Pastel Pencil – Page 4 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Grimaldi, Hevelius, Cavalerius

Object Name: Grimaldi, Hevelius, Cavalerius
Object Type: Lunar craters
Location: Twello, The Netherlands
Date: April 23, 2013
Media: White pastel pencil on black paper

It has been more than a year(!) since my last lunar sketch, but on the evening of April 23th I dragged my 3″ f/16 Polarex refractor outside for some good old sketching.
The most prominent feature on the lunar surface was a line of large craters formed by Grimaldi , Hevelius and Cavalerius. Although the Moon didn’t climb higher than 30 degrees above the Southern horizon, magnifications up to 200x could easily be used. High cirrus clouds made the image a bit hazy (and I had to stop sketching after an hour because of thickening clouds) but the seeing was quite good. The sketch was made through an old 7mm Orthoscopic eyepiece (171x). The image is mirror reversed (north=up, west=left).

Clear skies!
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl

Gassendi Crater

Gassendi Crater
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2012 06 01, 0238 UT – 0446 UT Gassendi
PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas, Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com

Celestron Omni XLT 102mm, 24-8mm Baader Planetarium Mark III Hyperion, 2x Barlow, 250x
Temp 71° F, 60% humidity, S: Antoniadi II, T: 5/6
Eyepiece sketch black Strathmore Artagain paper, Conte crayon and pastel pencil, charcoal pencil
Phase: 45.8 deg, Lunation: 11.21 d, Illumination: 84.8%
Lib. Lat: +05:08, Lib. Long: -04:13
Az: +209:11, Alt: 41:03

Located on the northern border of Mare Humorum, crater Gassendi is an impact crater formed during the Nectarian period (-3.92 to 3.85 billion years ago) that later was modified after volcanic activity, becoming a fractured-floor crater. Gassendi is believed to have been filled with lava from the inside, raising its floor, creating stress fractures in the process. This would explain it being considered a walled plain with a shallow depth of 2.8 km. The central peaks (~1200 m high) remain and several rilles (called Rimae Gassendi) were formed on the lava-filled floor during the Imbrian geological period -3.85 to –3.2 billion years ago.

Crater Gassendi A was formed during the Copernician period (–1.1 billion years ago to the present day) and overlaps Gassendi’s northern rim. The pairing of Gassendi and Gassendi A resembles a diamond ring and makes a very striking feature to observe 3 days after first quarter or two days after last quarter of lunation. My observation was nearly three days after first quarter.

Gassendi’s southern rim was swallowed by the lava of Mare Humorum leaving only a thin crest line to support its circular shape. Dorsa ran from the southern rim to Gassendi O (11 km wide). The sharp ridge that defines the border of Mare Humorum to the SW of Gassendi adds to the crater’s unmistakable identification.

At the beginning of my session, Spica and Saturn lined up to align with the Moon. Spica was 2.08 degrees north of the Moon and Saturn was 6.9 degrees north of the Moon. Extending further north, Arcturus was nearly in line as well at 31.8 degrees north of the Moon

Craters Mercator, Campanus and Ramsden at Sunrise

Craters Mercator, Campanus and Ramsden
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After another canceled public telescope viewing Friday evening due to thick clouds and light snow, I was pleased to see a nice Saturday filled with sunshine followed by a clear night.

With no particular sketching targets in mind, I scanned the terminator for interesting sketching targets and stopped when I could see sunrise at Ramsden (26 km.) along with all those crisscrossing rimae (rilles).

Northeastward away from Ramsden and across Palus Epidemiarum, I also added two additional ancient craters Mercator (49 km.) and Campanus (49 km.).

This break in our poor Chicagoland spring weather was long overdue.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: 400 series black Strathmore Artagain paper 9″x 9″, white and black Conte’

pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic eraser.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian with 6mm (241x)

Date: 4-21-2013 01:00 – 02:45 UT

Temperature: 7.2°C (45°F)

Weather: clear, calm

Seeing: good Antoniadi II-III

Co longitude: 35.4°

Lunation: 10.6 days

Illumination: 74.1%

Frank McCabe

Full Disc H-Alpha – April 22, 2013

H-Alpha Sun - April 22, 2013 — H-Alpha Sun – April 22, 2013

Object Name: Sun
Object Type: Star
Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
Date: April 22, 2013
Media: White pastel pencil on black paper, colorized and mirror reversed with Photoshop

Sunny weather + long lunch break = solar observing!
This afternoon I took 30 minutes to sketch the Sun in h-alpha. It’s been so long since my last solar sketch, I even had to search for the pastels. I made a full disk sketch, the active region AR1726 was large enough so see in detail even at low magnifications. For this sketch I used a 22mm LVW (32x) in my 70mm h-alpha telescope.

