Category: White Conté on Black Paper

Thirty Three Million Year Old light

Galaxy NGC 1023 in Perseus

This is a bright galaxy in the constellation of Perseus that can be seen in a 4.25 inch scope under good sky conditions. NGC 1023 is morphologically classified as a SBO lenticular barred galaxy. It looks much like an armless spiral galaxy in large telescope images. At 33 million light years away it is surprisingly bright at 9.5-10.2 visual magnitude and has a bright nuclear core. The bar was not detectable. A faint companion NGC 1023A is superimposed on its eastern side but also not detectable visually in a 10″ scope. This is a pretty good target from light polluted skies if you are looking for galaxies with a modest instrument on a moonless night.

Sketching:
NGC 1023
Date and Time: 11-2-2010, 10:30pm – 11:15pm local time
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian. 12 mm eyepiece 121x
8″x 12″ black sketching paper, white Conte’ pastel pencil,
blending stump, printer scanned
Seeing: Pickering 6/10
Transparency: Average 4/5
Faintest stars visible overhead 4.2
Temperature: 3°C (38°F) calm
Galaxy magnitude: 9.5- 10.2
Distance: 33 million light years
Location Constellation: Pegasus
R.A. 2h 40m 24s; Dec +39° 04′

Frank McCabe

Mare Crisium: One Day Past Full Moon

Mare Crisium: One Day Past Full Moon

I made a decision on Saturday evening I was going to try and complete a lunar sketch of Mare Crisium even though the chances of success were poor. I was forced to stop 3 times by dense clouds and a little rain but three and half hours after beginning, something of the view ended up on the paper.
Mare Crisium is that interesting isolated sea on the northeastern side of the visible lunar surface.
The robotic Luna 24 took soil and rock samples from this sea floor and returned them to the U.S.S.R. back in 1976.
The Nectarian Period event that formed this feature occurred more than 3.8 billion years ago as an asteroid –type body slammed into the moon from the west. The mare portion of the basin is about 500 kilometers across and segments of the low ridges of the inner basin ring (375 km.) were visible in the grazing sunlight on the eastern floor. These features are Dorsum Tetyaev and to the south Dorsum Harker just beyond the massifs of Cape Agarum. On the western floor crater Picard (24 km.) and Peirce (19 km.) were also noted.
Beyond the sea to the West crater Proclus (28 km.) with its remarkable bright rays was reflecting much sunlight and large crater Cleomedes (126 km.) to the north was showing off its central peak.
I hope to have another go at this region of the moon in the near future under better conditions.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Canson paper 9″x 12″, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic eraser. Brightness was decreased -2 and contrast increased +2 using the scanner for this sketch
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian with 6mm (241x) and 8mm (181x ) eyepieces
Date: 10-24-2010 2:05-5:30 UT
Temperature: 16°C (60°F)
Weather: mostly cloudy, some rain, windy
Seeing: Antoniadi IV
Co longitude: 107°
Lunation: 16.4 days
Illumination: 98.7%

Oak Forest, Illinois

Frank McCabe

Waning Moon High in the East

Waning Moon High in the East

On the night of September 27-28, 2010, I witnessed the rising gibbous moon paired with the Pleiades near the northeastern horizon. By placing my thumb over the moon the seven sisters were clearly visible further to the north. Together they began their march across the sky after 9pm local time.
After I finished some indoor chores I returned to the telescope and set up to do some sketching.
Initially I considered sketching both of them together but soon changed my mind to go after just the moon. I spend about two hours recording as much as I could see before fatigue began forcing me to erase with greater frequency. This is my lunar sketching result.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used black sketching paper 9″ x 12″, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils, blending stumps, a gum eraser and brush. Brightness was slightly increased (+1) using the scanner

Scope 4.25″ f/5 Newtonian scope at 45x

Date: 9-28-2010, 1:00-3:00 local time
Temperature: 14° C (58° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 151.6 °
Lunation: 20 days
Illumination: 78.3% Waning Gibbous

Frank McCabe

Waning Crescent Moon in Early Twilight

Waning Crescent Moon in Early Twilight

I was up early on this morning getting a look at some of the winter stars and witnessed a beautiful 25 day old waning moon. The earthshine was poor but after a look through a small Newtonian scope I decided to make a quick 40 minute sketch. It was a fine view.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used black construction paper 9″ x 12″, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils, blending stumps, a gum eraser and brush. Brightness was slightly increased (+1) using the scanner

Scope 2.5” f/10 Newtonian scope at 25x

Date: 9-4-2010, 10:00-10:40 UT
Temperature: 16° C (60° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 220.2 °
Lunation: 25.3 days
Illumination: 22.1% Waning Crescent

