An unusually clear winter day here in Chicagoland with high clouds racing towards us in front of our next round of snow. As twilight began the Moon remained at a good altitude for sketching as long as I worked quickly. During this sketch earthshine became exceptional but high thin clouds began to erase the fine view and heavy clouds ended the sketch before I finished.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used black sketching paper (12” x 14”), white and black Conte’ pastel pencils, blending stumps, white Pearl eraser.
Telescope 4.25”f/5 Dobsonian riding on an equatorial platform, 21mm wide field eyepiece 26x
Date and Time: 02-03-2014; 17:30 – 18:25 local time
Seeing: mostly Antoniadi III
Transparency: clear to overcast
Temperature: -6.7 °C (20°F)
Colongitude: 315.8°
Lunation: 3.85 days
Illumination: 20%
Favorable longitudinal libration
This evening presented the rare, clear sky that we always look forward to enjoying. Early on some deep sky treasures presented themselves at the eyepiece but before long the Moon was up and deep sky targets became washed out. Now my attention and telescope turned toward old luna with the Moon just past full by 2.5 days. My eye ran along the terminator and the famous “four in a row” which rest upon the 61° E longitude line. All four were standing at the edge. I skipped over craters Furnerius and Petavius this time and went north to Vendelinus (147 km.) and Langrenus (133 km.) as they were the easier two sketching targets. As I sketched the younger crater Langrenus, all that was visible from the floor were the tips of the two tallest central peaks pushing up to catch the last of the sunlight. North and west of Langrenus on the eastern edge of Mare Fecunditatis, the trio of Atwood (30 km.), Naonobu (35 km.) and Bilharz (43 km.) were easily seen and parts of the ray system extending from Langrenus was detectable even at this time of low illumination. To the south and straddled by Lohse (41 km.) and Holden (48 km.), Vendelinus was showing its best look for an old shattered crater. Parts of the shallow floor were illuminated by grazing light and presenting a fine view.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 8”x 10”, white and black Conte’pastel pencils, white pearl eraser and blending stumps.
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 241x
Date: 07-25-2013 04:15-06:00 UT
Temperature: 20°C (68°F)
Clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 115.0°
Lunation: 16.7 days
Illumination: 93.0 %
Phase: 329.4°
Frank McCabe
2012 05 07, 1315 UT – 1500 UT.
NOAA 11476, 11474, 11475, 11471.
PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas – Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com
Temp: 26.72°C, winds SE 4mph, partly cloudy to scattered.
Seeing: Wilson 4.5, Transparency: 4/6, 50x, Alt: 30.2, Az: 087.2.
Maxscope DS 60mm H-alpha, LXD75, Baader Planetarium Hyperion 8-24mm Mark III.
Sketches created at the eyepiece with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang color pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.
I’ve really been enjoying the current set of active regions the past few days. It would be nice to sketch each individual active region as a close up view, but to do that would take several hours. As it was today, I struggled with a group of thick clouds for the first hour of my session. The sky was crystal clear when I set up and I chose to ignore the weather channel for my area stating that we could have thunderstorms at 8 a.m. Thankfully the storms never came…the clouds did. I was able to catch glimpses of the Sun in between the clouds and by 8:45 a.m., the sky was nearly unobstructed.
The first features added to the sketch after the prominences were plage from 1476 and 1471. Next came the sunspots themselves and filamentary structure. By 9:10 a.m. (1410 UT), very bright plage appeared just north of the sunspots in 1471. I haven’t been able to confirm yet if it was a solar flare, having expected possible flare activity in 1476 instead. But it lasted nearly an hour before it dulled somewhat. Near the end of my session, 1471’s plage brightened quite a bit to the eastern side of the major sunspot in that region as well as about five more degrees further east again.
1474 and 1475 paled in comparison to the two major active regions. There were nice filaments and thin plage that made them easy to find.
The large chain of filament reaching to the southern limb was still there, although thinner. Prominences scattered around the limb were insignificant.
This sketch is centered on the large walled plain crater Albategnius (135 km.). The well illuminated inner and outer rim margins appeared very rugged in contrast to the smooth floor interrupted by the off center mountain casting a large shadow. A sizable portion of the western wall was destroyed by crater Klein (45 km.). Klein also has a central peak which was overtaken by shadow during this observing session. Also visible in the sketch on the eastern side of Albategnius are craters Ritchey (25 km.), Hind (30 km.) and close by Halley (36 km.)
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 8”x 12”, white and black Conte’pastel pencils, flat white paint, pink pearl eraser and blending stumps.
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 241x
Date: 09-26-2013 00:30 – 02:00 UT
Temperature: 15°C (60°F)
Clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 165.3°
Lunation: 20.55 days
Illumination: 60.7 %
Phase: 282.3°
Object : M42 (West of Trapezium)
Object Type: Emission Nebula
Location: Kenton, OK (Okie-Tex Star Party)
Date: 10 October 2013, 0300 MDT
Media: Black paper, conte crayon, pencil and pen
Note: I liked the way the 17mm eyepiece framed this portion of the nebula. It looked, to me, like a wreath.
