Category: Moon

Domed Citadel

Sketch of Mons Rümker

On this rather fine fall night, with the sunrise shadow moving across Sinus Roris, yet not quite reaching crater Harding, I was able to see and sketch the volcanic mound feature known as Mons Rümker, named after German astronomer Karl L. C. Rümker. This hummocky volcanic multi-domed plateau is raised above the basaltic plain of northwestern Oceanus Procellarum just enough to make it stand out in grazing light.

In the late 19th and on into the 20th century, this feature was believed to be an old collapsed and battered crater. Today it is known to be the frozen remains of a once active cluster of lunar volcanoes arranged in an incomplete circular arching mound. This entire mound measures 70 kilometers across and was observed and sketched while the lighting was good enough to see nice relief from the flat surroundings.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: 400 series black Strathmore Artagain paper 9″ x 12″, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils, Conte’ crayons, a blending stump, and plastic eraser. Brightness was decreased -1 and contrast increased +1 using my scanner for this sketch
Telescope: 13.1” f/ 6 Dobsonian with 6mm eyepiece (333x) on an equatorial tracking platform
Date: 11-19-2010 06:00 – 07:30 UT
The Moon was nearly 60° above the southern horizon
Temperature: -1°C (30°F)
Weather: mostly clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 65.1°
Lunation: 13.1 days
Illumination: 94.1%

Oak Forest, Illinois

Frank McCabe

Shattered Rim

Object Name (Valles Inghirami, Baade, Bouvard)
* Object Type (Lunar Valles)
* Location (York, UK)
* Date (18th January 2011)
* Media (graphite pencil, white paper)
Instrument: Skywatcher Skyliner 152mm f8 Dobsonian, 10mm e.p, x2 Barlow.

What’s an astronomical sketcher to do at full moon? These are actually good times to catch rare details on the lunar limb, and here I have caught three of the valleys on the south-western limb of the moon close to the crater Inghirami, which in turn is just south-west of Schickard. These valleys are radial to the Orientale basin and created by the same impact. Vallis Inghirami is the easiest to spot by virtue of its proximity to the crater of the same name, whilst Bouvard is also striking by virtue of its greater elevation and length. Baade is harder to pick out because it’s behind Vallis Inghirami and mostly hidden behind its own rim. This dramatic landscape mirrors the cataclysmic event that must have created it about 3.5 billion years ago.

Billy’s Gape

The lunar crater Billy looks like a wide open mouth on a surprised face while Rima Billy form the eyebrows and Billy D forms the eye on the right. Or maybe Billy is just reacting to the very cold night with temperatures dropping below -20C. Whatever the reason it is an interesting area of the moon to sketch. This sketch was done Sunday evening, January 16, 2011 at about 10:45 PM EST from my Orleans, Ontario Canada observatory with my 200mm dob and an 8mm eyepeice. The magnification was 150x. Mons Hansteed is the bright area to the left of Billy. The sketch was done at the eyepiece with graphite pencil on bond paper and blending with my cold wool gloved finger.

Clear skies,

Gordon

Aristarchus and Vallis Schroteri

Object Name: Aristarchus and Vallis Schroteri
Object Type: Lunar Crater
Location: Bristol, UK
Date: 18th Dec 2010
Media (graphite pencil sketch at the scope and then digitized using graphics tablet and Photoshop)

I usually sketch in some detail at the scope (mainly HB and 2B). I then scanned the result into Photoshop and use a Bamboo Pen graphics tablet to remaster the sketch. The final sketch was then “blurred” a touch to simulate the actual view which is never as sharp as I would like to see!)

Observational date: I use a Nexstar 8SE teamed with a Hyperion 8-24 mm zoom. Most of the sketch was at the 16mm stop with occassional use of Barlow and was drawn in moderate seeing conditions. The moon was 13 days old.
I could see the main circular formation with the hint of rays in SE. The crater had high walls although I could not see the terraces. The flat floor had a smallish central mountain. Herodotus was prominent to the W. Vallis Schroteri could be seen N of Herodotus by a craterlet called ‘the Head of Cobra’. The valley ran towards N then W.
Chris Lee

Sunset Terminator Across Mare Crisium

Mare Crisium is that interesting isolated sea on the northeastern side of the visible lunar surface. Only about half of it was visible during this sketching session.
The Nectarian Period event that formed this feature occurred more than 3.8 billion years ago. The mare portion of the basin is about 500 kilometers across. In the grazing sunlight across the floor, wrinkled ridges were visible in the north to south direction. Also on the western floor craters Picard (24 km.), Peirce (19 km.) and Swift (11km.) stood out in the low light. I could clearly see the lighter colored bench lava that partly buried craters here such as Yerkes (37 km.). Tall flat top mountains (massifs) beyond the shore stand at 2-5 kilometers above the sea. Also beyond the sea to the West crater Proclus (28 km.) with its remarkable bright rays was reflecting some sunlight.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: 400 series black Strathmore Artagain paper 9″x 12″, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic eraser. Brightness was decreased -2 and contrast increased +1 using the scanner for this sketch
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian with 6mm (241x)
Date: 12-23-2010 10:00 – 11:30 UT
Temperature: -8°C (18°F)
Weather: clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 120°
Lunation: 17.7 days
Illumination: 94.5%

Oak Forest, Illinois

Frank McCabe

Rimae Run Through It

Object Name: Petavius
Object Type: Lunar Crater
Location: Bristol, UK
Date: 24th Oct 2010
Media (graphite pencil sketch at the scope and then digitized using graphics tablet and Photoshop)
I usually sketch in some detail at the scope (mainly HB and 2B). I then scanned the result into Photoshop and used a Bamboo Pen graphics tablet to remaster the sketch. The final sketch was then “blurred” a touch to simulate the actual view which is never as sharp as I would like to see!)

Observational data: I use a Nexstar 8SE teamed with a Hyperion 8-24 mm zoom. Most of the sketch was at the 8mm stop and was drawn in good seeing conditions. The moon was 17 days old. I could see the circular crater formation of Petavius situated on the South bank of Mare Fecunditatis. The steep slope was rugged and contained a few craterlets. Wrottersley could be seen in the North-West (with a central peak) while Hase and Snellius could also be seen in the South. The main feature was the central mountain inside Petavius and the Rimae that ran from this to the crater wall. Very distinctive at the angle observed. Otherwise the floor was pretty flat. To the north I could see lines running way from the crater rim. The shadow obscured most the the craters to the East.
Hope you enjoy,

Clear Skies

Chris Lee