Planetary – Page 11 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Mars – January 7, 2012

2012 01 07 – Mars
PCW Memorial Observatory, OH – Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com
16” Zhumell, f/4.5, non-tracking Dobsonian mount
12mm WA Burgess, 2x Barlow, 300x magnification
Filters: Mars, 82A blue, 21 orange
5.6 C, 64% H, S: Pickering 4-5, T: 3/6
CM: 159.8°, Ls: 54°, Phase: 0.92, V. Mag: 0.1
RA: 11h 32m, Dec: 6° 18′ 51″

This was my most recent Mars observation from a few weeks ago. With only one or two clear nights since then, the timing was such that it prevented me from being able to crack open the observatory.

The early morning of the 7th, I had ample time to let the mirrors cool down on the telescope and collimated before dark. It was a little windy but had calmed down by 3am. Still, seeing wasn’t the best. I cold make out the NPC straight away and it appeared tucked in on the western and eastern edges more so than my observation the week prior. There was a definite dark streak above the NPC in my view and a few more darkened patches scattered around the disk. Very slight limb brightening on both the preceding (just prior to the terminator toward either pole) and following limbs.

I had to nudge the scope time and time again to let Mars slowly drift through my FOV before slight variances in albedo became apparent. It was nearly impossible for me to match them up with labeling programs such as Mars Previewer II or my Mars Globe app on my iPad because the two views on those programs were a little off from each other even though I checked the date, time and location several times. In the end, I went with Mars Previewer II since I’ve been using that program the longest.

I’m very much looking forward to more opportunities with Mars as it reaches opposition. If only my primary mirror was clean…sigh.

The sketch was created using charcoal on card stock, charcoal pencils, willow charcoal, vinyl eraser pencil and kneaded rubber eraser.

Daytime Crescent of Venus

Venus - November 30, 2013 — Venus – November 30, 2013

Object: Venus
Type: Planet
Location: San Salvador, El Salvador 89° 13′ W 13°43′ N
Date: November 30th 2013
Media: Adobe Ideas for iOS on iPhone

I decided to look up Venus while there was daylight, as I hoped that the atmosphere would act as a filter for the constant glare I’d always observed when I pointed my binoculars to Venus. It was as I expected! Venus showed its current phase clearly, albeit in a minute form: I even think the FOV in my sketch is exaggerated a little bit. The inset image shows a “close-up” about how I distinguished the planet’s image; I tried to represent the glare Venus’s brightness created on my optics.

Jupiter – November 25, 2013

Hello,

Jupiter-Season starts…
for me at 25.11.2013.
The conditions were fantastic. I watched with my TMB 115/805 and saw many beautiful details on the big gas-planet.
I enjoyed the time at the eyepiece and tried to record all the clouds swirl. But it was not easy to put everything on the paper.
The clouds train after GRF impressed me very much. Nevertheless, I am very happy with the result and hope that it pleases you.

CS Uwe

Location: Near Tauberbischofsheim, Germany
Telescope: 115/805 TMB refractor
Eyepieces: Baader Genuine Ortho 6mm, 5mm Nagler, 4mm UWAN
Air: very quiet
Transparency: very good
Temperature: – 5 ° C cold north-east wind

Comet ISON: Incoming

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) - October-November, 2013 — Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) – October-November, 2013

Object Name: Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)
Object Type: Sun-grazing Comet
Location: Near Grant, AL, USA
Dates: October 8 & 26, November 2 & 11, Before Sunrise
Media: Graphite Pencil on Strathmore Tracing Paper
Equipment: 20″ F/5 Newtonian with 13mm Ethos, 35mm Plossl (Russell Optics), 35mm Deep View (Orion), “Red Light Box” software, i-Pad (for backlighting the tracing paper).
Weather: Excellent Transparency and Seeing on all dates.

These four sketches show the evolution of Comet ISON over time during October-November 2013. At first, the comet was barely visible. No nucleus or dust tail could be discerned, but over time they became apparent. Each drawing is a stack of individual black and white sketches using the indicated filters. They were edited and stacked using Photofiltre and Canvas software.

–James M.

C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) – December 4, 2013

Hi Asod! Last night I woke up at 5.00am to observe Comet Lovejoy. I couldn’t see it with naked eye (I think because I observed from city), but it was very bright! I observed it at 90x and 42x and this was the best magnification; nucleus was very compact and more bright than tail. It’s the first comet I’ve ever seen, just wonderful!

