Please find attached a sketch of the lunar crater Plato and its environs….I used soft graphite pencils to do the sketch on cartridge paper. The colours were then inverted on the computer. This sketch is based on a number of observations I have made of Plato in the last year. I use a Meade LX90 GPS telescope. It has an aperture of 203mm. Plato is one of my favourite regions on the Moon as I love how the crater is filled with deep shadows when the sun is at a low angle.
My name: Kiran
Object Name: Plato
Object Type: Lunar Crater
Location: South East United Kingdom
Date of Sketch: 14th June 2015
Media: Graphite Pencils
Equipment: LX90 GPS (8 inch aperture)
Crater Davy (35 km.) and the Davy crater chain (catena) were my targets for this evening of sketching and although the seeing and transparency were predicted to be above average that was not the case.
The Davy crater chain is 45-50 km. in extent. It arcs across the floor and eastern rim of crater Davy Y (70 km.). Since it does not line up with any impacts of note it is not likely a sequence of secondary craters. There is also no evidence of volcanic activity associated with this chain. Robert Wichman and Charles A. Wood as well as H. J. Melosh and E. A. Whitaker believe that a comet (or asteroid) may be responsible as it broke up while inside the Earth’s roche limit. As it went in on the moon like a train of meteors it would have created a chain of impacts. A paper published in 1994 by Melosh and Whitaker explains the hypothesis.
Crater Chains on the Moon: Records of Comets Split by the Earth’s Tides?; H. J. Melosh and E. A. Whitaker, Lunar and Planetary Lab, University of Arizona, Tucson, Az.
Sketching:
Black Artagain paper, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils, white Pearl eraser, blending stumps
Telescope 13.1” f/6 Dobsonian telescope on an equatorial drive platform at 332x with 6mm eyepiece
Hi folks, this is a sketch of the moon crater Posidonius.
It’s a nice crater 100km diam. at the East border of Mare Derenitatis, beside Lacus Somniorum. To the West, the light line is Dorsa Sirnov.
Adjacent to Posidonius is crater Chacornac ( 54km Diam.) and on the other side, Danelli ( 28 km diam).
Posidonius is somehow like Gassendi , ( Gerald North: Observing the Moon)
Posidonius es un bonito cráter de 100 km de diámetro en el límite Este del Mare Serenitatis junto al Lacus Somniorum.
Junto a él, el cráter Chacornac ( 50,4km de diámetro) y al otro lado, el cráter Danielli ( 28 km diámetro).
Al oeste , la Dorsa Smirnov que es esa línea clara justo en el Terminador.
El cráter Posidonius tiene un aire familiar que recuerda a Gassendi, tanto en tamaño como en fisonomía ( Gerald North: Observing the Moon)
Object Name: Sinus Iridum
Object Type: Moon zone
Location: Bolaños de Calatrava, Spain
Date: 30-03-2015
Media: graphite pencil, white paper
Telescope: SkyWatcher Evostar 90/900
Eyepiece: SkyWatcher UWA 7mm
Seeing: 3
Hi, this was my second drawing of the moon. It took me a long time to finish it but I couldn’t resist to draw the most beautiful part of our satellite in my opinion.
I submit my most recent lunar sketch of Sirsalis & Damoiseau Craters at the western limb of the moon. What a wonderful area to explore with interesting concentric craters of Damoiseau & the double crater of Sirsalis at this angle of light. Unseen Grimaldi is in the darkness to the west.
Object: Lunar craters Sirsalis & Damoiseau @ ~13 days lunation
Telescope: 12.5” Portaball 9mm Nagler 169X
Location: Maui Hawaii, 4000 ft elevation
Date: 2/4/12 7:45pm
Medium: Black art paper, white & black charcoal
Hello Artist of the nightsky! How are you? i come after long time and many problems,in my family and out….
But i not stopped my asketch activity.
I follow yours splendid works always……
i return to asod with my last Moon sketch made with my old Refractor Kenko 80/1000.
The sky was clear and i take my telescope and placed it on my roof in front my home.
The image was perfect,still and my eies was concentrated to tryade of craters: Theophilus ,Cyrillus and Catharina.
I see many shadow and particulars of surface……incredible show!!
I hope like you!
Ciao! Giorgio.
Site: Pergola,Marche,Center Italy.
Date: 24-25 April 2015
Moon phase: Crescent (6,9 days)
Instrument: Refractor Kenko 80/1000
eyepiece: 15mm + Barlow
Magnification: 133x
Seeing:Perfect,not at the end cause Moon very low
Temperature: Little cold,not wind.
Media: Graphite pencil on white paper Fabriano for sketches
Apollo 15 Landing Site
Last evening proved to be a fine night for observing the Moon and the planets. The atmosphere at sunset settled down to a Pickering 8/10 and 9/10 for brief intervals. This was predicted so I had two telescopes outside (my 18 inch f/4.9 and 13.1 inch f/6 both Dobsonians). At 373x using the 18 inch scope I could clearly see the floor of Palus Putredinis (The Marsh of Decay) and not far away Rima Hadley at the foot of Montes Apenninus. I spent a 3 hour interval on this sketch but actual sketching time was more like 2 hours. The sketch was done using the smaller scope because it is driven. 4 mm and 6 mm eyepieces gave me magnifications of 499x and 333x and occasionally I used the 18 inch scope to verify some of the meanders of Hadley rille and other small features. I have marked the landing site (red dot) of Apollo 15 Lunar Landing Module which occurred the summer of 1971, a very exciting time for the US space program.
Craters visible in this sketch include Hadley C 6 km. in diameter and Aratus (10 km.).
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: Gray sketching paper, 9”x 11”, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and blending stumps.
Telescopes: 13.1 inch f/ 6 Dobsonian and 18 inch F/4.9, eyepieces : 4mm, 6mm
Date: April 29, 2015 01:00-04:00 UT
Temperature: 4.4°C (40°F)
Clear, calm
Seeing: Pickering 8.5
Transparency: 4/5
Co longitude: 29.9°
Lunation: 10 days
Illumination: 75.9 %
Frank McCabe
yesterday evening just before the altocumulus clouds of the approaching depression covered the sky, I could do another sketch of the moon: This time it was crater Posidonius and its surroundings.
Ah, by the way, this time I tried a new pen: For the bright areas (e. g. the western rims of Posidonius A and J), I took a whitecoal pen instead of chalk pen. That provided much brighter contrast.
Another novelty for me: I didn’t use a diagonal but an Amici prism, so that the view in the eyepiece wasn’t mirrored at all. The view was a bit less bright, but for the moon it’s still bright enough.
Object Name: Posidonius
Object Type: Lunar Crater
Location: Germany, Dusseldorf area
Date: 2015-04-24, 2130-2205 CEST
Media: chalk pastel pencil, whitecoal pencil and charcoal pencil on black sketching cardbox
Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT
Eyepiece: TS HR Planetary 7mm
