Category: Moon

Crater Clavius

Crater Clavius
Crater Clavius

Among the large craters of the lunar southern highlands, a nearly 4 billion year old impact stood out on this evening just after local sunset. This crater is 231 km.diameter Clavius. Clavius is blanketed with a sizable number of craters and numerous craterlets. At the center of this large crater are the reduced remains of the once regal central peaks. The atmosphere was not steady enough to pick out cratelets less than 3 km. never the less, the view was pleasing. Crater Clavius is famous for its semicircular crater sequence of decreasing size beginning with 56 km. Rutherfurd at the inner southeastern wall and continuing with 28 km. D, 21 km. C, 13 km N, 12 km J and 7.5 km JA. The north-northeastern rim of Clavius has a large crater resting upon it and most of its rim is just catching the light of sunrise. This 52 km. diameter crater is Porter. Much of the floor of crater Clavius remains smooth which implies the flow of melted rock in the past. Some geologists speculate it is from some of the ejecta cast outward during the formation of the Orientale basin. Some small secondary crater chains point back in that direction.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used: Canson sketching paper , 9”x12”, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and blending stumps. Brightness was adjusted after scanning.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 241x
Date: 7-10-2011 01:15-03:00 UT
Temperature: 27°C (80°F)
Partly to mostly cloudy, breezy
Seeing: Antoniadi III-IV
Co longitude: 21.4°
Lunation: 8.69 days
Illumination: 70.1 %

Frank McCabe

A Sculptural Sketch

Archimedes and Environs
Archimedes and Environs

This is a “sculptural sketch” created at the eyepiece of my telescope. It started as a flattened rectangular slab of modeling clay about 1/4” inch thick and 11” by 13” in size. As I observed, I laid down thin strips of clay to form the glacis around each crater. I then used a butter knife to excavate the crater floors. I tried to keep in mind the true topographical relief of each feature. For example, Aristillus, the deepest crater is merely 5/16” deep from rim crest to floor. I “normalized” the sculpture by imagining what these features would look like if I were to see the view from directly above the area. The next morning, I sanded white and black dry pastels into a powder that was blended and applied by sponge to approximate the albedo features. What really surprised and delighted me was that despite the shallowness of the surface details, when the light source was adjusted to approximate the phase, the highlights and shadows created a very realistic scene. As I was working, I remembered Nasmyth and Carpenter’s beautiful plaster sculptures of the Moon for their classic The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite (1885); page 114 shows their exquisite sculpture of this area.

Sculptural sketch details:

Subject: Archimedes and environs Rukl: 12, 22
Date: 7-31-09 Time: 0540-0730 UT
Location: Jacumba, California
Antoniadi III Weather: Clear and calm
Telescope: 12” Meade LX200 SCT with UHTC
Binoviewer: Denkmeier Model DII SCT 2X
Eyepieces: Pentax 20mm XW
Magnification: 152X and 305X
Medium: Modeling clay sculpture with dry pastel powder
Sculpture size: 11” x 13”

Bullialdus – July 10, 2011

Bullialdus

2011 07 10, 0255UT Bullialdus
Erika Rix, Ohio, USA – www.pcwobservatory.com
Bulllialdus: Complex crater from Copernician period (-1.1 billion yrs to present day), Lat: 27.7 deg south, Long: 22.2 deg west.

Zhumell 16”, 21-7mm Zhumell, 257x, no filter
Eyepiece sketch on Strathmore Artagain paper, Conte’ crayon, charcoal

Temp 20C, 92% humidity, S: Antoniadi III, T: 2/6
Phase: 65.5deg, Lunation: 8.75d, Illumination: 70.7%
Lib. Lat: +5deg21’, Lib. Long: +2deg21’
Az: 212deg51’, Alt: 23deg30’

My first thought was to get out my Rite in the Rain paper and charcoal, but that terminator line was looking very dramatic and I decided to try another lunar sketch with black paper and white pastels. I chose the white on black because it can be a lot quicker to draw highlights than to draw shadows and I knew there would be a race against time to sketch on the terminator line. Thanks to my friend, Rich Handy, for introducing me to this media. I’ve found it invaluable for my h-alpha solar work.

Something didn’t really look right to me during my observation. It was only when I called it a night and came back in the house that I realized that Bullialdus A looked a lot larger (and Bullialdus B for that matter) than normal. There’s not a real sharp northern edge to Bullialdus A. It almost has a plateau-like bridge connecting it to the crater Bullialdus. The lighting played against that (or that explanation seems reasonable to me) to make it appear larger than normal.

Waning Crescent Moon: Lunation 1094

Moon: Lunation 1094
Moon: Lunation 1094

This morning was the first clear sky I have seen in 2 weeks. Although it did not clear-off until after morning twilight began, I’ll take what I can get and be happy I got a chance to sketch the Moon as it prepares to end this lunation and begin the next.

