Moon – Page 45 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

The Sea of Crisis at Full Moon

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

Ancient, Hammered, and Crushed

Crater Wilhelm West of Tycho
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

Last evening I was experiencing clear yet cold conditions for sketching. With skies expected to remain clear until after midnight and the moon high in the southern sky I chose a sketching target near the terminator just west of Tycho and north of Longomontanus. This region is part of the ancient highland crust of the moon and many of the craters here are very old, battered and partly hidden by younger impacts. I centered this sketch on Wilhelm (108 km.) a Pre-Nectarian crater that is somewhat difficult to trace on its western wall with several 20 km. craters there crushing the rim. Multiple impacts hammering on the east floor along a ridge was clearly evident. Immediately to the south of Wilhelm the remains of crater Montanari (77km.) could be seen. All parts of the south wall of this crater are hidden by layers of impacts all the way to Longomontanus (not in the sketch). I also included in this sketch to the west of Wilhelm the third Pre-Necterian crater Lagalla (85km.). Again most of the south wall is beaten down.

In the lighting provided by proximity to the terminator this was a rewarding area of the moon to observe and sketch. I stopped when my fingers went numb after 4 short breaks to warm up. It was a beautiful night to observe the moon as long as you were dressed for the cold.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: White CPP sketching paper, 9”x 12”, HB and 4B charcoal pencils, a blending stump, gum and pink pearl erasers. After scanning, Brightness was slightly decreased (-2) and contrast increased (+2) using Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 241x
Date: 1-6-2009 1:30 – 2:50 UT
Temperature: -8° C (17° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co-longitude: 26.8°
Lunation: 9.55days
Illumination: 67.1 %
Phase: 70°

Frank McCabe

Eratosthenes and the Apennines

Eratosthenes Crater and the Montes Apennius
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla

Eratosthenes crater and the Apennines Mountains on the Moon’s surface.

Object: Moon – Eratosthenes Crater
Scope: Schmidt-Cassegrain 5” + Speers-Waler 7,4mm + barlow 1,6x
Filter: Moon&SkyGlow
Place: Poland, Wroclaw – near city center
Weather: Good. Seeing 7/10. Light Pollution.
Date: 6-7 January 2009
Technique: White pastel crayons on black paper
Tooling: N/A

Great Globular with a Small Aperture

The Great Globular Cluster M13
Sketch and Details by Daniel Stepniak

My sketch of great globular cluster in Hercules, M13. In my telescope it
wasn’t resolved, but the view was fine.

date: September 20, 2007

place: Sochaczew, Poland- suburbs of medium city with light pollution an
star’s apparent magnitude 4,5-5.

equipment: Synta 114/500, NPL 15mm (33x, fov 1,5°), graphite pencil 🙂

Highland Crater Sacrobosco

Lunar Highlands Crater Sacrobosco
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

Crater Sacrobosco is a large (100km.) 4 billion year old Pre-Nectarian crater with a height of 3.5 kilometers from floor to highest rim. The crater shows its age with that badly worn rim over most of its circumference. What makes this southern highland crater so eye catching at the eyepiece are the 3 younger craters on the floor of this ancient giant. Clockwise at 11, 2 and 6 o’clock they are Sacrobosco B, A, and C. A is the largest at 17 km. in diameter and C is the smallest at 13 km. Much of the illuminated floor of Sacrobosco is smooth in appearance except where interrupted by a long meandering line of what look like low irregular hills from the center to the north rim (bottom in the sketch).
Many of the surrounding craters during this phase of the lunation would make great sketching targets as well.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper 9”x 12”, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. After scanning, Brightness was decreased (-2) using my scanner.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm and 4mm eyepieces 241x and 362x
Date: 1-3-2009, 0:05 – 1:20 UT
Temperature: – 6°C (22° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III, occasionally II
Colongitude 349.9 °
Lunation 6.5 days
Illumination: 34.9 %
Libration: in Lat. -4° 23’, in Long. -7° 59’

Frank McCabe

Magnificent Posidonius

Lunar Crater Posidonius
Sketch and Details by Dale Holt

Lifted straight from my observing notes of 19th Oct 2008

Tonight my eye was caught by Posidonius, it looked absolutely incredible with its walls illuminated magnificently. It is a walled plain located between Mare Serenitatis and Lacus Somnorium 95 Km in diameter. This is a very interesting and busy feature its floor covered in craterlets, rilles and peaks. To the west there is a double wall which is highly illuminated in the sketch. There is a central crater A, with another tiny crater P just below. The large crater to the upper left is Pos J, to the upper right on the edge of the sketch is Pos P. Of all my lunar sketches to date I think I have enjoyed making this one the most, I’m also pleased with the result I feel it has slight ‘H Percy Wilkins’ look about it.

