Moon – Page 57 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Before the Moon Is Full

Crater Schickard

One of the many large and interesting craters on the visible lunar surface is 227
km. diameter walled plain crater Schickard. This Pre-Nectarian crater is somewhat
isolated from craters of equal size. It is the shallow floor of Schickard that
presents its most interesting features. After the large impactor struck the lunar
highlands to form this crater, lava passed to the surface through cracks that
served as channels. Tens of millions of years later the gargantuan impact forming
the Orientale basin occurred blanketing the crater with highland ejecta. After
some time more flooding of dark mare lava created the two notable dark patches on
the crater floor to the Northwest and Southeast. This grand crater can easily be
seen in a modest telescope with good lighting one or two days before full moon.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used: copy paper, a no. 2 graphite pencil, fingertips for
blending.
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian at 233X
Date: 11-4-2006, Time: 2:11-3:15 UT
Clear skies: 4.4°C (40°F)
Seeing: Pickering 5/10
Colongitude 70.5 °
Lunation 12.9 days
Illumination 97 %

Frank McCabe

Prominent Trio

Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catherina

This sketch of the trio Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catherina was done in about 15
minutes due to clouds coming in. to make the best of the limited time I tried to
focus only on the big shapes, shadows & lines. Then I worked the sketch out inside.
Below is the quick sketch done outside, and above the finished version.

Sketched on the 22th May 2007 from my home in Bornem, Belgium. I used my 8” f/5 dob
at 200x through a 5mm Baader Hyperion eyepiece.

The sketch was done on standard A4 printerpaper with pencils. I then scanned it and
adjusted the brightness/contrast levels a bit to make it stand out better.

Kris Smet

Three near the seashore

Archimedes et. al.

Finally, I was blessed with a clear sky. It has been 26 days since the beginning of the year and this is my fourth clear or mostly clear night. With the moon well into lunation 1040, it was bright and high in the sky at nightfall. After observing the lunar surface for about forty-five minutes, I selected a favorite region in eastern Mare Imbrium for sketching.

As an eighth grader with a new 4.25 inch f/10 Newtonian telescope, Archimedes was the first crater I remember identifying with this scope. I selected my 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece to make my sketch of this region. In the sketch below the three craters in counterclockwise direction from smallest to largest are: Autolycus, Aristillus and Archimedes. About half way between Autolycus and Archimedes is the impact site of the first spacecraft to reach the moon September 14, 1959. It was Luna 2 and after crossing through the Van Allen belt it detected and confirmed the solar ions known as the solar wind particles just prior to its lunar rendezvous.

The two smaller craters are from the Copernican period and the larger crater Archimedes is an ancient crater that dates back beyond 3 billion years ago. The terraced walls of Archimedes stand 2000 meters above the flat lava flooded floor of this crater. I was unable to detect at this observation any of the craterlets on the floor. This crater is 85 km. across. Autolycus is less than half the diameter of Archimedes has a higher rim (3000 meters) and an irregular floor. Aristillus which is intermediate in size (56 km diameter) has the tallest rim at 3500 meters and 3 mountains on its floor up to 900 meters tall.

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils and a soft piece of leather for blending. Image was slightly darkened using Imageenhance software.
Date 1-27-2007 1:10-2:40 UT
Temperature: 3.8° C (39° F)
Windy with strong gusting
Seeing average Antoniadi: III
Colongitude: 10.5 °
Lunation: 7.9 days
Illumination: 62.3 %

Frank McCabe

Lights Out for Eratosthenes

   At the southern end of the lunar Apennines on the border between the Bay of
Billows (mostly in darkness) and Sea of Rains lies 60 km. crater Eratosthenes. I
was off and on observing over most of the night. By morning twilight when the moon
was high in the east, Eratosthenes crater was experiencing sunset. The deep, dark
caldera-like aperture was undergoing sunset at the beginning of my sketch. This
3.2 billion year old land mark crater is the defining feature of the Eratosthenes
time period. While sketching I could clearly see much of the ejecta pitting of
Copernicus and its ray material which crossed the region 2 billion years after
Eratosthenes formed. I did not include much of the Copernicus crater impact
features because they are in my opinion more suitable for high resolution
photography or direct visual examination at high power. In this sketch I tried to
briefly capture the overall eyepiece view.


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 6 mm eyepiece 241X
Date: 7-8-2007, 9:15-10:30 UT
Temperature: 22° C (73° F)
Clear to partly cloudy, light winds
Seeing: Antoniadi II
Colongitude 190.2 °
Lunation 23.25 days
Illumination 42.2 %

Frank McCabe

Cleomedes in the Waning Light

Just north of Mare Crisium and formed during the Nectarian period more than 3.7
billion years ago is the 128 km. walled plain crater Cleomedes. This crater has a
high but worn margin and was nicely catching the last rays of sunlight overnight.
The large flat floor may have been flooded by lava that reached the crater floor
through fractures from the molten lava of Mare Crisium. What remains of the
central peak is a low wall oriented north-south and somewhat off center. A hint of
60 km. long ‘y’ shaped Rima Cleomedes was just detectable north of the central
wall running off to the southeast. To the northwest of Cleomedes is 57 km. crater
Burckhardt straddled by its close partners E and F. To the east of Cleomedes is
crater Delmotte (32 km.) and off to the northwest is crater Tralles (43 km.)
hugging the rim. On the floor from north to south are A and larger E which
together damaged the wall of Cleomedes upon formation. Crater B can be seen
south of the central wall and then J to the southeast on the floor. Resting on the
south rim is crater C. This region of the lunar surface was fascinating to observe
in this part of the lunation.