Craters Stofler and Faraday Move cursor over image to view labels.
There are some very fine craters to be found in the lunar highlands among the look-alike craters there. Two that I have included in this sketch are craters Stofler (125 km.) and Faraday (70 km.). Many of the craters in the region have large smooth regions on their floors. The remains of the eastern wall of Stofler form a rampart between older Stofler and Faraday and can be seen near Stofler’s center. The Faraday impact moved the east wall like an enormous excavator. On the south rim of Faraday sit two more overlapping craters, Stofler P (33 km.) and Faraday C (30 km.). That makes 4 fairly large overlapping craters in a small lunar region and many, many more small ones beyond resolution.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 6”x 11”, white and black Conte’pastel pencils, white pearl eraser and blending stumps.
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 241x
Date: 08-13-2013 00:10 – 01:50 UT
Temperature: 15°C (60°F)
Clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 356.1°
Lunation: 6.9 days
Illumination: 43.3 %
Phase: 97.7°
Frank McCabe
PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas – Erika Rix www.pcwobservatory.com
Temp: 17.2°-27.8C, calm-N 5mph, clear.
Seeing: Wilson 4.8-4.6, Transparency: 5/6, 50x.
Maxscope DS 60mm H-alpha, LXD75, Baader Planetarium Hyperion 8-24mm Mark III.
Sketches created at the eyepiece with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang color pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.
As of this morning, there were 8 active regions on the Sun. Plage and filaments scattered over three quarters of the solar disk with sunspots popping in and out of view crisply as it moved in and out of the scope’s sweet spot. A large diffuse quiet region filament, similar to the one observed on May 6, 2012, was to the SE quadrant reaching out over the limb. Two large bright prominences were located at PA 70 and 115 with several smaller ones scattered around the limb. The prom at 70 degrees had very faint wisps of structure reaching between the three brightest regions.
I had started to draw the full solar disk when a faint pair of prominences to the NW caught my eye. I had accidentally kicked the adaptor that was plugged into my power pack and the mount turned off, allowing the disk to drift across my field of view. When this happened, a huge billow of plasma floated above the limb. It was attached by very slender lines of plasma to the thick fainter prom at the 315 degrees position angle. It had the appearance of a large balloon being blown to the south while tethered to the ground. Tossing my larger sketchpad to the side, I grabbed the smaller pad and quickly sketched this prom. As the course this morning’s observation went on, the billowed top of the prominence changed quite dramatically. I almost expected it to either break free or collapse on itself before my session ended but by the time I completed the full disk sketch, it was still there.
The prominences near 1476 were dense and compact. The plage was very brightly formed as several slender lines within that active region. The main sunspot in 1476 was very easy to spot in h-alpha although the ARFs were very thin and few.
1479 is reminiscent of 1476 several days ago, although the preceding spot standing alone is on the opposite end. Of course, another difference that the sunspots in 1479 are smaller. They may develop more as the days go on. Here’s hoping for beautiful weather so we can keep an eye on it.
Solar Prominence – May 16, 2012, 1345 UT – 70° PAH-Alpha Sun – May 16, 2012, 1550 UT
Crater Cichus (41 km.) sits on the remains of the high rim of Mare Nubium in one of the few places where the edge of this mare is clearly visible. Resting high on the rim of Cichus is small crater Cichus C (11 km.). This region is a very interesting piece of lunar real estate which includes craters young, old, concentric ringed, buried ghosts, grabens like the one in this sketch to the north called Rima Hesiodus and domes like Kies Pi just beyond the sketch area. To the west of crater Cichus is a portion of Palus Epidemiarum.
The seeing was slightly less than average but you could wait for intervals of better seeing which arrived now and again.
A fun observation and relaxing sketch with mosquito repellent applied.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 9”x 12”, white and black Conte’pastel pencils, white pearl eraser and blending stumps.
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 241x
Date: 07-18-2013 02:05-03:50 UT
Temperature: 31°C (88°F)
Hazy, calm, humid
Seeing: mostly Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 27.3°
Lunation: 9.5 days
Illumination: 67.8 %
Frank McCabe
DS Maxscope 60mm h-alpha, LXD75, Baader Planetarium Hyperion 8-24mm Mark III
Temp: 86 F (30 C), winds SE 5 mph, lightly scattered, 37% H
Seeing: Wilson 4.7-4, Transparency: 4/6, 50x, Alt: 72.7, Az: 175.3
Sketch created at the eyepiece with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ pencil and crayon, and white color pencil.
NOAA 11543 had very bright plage. The sunspots within it weren’t quite as pronounced as the other day. There was a very large filament going east to west in the SE quadrant of the solar disk. More plage located to the SW and the E-NE quadrants.
The brightest, largest prominence that I spotted was located on the NW limb and resembled two dancers joined by their outreached hands with their other hands stretched out behind them. More prominences were scattered about the limb, but to the SW, a very short, bright set of prominences were apparent.