6″ f9 triplet refractor @ 300x

Sketch made with Conte pastels & Derwent pencil pastels worked with blending stumps & erasers on Black Daler Rowney paper

Dale Holt

Chippingdale observatory

NE Hertfordshire

England

Crater Inghirami

Lunar Crater Inghirami
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

This ancient crater is from the Nectarian period and is nearly four billion years old. Crater Inghirami measures 90 km. in diameter and is about 3 km.deep. The ancient floor is cratered, ridged and rubble covered with ejecta launched from the Basin Orientale forming event that followed after the impact making of Inghirami crater.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper 9”x 7”, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. After scanning, Brightness was decreased (-3) using my scanner.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 9 mm eyepiece 161x
Date: 12-11-2008, 1:10 – 2:20 UT
Temperature: – 2°C (28° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude 73.1 °
Lunation 13.5 days
Illumination: 97 %
Libration: in Lat. -6° 3’, in Long. -3° 45’

Frank McCabe

Tycho’s Impact

Lunar Crater Tycho
Sketch and Details by Krztsztof Rajda, text by Rich Handy

Tycho crater is captured dramatically in this pencil to Gimp2 sketch by Krztsztof (Kris) Rajda of Poland. The dark impact melt ring that surround and is scattered about it’s floor, along with the splay of rays that emanate from this crater, are indicators of Tycho’s youthful (Copernican age). Tycho Brahe, the man, changed the course of science and mankind’s understanding of the Solar Sytem by his meticulous observations and the data shared he shared with Kepler.

Sketch information:
Obiect name:crater Tycho
Scope:ATM truss dobs 300/1500
Place: Poland,Brzeźno
Seeing:3/5
Date:07.11.2008(18:00PM)
Technique:Pencil,graphics GIMP2
Amateur astronomer:Krztsztof(Kris)Rajda

Basin Bailly

Lunar Basin Bailly
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

The terminator was approaching the southwestern limb of the moon as the basin Bailly, nicely visible due to favorable libration, came under full illumination. Bailly is large for a crater but small for a ringed basin at 300 kilometers in diameter. In the grazing sunlight the irregular basin floor with numerous craters was evident but no sign of the inner crater ring was visible as can be seen in overhead spacecraft images. The far side inner wall was beautifully illuminated in direct sunlight while features beyond were in total darkness. The depth of this basin is about 6 kilometer below the rim. The two large bright rimmed craters at the south end of Bailly’s floor are first older Bailly B at 65 km. and then younger Bailly A at 38 km. Also notable in this view is a portion of a bright ray of ejecta traceable back to Tycho (not in the drawing) and crossing crater Kircher (75 km.) before reaching the south end of Bailly. The 3 large craters below the Tycho ray are in descending size: Bettinus (73km.), Segner (70km.), and Zucchius (66 km.) which is the youngest of this group of craters.

This was the first evening the moon has been visible from my location since this lunation began. Although a little bit on the chilly side for sketching, it was a pleasure to get out and draw the moon again.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper 9”x 7”, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. After scanning, Brightness was decreased (-2) using the scanner.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 9 mm eyepiece 161x
Date: 12-11-2008, 5:15 – 7:00 UT
Temperature: – 3°C (26° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude 73.1 °
Lunation 13.58 days
Illumination: 97 %
Libration: in Lat. -6° 3’, in Long. -3° 45’

Frank McCabe

Double Double

Hesiodus and Pitatus
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard, translation by Frank McCabe

Roughly translated from French to English Serge wrote:

It was the weekend of the first of May 2007, and I was using a 25 cm. telescope on an equatorial platform at 500x. The moon was well into the gibbous phase. Despite the persistent turbulence, I noticed with pleasure the small crater Hesiodus near the edge of much larger crater Pitatus and adjacent to Hesiodus to the southwest the perfectly concentric interlocking of two craters one in the other called Hesiodus A.