At 4:30 am CDT the waning crescent moon struggled to 30 degrees above the eastern horizon as I began sketch it. By the time I had finished the sun was up and morning was well underway.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used blue construction paper 9″ x 12″, white Conte’ pastel pencils, blending stumps, a White Pearl eraser, brush and blue Crayola colored pencils. Brightness was slightly increased (+1) using the scanner

Scope 4.25” f/5 Newtonian scope with a 12mm Plossl eyepiece at 46x riding on an equatorial platform

Date: 6-26-2011, 09:30-10:30 UT
Temperature: 18° C (65° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 214.0°
Lunation: 24.52 days
Illumination: 23.8% Waning Crescent

Frank McCabe

Atlas and Hercules

Atlas and Hercules Craters
Atlas and Hercules Craters

Location: Budapest, Hungary
Date: 5th July 2011
Media: Pastel pencils on white paper
Equipment used: 130/650 SW, 130x

Observation details: These two craters are both very interesting, especially Atlas. There are three lighter spots within the crater, and two darker parts, one between the three lighter spots and one bigger around the south-western part. Hercules must be deeper, as the dark area is quite big there and also the lighted part is wide enough to emphesize it’s size. There is a hill or similar between the two craters which must not be too high according to the craters, but high enough to be visible with 130x zoom. Above Atlas there are the remains of an older crater which is ruined and washed, but still visible quite well. There are also whiter-lighter spots next to Atlas, one is almost as long as the crater itself. This might be a different material, as there are no visible signs of other crater or object.

—
dr. Hannák Judit

Sunrise on Posidonius

Posidonius and Chacornac Craters
Posidonius and Chacornac Craters

Hi,

Here is a submission of one of my sketches.
Object Name – Posidonius and Chacornac
Object Type – Lunar Crater
Location – Parmentier Observatory Observing Field
Date – 5/8/2011 3:18 UTC
Media – Graphite pencil, blending stump, black sharpie marker, white paper

Equipment – 10” Discovery PDHQ at 234X

This crater was very nicely positioned along the terminator when I made this sketch. The main crater is Posidonius and the one just above (South) is Chacornac. The shadows and illumination formed an interesting connection between the two craters. It was very interesting to compare the details that I sketched to those of the very nice pastel sketch submitted by Frank McCabe on May 9th.

Brian Chopp

Classic Crater

Hi all,

My original intension when I selected the crater Copernicus was to have the terminator line very close to it. I didn’t get my timing right by a long shot! Instead, it was closer to a Lunar mid-day, making the shadows very short.

I was hesitant to sketch it, having my expectations dashed, and took an hour before I decided “What the heck! Just do it”.

Conditions were quite good for Sydney. At the best of times, using 222X is barely useable, giving only fleeting moments of clarity. This night was more good than poor! And an added bonus, NO DEW!

This is the first time I’ve used charcoal and soft pastels to do such a finely detailed sketch. It took a little getting used to, but what I really like about this materials is you can build up the layers to achieve the result you want. I found them very forgiving, unlike the cold.

Two hours, a pot of tea to keep the cold at bay, and a gorgeous orange tube C8, and this is the result.

Object: crater Copernicus
Scope: Orange tube C8
Gear: 9mm TMB Planetary Type II, 222X, + two polarizing filters
Date: 14’th May, 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Conditions: Fair
Media: Black & white charcoal pencils, grey soft pastel pencil, and white ink on black paper, A5 size.

Cheers,

Alex M.

A Lunar Sketching Duet

A Lunar Sketching Duet

Dale Holt of the UK and I have sketched from across the Atlantic in the past more or less at the same time and even on the same target. This past week it was all different as we met in Phoenix, Arizona and for five, dark, dry, transparent nights observed on the Peralta trail road near the base of the SuperstitionMountains not far from Apache Junction. Following crescent moonsets each night we scrutinized many deep sky targets up to the predawn hours and beyond on one occasion. This was possible as my daughter Michelle generously provided her two Dobsonian telescopes for our use all week. Back at our respective home observing sites, we are thankful to get that rare, clear transparent observing night but for this entire week, we never encountered a single cloud daytime or night time and fantastic transparency around the clock.
A highlight of our week together was lunch with Jeremy Perez in Flagstaff, during a day trip to northern Arizona.
On the last night of our observing, it was time to sketch the first quarter Moon and this time side by side from our base in Mesa, Az. Dale chose for his sketching target the lunar Alps including the front range from Promontorium Agassiz past P. Deville to Mons Blanc and including Mons Piton out on Mare Imbrium. Dale used the ten-inch Orion dob. telescope f/ 4.7 with a 9mm Ortho.eyepiece. Note the long shadows extending from the peaks and pointing towards the terminator, an awesome view in the eyepiece. I used the six- inch dob. telescope f/ 7, a 12mm Plossl eyepiece, and my targets were the three craters Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel along the terminator further on to the south.
If you have the opportunity to do a sketching duet, do not pass up the great opportunity; it can be great fun as we quickly discovered.

Sketching:
Dale Holt
White pastel on black Daler Rowney paper at 133 x

Frank McCabe
Graphite on white recycled Strathmore sketching paper at 89 x

Time: 9 June 2011 beginning 04:25 UT we finished in about an hour
Lunar information:
Lunation: 7.3 day old Moon
Illumination: 51.2%
Co-longitude: 4.1°
Phase 88.6°

Frank McCabe