Object Name: C/2013 R1 Lovejoy
Object Type: Comet
Location: Copertino (LE), Italy
Date: 4/12/2013
Media: Pencil on White Paper; inverted by Computer

Meeting with a Green Comet

C2013/R1 (Lovejoy) - December 2, 2013 — C2013/R1 (Lovejoy) – December 2, 2013

Hi,

In attachment you can find sketch of comet C2013/R1 Lovejoy

Short description:

Object Name C2013/R1 Lovejoy
Object Type comet
Location Budy Dłutowskie – small village in central Poland
Date 02.12.2013
Media graphite pencil, white paper, color invert
Telescope Sky Watcher refractor 120/600 + Meade 8,8mm + Lumicon Swan Band
Seeing 2/5 (good)
Transparency 2/5 (good)
NELM 5,4 mag

We don’t have so many good weather in Poland last weeks. So when I realised that night from 2nd to 3rd of December will be good I decided to wake up early morning to observe comet C2013/R1 Lovejoy. And it was really good observation night. Comet looks great. It is visible even with naked eye. When you use binocular, you can observe really condensed core with delicate tail. With “stronger” telescope you can see the green colour of the comet and bigger part of really long tail.

I used SW 120/600 refracotr with special comet filter Lumicon Swan Band mounted on Meade UWA 8,8mm eyepiece. It is really good filter designed to see details in gasous comets even in weak sky conditions. When you use this filter sky background is really dark and comet shine stongly with high contrast. It is also possible to see delicate structures inside the tail (close to head).

If you dudn’t see this comet, you must try it. It is really worth to observe.

Clear Sky
Łukasz

C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) – December 3, 2013

Hello sketchers,

Object Name (C/2013 R1 – Lovejoy)

Object Type (comet)
Location (Provence France)
Date (3/12/2013)
Media (watercolor on paper 65cm/25cm)

This very morning, early, from Néoules, a nice dark sky area, I made 5 sketches with :
a 80/400mm refractor (10x) for the large field and the long tail,
a Dobson 12”, 58x and 150x for the coma around the nucleus
and a 102/1000 refractor (25x and 100x) for the intermediate view.
I used miscellaneous EP from 40mm to 10mm Delos, sometime with UHC filter.
I made this watercolor today 3 December at home, the idea was to put together the different magnifications on a single view.
Oh yes, something funny, to sketch the tail, I used a light sand paper to take away the pigment from place to place; this sand feels like real comet dust : scale 1/1…

Clear sky to you all !

Michel Deconinck
http://astro.aquarellia.com/

Comète C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) – November 28, 2013

Bonjour,

Voici un dessin de la comète Lovejoy, réaliser avec un dobson de 345mm et un oculaire de 40mm (grossissement 37 fois).

Elle est sublime ! Le noyau très ponctuel et bien brillant. La queue est large et fait au moins 2° de long.

Le ciel était stable.

Fait à Fayssac dans le sud de la France le 28 novembre 2013 à 5h20 Local. Club d’astronomie APAM.

David Antao

French-English translation by Google Translate:

Hello,

Here is a drawing of comet Lovejoy, achieved with a dobson of 345mm and a 40mm eyepiece (magnification 37 times).

It is sublime! Very punctual and very bright nucleus. The tail is made wide and at least 2° long.

The sky was stable.

Fayssac made in the south of France November 28, 2013 at 5:20 Local. Astronomy Club APAM.

David Antao

C/2012 S1 (ISON) – November 20, 2013

Object Name : C/2012 S1 ISON
Object Type : comet
Location : Béziers, south-west France
Date : November 20 2013
Media : graphite pencil, white paper + PhotoPaint

Comments :
The moon was almost full, the sky was not dark enough, so the tail was shade off and fairly not visible.
Only a bright star could be seen in this area.
The turquoise colour of ISON comet was (R.I.P.) very nice, with a very bright dot as shown on the skectch.

Equipment : 300mm Telescope + 24mm Ultra Wide Angle eyepiece
Sketch was made with pencil on white paper while observing the comet on the road side before sunrise.
A bit of image processing was used to invert the image and give it some colour.

Jean-Marc SALIOU
A.P.A.M. astronomy
http://www.astrosurf.com/apam

Jupiter and Europa

On Friday evening after setting up to observe, I could see sky conditions would be better than average for this time of year( late fall).
When Jupiter climbed to more than 60 degrees above the horizon, I realized that this would be the night to make a first sketch of Jupiter for the season.
The GRS was redder than last season especially in its center and was well set apart from both the South Tropical Zone and South Equatorial Belt. Europa had just emerged from behind the North Tropical Zone on the following side of the planet. A couple of festoons could be clearly seen in the Equatorial Zone emerging from the North Equatorial Belt.
It was right at my tolerable cold temperature limit for sketching and I finished before needing to retreat indoors to warm up.
On a steady night of good seeing this is the time to give Jupiter a look.

Equipment Used: 13.1 inch f/6 Dobsonian running on an equatorial platform 6mm eyepiece (333x) and Baader Neodymium filter

Sketching: Assorted graphite pencils, medium hard charcoal pencils, erasers, blending stumps,
white copy paper
Seeing: Pickering 7/10
Transparency : Average 3/5
Temperature: 21°F (-6°C)
Jupiter: Visual mag. -2.6, Diameter 44.65 “, illumination 99.6%, distance from earth 4.4 au

Frank McCabe