kept me warmer in the more
enclosed space.

There were four very bright plage areas on the disk in h-alpha. One from NOAA 10981,
another large intricate plage structure for 10980, then a very thin bright one that
reached over to 10980 just inside the Eastern limb. The final was toward the West. I
could see a dark “spot” being cradled by the plage in 981, and by viewing in white
light, there was most definitely a small pore that appeared almost elongated. With
all the haze today plus winds during my white light filter session outside of the
observatory, it was difficult to tell if this elongation was another very tiny pore
just beside the larger one, or if it was just blurred from the conditions outside.
In any case, both to the NE and the SW of this dark dot were faint markings
resembling contrast of faculae. I couldn’t confirm what the markings were with this
observation.

In white light, I could see no other evidence of active regions.

Getting back to h-alpha in the observatory, there were six areas of prominence
around the limb that I could see. With the haze and poor seeing conditions, I had to
wait for moments of clarity and steadiness to get good definition for closer looks.
Patience definitely proved to be valuable today.

The prominence to the SE just below the AR980 was very faint and fan-like. To the
very southern portion of it, it became brighter. I could almost make out all the
connections to each section of it.

Then at the western limb, slightly to the south was a very sharp brighter prominence
with several fingers reaching out like flames. I really enjoyed this one.

The show stopper of the session was most definitely the plage with a few dark thin
filaments looking as if they were separating the plage in AR980 and onward to the
eastern limb.

It’s said that a new solar cycle has begun, making it number 24. We’ll see, but it’s
looking promising.

Ancient Crater Messala

Messala and environs
By Frank McCabe

Clear windless sky during the day and at night with temperatures just above the
freezing point of water, these are ideal weather conditions in winter for the
Midwestern USA. The waning gibbous moon was bright and high at midnight following
Mars across the celestial hemisphere. Through my 10” telescope I zeroed in on the
region north of Mare Crisium. I then turned on the drive platform and began
sketching the region of the terminator centered on ancient pre-Nectarian age
crater Messala (126 km.). This walled plain crater in the waning sunlight was
showing off its rubble covered irregular floor and battered walls. Although the
seeing was not the best, which stopped me from sketching Mars, this region of the
lunar northwest was putting on a good show. The floor in addition to being lava
covered, irregular and dark, appears slightly convex or domed. To the southwest
large much younger crater Geminus ( 88 km.) with its central peak just beyond the
shadowed floor was showing
its greater depth and terraced walls. Bernoulli (50 km.) closer to the terminator
is filled with shadow too. Touching Messala to the north is Schumacher (63 km.)
with its dark smooth floor and beyond the apron of this crater northward is ancient
Lacus Temporis (Lake of Time). To the southwest of Lacus Temporis are the ancient
craters Shuckburgh (41 km.) and then Hooke (37 km.).

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 12”x 9”, white and
black Conte’pastel pencils and a blending stump. Brightness was slightly decreased
after scanning.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 9mm eyepiece 161x
Date: 12-26-2007 5:30-7:00 UT
Temperature: 0°C (32°F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 113.7°
Lunation: 16.6 days
Illumination: 93.3 %

A Solar Christmas

A Christmas Day solar collage
By Erika Rix

2007 12 25

Solar

Erika Rix

PCW Memorial Observatory

Lat 40.01, Long -81.56

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to observe, but I was fortunate today to get
out behind the Maxscope to soak up a bit of Sun in the observatory. Even with the
low altitude of the Sun at 26.5 degrees, the winter is still my favorite time of
year for solar observing.

In the ENE region just inside the limb was a short, but thickened filament visibly
reaching out beyond the limb with two hairline branches, forming an intricate
network of prominences. At lower magnification, this filament looked like two
separate sections. Increasing magnification from 19x to 57x, the outer portion of
this filament looked like an elongated “X” with hair-like branches connecting to the
inner filament that swooped to the north. The prominences consisted of two
brighter, almost “A” shaped areas with several very faint, wispy lines reaching out
to each other as well as other areas of the limb edge.

Adjusting the outer Etalon, I observed a network of hairline fibrils across the disk
that, along with spicules, made a beautiful show of dark mottling across the
Chromospheric network. There was an area of plage to the NE quadrant of the solar
disk. It was separated into two sections, at times looking like three, with a few
very tiny dark dots around it. I didn’t get out my white light filter for
cross-reference, so am not sure if these dark dots were actually pores.

Reaching further NNW, were more filaments, much thinner than the NE filament, but a
little more obvious than fibrils. And then off the limb was a very bright prominence
(at the bottom left of the sketch) that at first glance looked like a pair of cat
ears peeking over the limb. The peaks of it first appeared to be swaying to the
East, but then forty-five minutes later, the two peaks turned toward each other.
Bumping up the magnification allowed me to see the amazing intricate structure of
this prominence.

To the WNW, a tiny little round prominence formed. It was very bright and dense.
Over the observation period, it reached out in a spraying fashion. I thought this
one would change faster or maybe even break off or collapse before I called it a
day. But the prominence stayed the same, only growing a few more tiny fingers off
the limb around it.

There was only one other significant prominence, located to the SE, and several
spicules reaching out from the limb.

The sketch was done on black Strathmore Artagain paper and a combination of white
Conte’ and Prang pencils, sharpened piece of black charcoal, and a white Conte’
crayon. I sprayed it with a fixative afterwards.

Post processing after scanning involved -24 lightness, +15 contrast and then just
cropping and moving the sketches around for the finished collage.

Ecliptical Obliquity

Lunar crater Albategnius
By Dale Holt

I awoke not particularly early at around 6am on Saturday December 1st, well it is
the weekend! I noted a fine gibbous Moon high in the South West from the bedroom
window. Hmm I haven’t made a Lunar sketch for a while, so out I went to the
observatory with my brew of tea and spent a while scanning the terminator for a
likely subject.

I picked out Albategnius. This is an ancient lunar impact crater 129km wide and
4.4km deep located in the central highlands. It is named after the Arabic Prince
and astronomer Al-Battani. The level interior forms a “walled plain”, surrounded
by the high, terraced rim. The outer wall is somewhat hexagon-shaped, and has been
heavily eroded with impacts, valleys and landslips. It attains a height above
4,000 meters along the northeast face. The rim is broken in the southwest by the
smaller crater Klein 44km wide and 1.5km deep.

The third prominent crater featured in my drawing is Halley to the North East of
Albategnius spanning 36km at a depth of 2.5km.

Telescope 14” F5 Newtonian reflector
Denk binoviewer with 2.5x nosepiece
x2 Celestron Axiom 23mm eyepieces giving 193x

Drawing on Black A5 Daler Rowney artist paper using Derwent pastel and water
colour pencils, conte sticks, black ink and blending stumps.