Moon – Page 55 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Return to a Prominent Highland Beauty

2007 Sept 01, 0450-0631 UT

10″ LX200 with diagonal, 21-7mm Zhumell

PCW Memorial Observatory, Erika Rix

Temp: 57.9 °F / 14.4 °C

Humidity: 75%

Seeing Antoniadi II, Transparency 2/6

Sketch media: Rite in the Rain paper, charcoal

Moretus
Lunation 19.24 d

81.4% Illumination

Lib. Lat: -04deg44′

Lib. Long: +01deg35′

Altitude 35deg

Colongitude 139.9deg

According to the Virtual Moon Atlas the dimension of Moretus is 117x117Km / 69x69Mi
and it’s from the Eratosthenian period (From -3.2 billions years to -1.1 billions
years).

I’m having fun with Moretus. Chuck Wood wrote “Moretus is a very fresh but rayless
115-km-wide, 4-km-deep version of Tycho that would be a major attraction if it were
better placed.” (page 126, The Modern Moon, a Personal View). He also brought up
Harold Hill and the measurement of the central peak of Moretus that Mr. Hill wrote
as being the highest of all the craters Earthside at 2.12km. Chuck then measured it
using Lunar Orbiter photos and found it to be very comparable to Mr. Hill’s at
2.66km.

This led me look for Moretus in Harold Hill’s “A Portfolio of Lunar Drawings” and on
pages 122-123 I found not only a superb description of this crater, but two sketches
that were very similar in comparison to each other as my two sketches’ were to each
other. The purpose of this report was to compare my sketch of 2007 September 01 to
that of 2006 October 30. I was pleasantly surprised to be led to the same type of
report from Mr. Hill…”two 1966 drawings demonstrate how greatly the presentation
of this magnificent formation can alter under near extremes of libration in
latitude.”(page 122)

Here is the sketch from Oct 2006:

http://www.cloudynights.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=8052&password=&sort=2&thecat=500

The details for comparison are:

Lunation 7.8d

51.4% Illumination

Lib. Lat: +05deg39′

Lib. Long: -06deg08′

Altitude 26deg

Colongitude 7.4deg

Note in the earlier sketch that not only does Moretus look narrower, but Cysatus and
Curtius are completely hidden and Gruemberger looks completely invisible except for
the telltale crater within it, Gruemberger A.

Now look at the Moretus sketch from the other day. Everything has opened up,
Moretus, Short on the other side as well as the three craters on the Northern
borders (to the bottom in both sketches).

It’s easy to see how a person could get lost in the rugged terrain of the Southern
hemisphere and even more so, how difficult it would be to make accurate studies. An
example of this is the measurement of the central peak. I’ll make no claims that I
could begin to measure the central peak myself. But I thought I could see a
craterlet in my observation the night just plain as day on the southern rim of
Moretus towards Short. In the sketch, you can even see the craterlet. My
observation from Oct of 2006 does not include this. I began to doubt myself on
whether this feature was actually there. Thank goodness for Hill’s observation. He
confirmed this depression in the rim with his sketch done on 1966 Dec 4th, with a
higher percentage of illumination than his second sketch.

We already knew that repeated observations are necessary during our studies of the
Moon. These two observations as well as the two that Mr. Hill did in 1966 are
perfect examples why.

Classic Southern Moonscape

Craters Clavius and Blancanus

Among the large craters of the lunar southern highlands, two nearly 4 billions old
impacts stood out on this morning before my local sunrise. These craters are 225
km.diameter Clavius and smaller 109 km. Blancanus. Clavius is not only old and
large but is blanketed with numerous craters and craterlets. At the center of this
large crater are the reduced remains of once regal central peaks. The atmosphere
was steady enough to pick out cratelets less than 1.5 km in diameter during
periods of excellent seeing. Crater Clavius is famous for its semicircular crater
sequence of decreasing size beginning with 49 km. Rutherfurd at the inner
southeastern wall and continuing with 27km. D, 20 km. C, 12 km N, 11.3 km J and
7.5 km JA. The north-northeastern rim of Clavius has a large crater resting it.
This 52 km. diameter crater is Porter. A broad crater ray was clearly visible
crossing the floor of Clavius just to the west of Porter and Clavius C. 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 the ejecta of the Orientale basin. Some small secondary crater
chains point back in that direction.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 9”x12”, 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: 9-2-2007 8:15-9:25 UT
Temperature: 17°C (62°F)
Clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi II-III
Co longitude: 53.9°
Lunation: 20.39 days
Illumination: 70 %

Frank McCabe

From Sirsalis to Damoiseau

This was the first time that I had used my new (to me) Superscopes 6″ F9 triplet
refractor for a sketch. As per usual I sketch what my eye is most drawn to and
then research the area after.

In this case I struggled to match up the craters that I had captured with any of
my many books & atlases. In the end I got a best match from an excellent free
down load picture Atlas/portfolio by Alan Chu. I decided that it must be the
Sirsalis region although the stunning illumination I enjoyed wasn’t captured in
any thing that I had in my library.

I used the following:
Superscopes 150mm F9 triplet refractor, Denk binoviewer with 2.5x lens, 2x 23mm
Celestron Axiom eyepieces straight through so no diagonal delivering 146x.

6″x8″ (150mm x 200mm) light black card of unknown origin
Derwent watercolour pencils, Derwent pastel pencils, conte sticks & blending stumps

25.8.07, 21.30UT sketch time 10minutes.

Location: Chippingdale observatory, Chipping Nr Buntingford, Hertfordshire, England.