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 6 mm eyepiece 241X
Date: 7-2-2007, 4:10-5:30 UT
Temperature: 18° C (65° F)
Clear, light winds
Seeing: Antoniadi II
Colongitude 116.6 °
Lunation 17.25 days
Illumination 96.4 %

Frank McCabe

Four Old Battered Ones

On a frosty early morning in the fall of 2006, just a couple of days past third
quarter moon, I selected for sketching a famous old battered region between Mare
Nubium and Mare Cognitum. This region includes four large craters that were
damaged by low flying Imbrium ejecta that caused them to look old and battered
before their time. Nearest the terminator to the north is crater Guericke (59km)
with its flat lava flooded floor that opens to Mare Nubium. Crater Parry, smaller
at 49 km in diameter is older and also flat floored. The other two craters which
look ghostly in the sketch are larger and older and share common walls with Parry.
These craters are Bonpland (61 km.) to the west and Fra Mauro (96 km.) to the
north of Parry. The wall of Parry encroaches on Bonpland and both together on to
Fra Mauro to betray the cratering sequence of these three.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used: copy paper 8.5”x11”, #2HB graphite pencil,
Pink pearl eraser.
Telescope: 6 inch f/ 7.9 Dobsonian at 208x ( first light for this scope)
Date: 10-15-2006 10:30-11:15 UT
Temperature: 0° C (32° F)
Clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 190 °
Lunation: 23 days
Illumination: 36 %

Frank McCabe

Clarity brought to complexity

This is my impression of the Lunar Formation Stofler. It was sketched with a #2HB
0.5mm mechanical pencil on Strathmore Wind Power Sketching Paper. Other pertinent
details are on the sketch itself. I found this lunar feature to be one of the most
interesting that I have seen. It appeared to me, that this piece of lunar real
estate was painted with a giant bulls eye.

Jason Aldridge

Repsold on the rim

A favourable lunar libration put the crater Repsold at a better
perspective than what one usually finds. And finding it on the
terminator made it an object for a quick sketch despite the obstacles.
It was only a few days before a June full moon so the moon was quite low
(from 50 degrees north lat.) even when near the meridian. Turbulence
and generally poor seeing kept things from looking sharp for more than
brief instants. And the mosquitoes were bad enough that at times they
cast long shadows across my sketching paper.   Sketch done using
graphite pencils, ink and some not entirely successfull applications of
whiteout.   I usually like to take longer with a sketch but the
mosquitoes kept the viewing short. North is more or less up and east is
to the left.   Viewed through 150mm f/6 Maksutov Newtonian with
binoviewer, 2x barlow and 23mm eyepieces.

Repsold is a rather large crater at approximately 110 kms diameter that
is known for a prominant rille of the same name that runs through it.
Some of the unusual highpoints in the sunlight of my sketch might be
part of that formation as they are oriented in an agreeable direction.
But being unfamiliar with that extreme limb crater, I cannot say for
certain. Sketching limb craters present its own unique challenges and I
find myself thinking more of the three-dimensionality of the crater as
you are no just ‘looking down’ onto the third dimension.

Gerry Smerchanski

Gassendi Sunrise

As the 11 day old waxing gibbous moon approached the meridian, I was able to easily search the terminator in a standing position at the eyepiece to find a suitable sketching target. Target located, I began my sketch near the end of evening twilight. The 110 km. diameter floor fractured crater Gassendi was right on the terminator. The central peak was just touched by morning sunlight as were the tallest portions of the western rim across the blackness of the chasmic floor. The unilluminated portion of the south rim is tilted and facing the center of Mare Humorum. This large 3.7 billion year old crater has on its rim to the north a 33 km. crater known as Gassendi A which is mimicking the rim illumination of the former save the central peak. A small portion of the eastern wall of Gassendi B (26 km.) was also visible north and west of A.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 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: 6-26-2007 2:15-3:10 UT
Temperature: 26° C (78° F)
Hazy, 88% humidity
Seeing: Antoniadi II- III
Colongitude: 40.2 °
Lunation: 10.96 days
Illumination: 81.3 %Frank McCabe

Even craters have their faults

Here is my impression of the Lunar Crater Taruntius. It was sketched with a #2HB
0.5mm mechanical pencil on Strathmore Wind power Sketching Paper. Other pertinent
details are on the sketch itself. What caught my eye with this particular lunar
feature was the ring of hills wrapping around the central peak.

Jason Aldridge
Florida, USA