Category: maria

Aristarchus, Prinz and the Harbinger Mtns.

Aristarchus, Prinz and the Harbinger Mountains-June 20, 2013
Aristarchus, Prinz and the Harbinger Mountains Region-June 20, 2013

The kilometer high rim of Prinz (47 km.) crater was casting a shadow across its own lava flooded floor. The uplifted Harbinger mountains were also casting fine shadows in this region of the lunar surface with its large magma ponds pushing up and freezing in the distant past. The uplifting doming in the region created many fissures for lava escape and flooding to occur. The fissures can be seen clearly on nights of steading seeing. I was denied that detailed view on this night. From the crater Krieger (22 km.) north and somewhat east of Aristarchus (40 km.) four distinct long shadows could be seen crossing to the 70 km. fault called Toscanelli at the edge of the Aristarchus plateau where the terminator was located during the rendering of this sketch.
A fine view in any telescope.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Canson paper, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils and blending stumps, white Pearl eraser
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 9 mm eyepiece 161x
Date: 06-20-2013, 02:40 – 04:10 UT
Temperature: 19° C (68° F)
Partly cloudy, hazy
Seeing: Antoniadi IV (poor)
Frank McCabe

14.16-day-old Moon

Gibbous Moon - February 14, 2014
Gibbous Moon – February 14, 2014

I’ve been doing a study on lunar phases and this is my latest sketch. This is a photo of it from last night after wrapping up my observing session. No adjustments have been made to the sketch other than cropping the lower blank portion of the paper.

My phase sketches used to take close to two hours to complete at the eyepiece. I’ve been building up my endurance to 3-4 hours for a single sketch to include more detail. Obviously, the terminator is drawn first to “freeze” the time stamp on the phase. Then I work my way across the disk at a more leisurely pace, moving my observing chair and stool gradually as the session progresses.

I used a 102mm f/9.8 refractor on an LXD75 mount, 20mm eyepiece setting on my Hyperion zoom, and a 13% T Moon filter to help with contrast. The media is black Strathmore Artagain paper (60 lb., 160 g/m2), white charcoal pencil, black charcoal pencil, white Conte’ crayon, white Conte’ pastel pencil, black Conte’ color pencil,and a blending stump for the maria. I used a circular 6-inch protractor to outline the lunar disk.

Total eyepiece/sketch time is just over four hours on this one.

Best regards,
Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com
Texas, USA

Four Day Old Waning Lunar Crescent

Crescent Moon - February 3, 2014
Crescent Moon – February 3, 2014

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

Frank McCabe

Moon in Acrylic and Ink

Moon in Acrylic and Ink
Moon in Acrylic and Ink

Object Name (Moon)
Object Type (Satellite)
Location (Gołkowice,Silesia/Poland)
Date (5 ‎grudnia ‎2012)
Media (White/black acrylic/black ink/)

Add info:
The painting was made when i bought my first telescope (70/900 skylux) and i was very delighted with the beauty of the moon. So I study it for couple of nights, and with a bit of help of moon photos from the internet and map with the moon i painted two moon’s. This is the first one. And it took me two weeks to complete it fully.
size”120x80cm

best regards Przemo

Waxing Gibbous Moon - November 21, 2013
Waxing Gibbous Moon – November 21, 2013

Location: San Salvador, El Salvador; 89° 13′ W 13°43′ N
Date: November 21st 2013
Media: Adobe Ideas application for iOS on IPhone.

Transparency was not so good. Very much light polluted area. I was impressed with the craters I could see with my 10×50 binoculars, mounted on a tripod. My first digital sketch, this is.

First Quarter Moon

First Quarter Moon
First Quarter Moon

Object Name: First Quarter Moon
Object Type: abstract interpretive sketch of prominent lunar features
Location: Oberlin, Ohio
Date: August-September 2013
Media: Sharpie, ball-point pen, and colored pencil on white paper

As this is the latest addition to my series of abstract astronomy-themed drawings (see more here: http://preshuss1.deviantart.com/gallery/45423007), I used a bit of artistic license in interpreting the lunar features that are shown. Still, I did my best to reference the moon’s actual geography.

The Sea of Rains is the central focus. Framing the craters Archimedes, Aristillus, Autolycus, and Cassini, this ancient volcanic plain is edged from south to north by the Appenine and Caucasus mountains, and capped by the “Alpine Valley.” The northern Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold) bleeds around the crater Aristotle and into the lakes of Death and Dreams, finally bringing the eye to rest on a Sea of Serenity at lower right. Yes…it’s easy to get carried away by such tantalizing names! Exploring the lunar surface can feel like wandering through a poem…

Plato, Archimedes and Environs

Plato, Archimedes and Environs
Plato, Archimedes and Environs

Plato and Archimedes craters
Lunar craters
Eastbourne, UK
28th Aug 2013, 01:15 – 03:15 UT. Temperature 12C
Meade LX90 8″ Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with 26mm super Plossl eyepiece, 77x
White and black pastel on Daler Rowney Canford black paper

As a little summer holiday project I made a pledge to myself to sketch lunar craters at every opportunity, casually assuming that the usual poor British summer weather would make this an easy commitment to keep. However, I have been kept busy over the last couple of weeks!

I have been inspired by the quality of the sketches on your website and as you can see I am still some way off those standards; however, I am pleased to see (I think) some improvement in my efforts. I sketched this at the eyepiece using the pastels and just my finger as a blending tool.

Yours faithfully,

Oli Froom

Lunar Terminator – August 25, 2012

Lunar Terminator - August 25, 2012
Lunar Terminator – August 25, 2012

Hi,

I send my sketch of the Moon. The sketch was made on Aug. 25, 2012, by means of white watercolor and dry pastel. That night the moon was 8 days after the new moon. He was low on the horizon but still was strong in my telescope. This is my first picture of the moon.
GREETS

Date: 25th August 2012
Location: Pasry in Poland
Telescope: Newton 8 ”
Media: white watercolor and dry pastel, black paper