Dale Holt

Out of darkness into the light

When I spied the glowing rims floating in a pool of pitch, I knew it was time that I
tried to render a lunar sketch with white pastel on black paper. I felt quite clumsy
while drawing Clavius with this foreign medium, but in the end I decided that the
result was acceptable. I know that I will require a good deal of practice before I
am comfortable sketching in this manner. Kudos to those of you who make such
wonderful lunar sketches in white on black!!! I hope you all enjoy my first attempt
at sketching with new tools.

Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL

Dwarfed by its enormous neighbor

For this sketch I decided to focus on the crater Reinhold that is dwarfed by it’s
enormous neighbor, Copernicus. I could see lot’s of detail in it’s surrounding
environment including a craterlet in it’s ghostly companion Reinhold B. The hills
and rilles to the south and west of this pair of craters made for an irresistible
sketch opportunity. I hope you all enjoy my impression of Reinhold.

This sketch was rendered on Strathmore Windpower Sketch paper, with a #2 HB
Mechanical Pencil, and a General’s Extra Black Layout Pencil. MGI Photosuite III was
used for post processing.

Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL

The wind and Aristoteles

It was a very clear and transparent night when I finally got my shot at drawing the
lunar crater, Aristoteles. Unfortunately, there was a steady 17-20 MPH wind that
shook my little 8″ Dob, and caused my subject to jump around in the eyepiece. I
managed to capture this magnificent crater during the brief periods of calm, so I
apologize for any inaccuracies.
This sketch was rendered on Strathmore Windpower Sketch paper with a .5mm 2HB
mechanical pencil. MGI Photosuite III was used for post processing.

Jason Aldridge
North Port, Florida

Pythagoras on the Moon

It was approaching the time for sunset and Venus was not visible in the west through the clouds. To the southeast the glow of the moon behind the clouds and haze was just visible and it was not shaping up very well for an observing night. As twilight ended and the moon continued rising, it began to look like an observing session could happen. The moon was yellow-orange in color through the haze and not quite 25° above the southern horizon when I began to sketch Pythagoras crater at the northern terminator region. Although the transparency was so poor 3rd magnitude stars were not visible overhead, the seeing was above average. Along the terminator 130 km. crater Pythagoras with its twin tall central peaks and brightly illuminated, terraced northwestern wall was nicely visible. Hugging the southern wall of Pythagoras, slightly larger Babbage (140 km.) with its crumbled walls and large central crater Babbage A shared the spotlight near the dark lavas of Mare Frigoris. Following the west wall of Babbage to the south the 70 km. crater Oenopides stood out with its relatively smooth looking flat floor. And finally standing somewhat alone in the dark lavas is rayed crater Harpalus (41 km.) the youngest of the named craters in the sketch.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils and a blending stump. Contrast was slightly increased after scanning.
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 9 mm eyepiece 161X
Date: 5-30-2007 2:42-3:30 UT
Temperature: 24° C (75° F)
Partly cloudy with much haze, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi II-III
Colongitude 70.4 °
Lunation 13.3 days
Illumination 97 %

Frank McCabe

Astronomy, wildflowers and photography

Lunar Crater J Herschel

The sun was rising across the 165 km wide irregular floor of this walled plain
crater at the time of this observation. J Herschel is a pre-Nectarian crater and
in the observing light was showing off a low inner rim, secondary craters, and
rubbly, slightly convex floor. With the Imbrium basin formation taking place a
couple of hundred million years after J Herschel, it is easy to see why this
crater looks so old and battered. The well defined outer rim to the south (up in
the sketch) has its rampart buried under the lavas of Mare Frigoris. Also the mare
looks to be at a slightly higher elevation than the crater floor on the other side
of the wall. Along the south wall to the west crater Horrebow (26 km) can be seen
superimposed upon Horrebow A. Out into Mare Frigoris a couple of dozen kilometers
are craters La Condamine B and J Herschel F both slightly under 20 km in diameter.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: White CCP sketching paper, 2 HB graphite pencil and a black
ink pen. Contrast and brightness were adjusted after scanning.
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 241X
Date: 5-28-2007 1:01-1:40 UT
Temperature: 16° C (60° F)
Partly cloudy with haze, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude 45.1 °
Lunation 11 days
Illumination 85.8 %

Frank McCabe

Between the middle bay and a sea of vapors

Ukert is a relatively small crater that lies between Sinus Medii and Mare Vaporum. I
found it’s surrounding environment to be quite fascinating which is why I chose it
for the subject of this sketch. It was rendered on Strathmore Windpower sketch paper
with a 2HB mechanical pencil. Post processing was done with MGI Photosuite III.

Jason Aldridge
North Port, Florida

An Inventor and Lunar Sketcher of the mid-Nineteenth Century

The sketch of Copernicus crater shown above was made by James Nasmyth and is from
George F. Chambers’ book, A Handbook of Descriptive and Practical Astronomy,
1889-1890, Oxford, Clarendon, vol.1, figure 65 page 129.
James Nasmyth will always be remembered for his ability to invent, design and
improve on power tools. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1808 to an artist father,
he left school at an early age to build machines, a passion that became his
vocation. His most famous invention was a forerunner to the pile driver known as
the steam hammer. With a life long interest in astronomy he spent the last 30 of
his 81 year lifespan directly involved in astronomy. During this time he built
telescopes and improved their mounts. In addition he charted and drew the moon and
sketched sunspots.
This quote from the above work appears on page 128 and is associated with the
Copernicus crater drawing above. It is most revealing of 19th century thought
about lunar crater origin. “The Volcanic origin of the lunar craters cannot be
more plainly demonstrated than by comparing an engraving such as Fig.62, which
represents a known volcano – Tenerife- with any good engraving of a lunar crater,
e.g. Copernicus, Fig.65. The similarity is too striking to admit of there being
any doubts as to the identity of the physical causes which have originated each
surface.”

Frank McCabe