Category: Planetary

C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)

Comet C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)
Comet C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)

Hi Asod, all my best wishes for 2013 and a lot of nice daily sketches !

Object Name (LINEAR C/2012 K5)
Object Type (Comet)
Location (Val d’Issole – Provence – France)
Date ( from Dec. 2012-22 to Jan. 2013-05)
Media (graphite pencil, white paper, Paint.net for inversion )

In 40 years, I have already seen approximately twenty comets, LINEAR remains modest, but for me, this is the prettiest small one I observed.

To make this sketch I watched more than 12 nights with 1 to 2 hours per night to see and draw it. At year-end 2012, we had to wait early in the morning, because of the position and to avoid moon light. After the new-year passage it was more comfortable, the comet was walking near the zenith.

I evaluated the best magnitude end 2012 to 8.0 + / – 0.3. Today Jan 05 she fades out to 10 +/- 0.5.

Thanks to my friend’s astronomers in the region, I observed in four refractors, 80/480, 127/820, 102/1000, 140/1120 and two telescopes 114/500, 250/1000.

The comet was always relatively easy to catch with a wide field eyepiece, 40mm or 25mm.

The observation sites were distributed; we could compare the sky quality of Rocbaron, Rians, Flassans and Néoules.

What is interesting in the sequence is to see that near January 2nd the comet passed from one side of the ecliptic to the other, so 1 and 2 January’s tail and coma were not really separated. At the beginning of the sequence the comet follows her tail; Jan. 2 tail was behind the coma, aligned with us on earth. After that the comet flies before her tail. It’s a bit like a small cat playing with its tail.

Time is given in UT.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my sketch and a lot of clear skies to you all for 2013 !

Michel Deconinck

http://astro.aquarellia.com

2012 Mars Opposition

2012 Mars Opposition
2012 Mars Opposition

Hallo

This year was my first “Mars-season”. At the first observation I was like: “What? How am I supposed to see any details at this tiny thing?” But I stayed persistent and Mars revealed his beauty bit by bit. And at the end I was surprised about the visible details.

Location: Carinthia – Austria
Media: Graphite pencil on white paper. Afterwork and coloration with Gimp2.

Io Transit in the Mist

Io Transit of Jupiter - November 18, 2012
Io Transit of Jupiter - November 18, 2012

Object Name: Jupiter
Object Type : Transit of Io
Location: Wilp, The Netherlands
Date: November 18, 2012
Media: White paper, graphite pencil, Photoshop

Last night a nice transit of Jupiter’s moon Io was visible from Europe. The transit of Io (and its shadow) started when Jupiter was still very low in the East, but it rose very quickly. Seeing conditions improved and more details became visible. It was a very foggy evening in the Netherlands, but Jupiter just peeked through the mist. The tiny black dot of Io’s shadow was immediately visible. The moon itself became visible when it moved more to the limb of the planet (due to the edge darkening of Jupiter).
I made a small (2″ diameter), quick sketch of the view through my 16″ Dobson at 225x. I later enhanced the contrast and colorised it a bit with Photoshop, to match the actual view through the eyepiece as much as possible.

(It is one of my first sketches of Jupiter, so I sketched it a bit too small. Next time I’ll try to sketch a bigger planet, maybe 4″.)

Clear Skies,

Roel Weijenberg
www.roelbog.nl

November’s Jupiter

Jupiter - November 19, 2012
Jupiter - November 19, 2012

Hello,

the last few weeks the weather was November-like: much fog and nearly no sun. But on Tuesday we´ve had very good conditions. The sky was clear and no wind. The planetary disc looks total sharp by 230x in the eye-piece. A friend tested his new camera and after this I took my sketch-book and my pencils. We used visual a bino with two 17,3mm Delos. The equipment offered us a real great view with many details on the clowd-surface of Jupiter. I hope that you like the result.

10″ ACF on Vixen SXD, 17,3mm Delos binocular, 150x.

CS Uwe

View of a Colorful Conjunction

Moon-Jupiter Conjunction
Moon-Jupiter Conjunction

Tonight I was hoping to glimpse the conjunction of the Moon with Jupiter. There was a lot of moisture in the air & as I often observe here in Hawaii when there is a lot of moisture in the air there was a lovely 22 degree Moon halo. Jupiter was a mere 2 degrees from the Moon & made a lovely sight. With the extra moisture in the air there was also a hint of red in the surrounding glow around the Moon. I sat down on the porch to sketch & when I looked up could not resist including Christmas lights under the eves that were in my view. Happy Holidays & clear skies all.

Thia Krach
Maui, Hawaii
4,000 ft elevation
Fair seeing condition making for lovely phenomenon
Black paper with chalk & oil pastel

Addendum

Something nagged me as I thought about Jupiter & the Moon last night after I submitted my sketch. I realized they were not 2* apart when I sketched them as they would have been at their closest conjunction. Earlier in the evening when the skies were cloudy is when they would have appeared to be closest.

Best,
Thia Krach

Occultation of Jupiter by the Moon – December 25, 2012

Occultation of Jupiter - December 25, 2012
Occultation of Jupiter - December 25, 2012

Ocultação de Júpiter pela Lua 25.12.12
Object Name – Planet
Location – Rio de Janeiro / Brasil
Date – 25.12.12 / 20:42 h UTC
Media – graphite pencil, charcoal, white paper, photoshop

Equipament –
130 mm / f 6.9 / EQ2 Newtonian Telescope
Ocular 25 mm Kellner
Stellarium

Venus and Jupiter by the Members of Hungarian Astronomical Association

Venus and Jupiter Sketch Collection
Venus and Jupiter Sketch Collection

Dear ASOD,

I send you here attached a collection of sketches made by the members of the Hungarian Astronomical Association (Magyar Csillagászati Egyesület). We have 42 members this year learning how to observe and sketch astronomical objects who are all very keen to learn. These sketches have been made after movies of Jupiter and Venus, so the observation circumstances were realistic.
I collected the best sketches and put together to see how skillful they are without many practice beforehand.

Kind regards,
Judit

dr. Hannák Judit

Web: http://egmesek.blogspot.com

Early Planets

Conjunction of Mercury, Venus and the Moon
Conjunction of Mercury, Venus and the Moon

Please find here my (this morning) watercolour

Object Name (Mercury, Venus and the Moon)
Object Type (conjunction)
Location (Rocbaron Provence France)
Date (December 11th 2012 6:00 UT)
Media (Watercolour on 300gr paper plus white colour for planets)

It was quite cold this morning -1°C plus Mistral (north local wind)… but I would like to see again the rising of Mercury from my terrace.

Bottom-up we can see: Mercury near the chimney and Venus close to the Moon.

The watercolour was done on the spot, taking off the pigment for the planets with a brush when the paper was not yet dry. I add some hot coloration to the dark part of the very old Moon. Then I scanned the picture.

Clear sky to you all !

http://astro.aquarellia.com

Michel Deconinck

Jupiter Greets The Hyades

Jupiter and Hyades
Jupiter and Hyades

Hello!
I would like to show you my latest sketch made with binoculars 10×50. On the right side are Hyades, and in the left-top part shines the Jupiter.
I used the graphite pencil on white paper. Then sketch was inverted. There are some little corrections in GIMP.

Best regards!
Aleksander Cieśla (Wimmer)