Frank McCabe

Before the Nectaris Basin, There Was Rosenberger and Vlacq

This sketch was made on an exceptionally steady night of seeing and centers on two old craters in the highlands of the southeastern quadrant near the approaching sunset terminator. At times of higher sun the dominating feature here is a uniform scattering of similar looking 30-50 km. craters that dot this highland plain. It is something of a nightmare to identify small impactors in this local. This region looks and is ancient. Here you will find two large sketching targets side by side, the craters Rosenberger (96km.) and Vlacq (89 km.).
Both of these craters pre-date the impact that formed the Nectaris basin some 3.9 billion years ago. As obviously ancient as these craters appear at high sun with the worn out rims, lack of large central peaks, lack of ejecta blanket rays, etc. At a low sun angle this pair takes on a more youthful appearance. The sharp shadows hide some tell tale signs of age. The smaller of the two, namely Vlacq is noticeably more youthful, with its larger, central, double massif, lower floor crater count and slight bulge inward onto Rosenberger.
It was a pleasure under near perfect weather conditions to observe and sketch this pair again at the eyepiece after 3 years hiatus.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 9”x 12”, white and black Conte’pastel pencils and blending stumps, gum eraser, brush. Brightness was slightly decreased with the scanner.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 241 x
Date: 8-28-2010, 6:30-8:20 UT
Temperature: 22° C (72° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi II
Colongitude: 133.2 °
Lunation: 18.1 days
Illumination: 88.8% Waning Gibbous

Frank McCabe

Maurolycus Revisited

Maurolycus Revisited

This is a notable crater in the southern highlands as the terminator approaches. On this twentieth day of lunation the setting sun shadow could be seen crawling across the crater floor to the east. The large size (115 km.), central peaks on a flat floor and high terraced walls identify this ancient crater (Nectarian period) as a walled plain impact. The east wall rises steeply above the floor 4.2 kilometers. Part of a previous large crater juts out from under Maurolycus to the south (on top in the sketch). Central peaks casting shadows were seen north of the center point on the crater floor. The floor is mostly flat and smooth with a few visible craters. Among the many similar craters in the southern highlands this is a crater that truly stands out.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper 9”x6” (half sheet), white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. After scanning, Brightness was decreased (-4) and contrast increased (+4) using the scanner.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 241 x
Date: 7-2-2010, 8:30-9:00 UT
Temperature: 16° C (60° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 157.7 °
Lunation: 20 days
Illumination: 71 %

Frank McCabe

Edge of the Schiller-Zucchius Basin

Edge of the Schiller-Zucchius Basin

With no specific sketching target in mind, I was examining the south terminator region of the moon and noticed it was showing what is considered to be an unfavorable view because it was turned away from the observer. There was a poorly defined part of a scarp-like ring partially visible under craters Rost A, Weigel and Weigel B. This ring is just beyond the Schiller-Zucchius basin center which was not yet illuminated by sunlight. The southeastern portion of this ring illuminated by the rising sun presented a half dark, half illuminated pathway that ended at the terminator. I found this view at the eyepiece quite fascinating and had some difficulty capturing it correctly. The “unfavorable” libration of this part of the moon near the terminator contributed to the shallow angle view. Even the appearance of famous, elongated, paramecium shaped crater Schiller was unusual. These are the kinds of surprises that get me motivated to sketch the moon.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: Black Canson sketching paper, 14”x 9”, White and black Conte’ pencils, a blending stump, plastic eraser. After scanning, contrast and brightness were adjusted slightly using the scanner.



Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 9mm eyepiece 161x

Date: 6-23-2010, 1:45 – 2:30 UT 

Temperature: 27° C (80° F) 
clear, calm

Seeing: Antoniadi III 

Co-longitude: 44.3°

Lunation: 10.6 days 
Illumination: 88.2 %
Observing Location: +41°37′ +87° 47′

Frank McCabe

Beautiful Bullialdus

Bullialdus Crater

Eratosthenian period crater Bullialdus (63 km.) was just a few hours past full rim illumination and was not yet taking light on its central peaks but the western terraced wall was well illuminated by morning sunlight. The darkness over the floor of this caldera gives a sense of greater depth than the true drop of 3.5 kilometers.At the time of this observation ridges and furrows were clearly seen on the craters outer ramparts. Also included in this sketch are craters Bullialdus A and B at 10 o’clock and Konig at 12 o’clock. South is up in the sketch and East is to the right.

Sketching

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 241 x
Date: 7-21-2010, 1:00-2:30 UT
Temperature: 22° C (72° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 26.3 °
Lunation: 9.25 days
Illumination: 77.1%

Frank McCabe

Timocharis

2010 06 21, 0300 UT
Timocharis
PCW Memorial Observatory, OH, USA
Erika Rix
Zhumell 16”, 8mm TV Plossl, 225 x

Phase: 64.8
Lunation: 8.66. d
Illumination: 71.3%
Lib. Lat: 7°30’
Lib. Long: 4°47’
Az: 215°14’, Alt: 27°21’

This complex crater has a crushed central relief and the area was
completely enveloped with shadow. I could make out some of the western
terraced walls within the crater. Heinrich (9.5 km), B (5 km) and C (4
km), were very clear as well as a small portion of the wrinkle ridge to
the southeast. Timocharis was formed ~ 3.2 to 1.1 billion years ago
during the Erathosthenian period. Height is estimated to be 3110 meters.
Faint small rays can be spotted with decent seeing conditions.

Sketched scopeside on black Strathmore Artagain paper, charcoal, black
wax pencil, white Conte’ crayon and pencils.

Erika Rix