Kind regards,
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl

Comet PanSTARRS and the 1 Day Old Moon

On the evening of March 12, 2013, I was treated to a pleasant view of the 1.26 day old Moon (1.8% illuminated) and comet C/2011 L4 Pan-STARRS from 07:00pm to 07:20pm local time Mesa, Arizona. I had an excellent view of the clear western sky and I could see the comet naked eye about 6.5 diameters to the south of the Moon.

To assist in making the rough graphite sketch I used a 5x 50mm finder scope removed from an Orion telescope. After returning home from Arizona to Illinois I made a color drawing from field notes and the graphite sketch. I was planning on a color sketch but the number of colors need and blending seemed too much for the 30 minutes to comet set.

Sketching:

Graphite pencils: 6B, 4B and 2B also black and white pastel pencils on white sketching paper.

Color drawing was made with black and white charcoal pencils and an assortment of color pencils on medium blue paper.

Frank McCabe

Mare Crisium Illuminated on the Young Moon

Mare Crisium – Hover mouse over image to view labels

Mare Crisium is that interesting isolated sea on the northeastern side of the visible lunar surface. Not long before beginning the sketch, it became fully illuminated.

The Nectarian Period impact 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 on the floor, wrinkled ridges were visible. Also on the western floor craters Picard (24 km.), Peirce (19 km.) and Swift (11km.) stood out in the low light. I could see the lighter gray 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. Both promontoria Lavinium and Olivium stood out clearly in very brief moments.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: 400 series black Strathmore Artagain paper 9″x 9″, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic eraser.
Telescope: 13.1 inch f/ 6 Dobsonian with 6mm (332x)
Date: 2-13 & 14-2013 23:00 – 00:45 UT
Temperature: 1.7°C (35°F)
Weather: clear, calm
Seeing: not good Antoniadi IV
Co longitude: 310.9°
Lunation: 3.69 days
Illumination: 15.7%

Frank McCabe

A Conjunction with Some History

Conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Aldebaran

At the last day of October I sketched a beautiful conjunction between the Moon, Jupiter and Aldebaran. The building in the foreground was my holiday-resort (illuminated by a streetlight), a renovated farm from 1669. By chance: in the first months of 1669 Jupiter was also next to Aldebaran in the sky. So the first inhabitants could have witnessed a similar conjunction. To add some more history: the location was less than 10 km from Middelburg, the town where the telescope was invented!

Clear skies

Jef De Wit

Location: Biggekerke, Netherlands (51°29’ N 3°31’ E)
Date and time: 31 October 2012 around 19.30 UT
Equipment: naked eye
Medium: pastel pencils and soft pastels on black paper (A4), Jupiter and Aldebaran were brightened with Paint

Just After Sunset

When we sketch the sun, we sketch sunspots or H-alpha. But the most beautiful thing to sketch is a sunrise or sunset. During my 2 weeks holiday in France I observed every day the sky just after sunset. I missed only one day due to rain.

The sky and the trees were sketched with a set of 12 soft pastels. The farm was sketched with pastel pencils. The original drawings are all A4-format. I waited the sun to set behind the trees and started sketching as fast as I could. After 30 minutes I stopped because the sky changes very fast.

I had great difficulty in sketching the trees. The dark green pastel was to light, the black and brown to dark… The second week the result is much better than the first week.

Clear skies
Jef De Wit

Location: Ronnet, France (46°12’ N 2°42’ E)
Date and time: 4-16 august 2012 around 19.00 UT
Equipment: naked eye
Medium: soft pastel and pastel pencils on art paper (A4)

Vallis Schröteri

Object name: vallisschröteri
Object type: Lunar Crater
Location: Amsterdam
Date: 8-5-2012
Media: Pastel on black paper

During a very gray period the last weeks, and with no chance to use the telescope, I decided to enhance my sketching skills by sketching some moon craters based on pictures made by others. This one is a sketch of the vallisschröteri area. Made with pastel pencil on black paper.

Clear skies and kind regards

Matthijs Broggel