Category: Planetary

The Plutonian View and Looking Back to the Sun

The Plutonian View and Looking Back to the Sun

Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

Pluto is a fascinating object that has produced much speculation and argument ever since it’s discovery by Professor Clyde W. Tombaugh (1906-1997; Lowell Observatory/New Mexico State University) on March 13, 1930 (Pluto imaged on January 23 and 29 and plates examined on February 18 by Tombaugh) at Lowell Observatory (Flagstaff, Arizona). Initially believed to be the mysterious Planet X proposed by American astronomers Percival Lowell (1855-1916) and William Henry Pickering (1858-1938; also famous for his seeing scale) this far denizen of the Solar System turned out to be smaller than our own Moon (Pluto’s diameter is 1,433 miles (2,306 km) vs. the Moon (2,159 miles (3,474 km)); or 66% that of the Moon’s diameter). Even so astronomers continued to study this enigmatic body and in 1978 (June 22) its largest satellite Charon was discovered by American astronomer James Christy (United States Naval Observatory, ). Ironically Charon is over half the diameter of its parent body (Charon’s diameter is 750 miles (1,207 km) vs. Pluto (1,433 miles (2,306 km); or ~52% that of Pluto). The second largest satellite with respect to its parent body is our own Moon (2,159 miles (3,474 km) vs. earth (7,919 miles (12, 742 km); or 27% that of the Earth). Two other satellites were discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on May 15, 2005 namely Nix (~29 miles (~46 km) diameter) and Hydra (~38 miles (~61 km) diameter).

… I produced this image using Photoshop CS3 for a lecture that I gave on Pluto. The scene depicts the surface of Pluto with a thin atmosphere with Charon visible in the Plutonian sky. The Sun is brighter than in reality but I used a little artistic license. I hope that you like it.

Carlos E. Hernandez

Jupiter Showing Off Its Spot

Jupiter Showing Off Its Spot

Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard

At an Astronomy gathering (Astrociel Valdrôme 2010) to view the deep sky early in the night, the second part of the night became a time for pointing at planet Jupiter as the atmosphere settles down.
Serge writes: [roughly translated]
“Jupiter introduces a new aspect, with his well shaded off Northern equatorial belt, which further emphasizes the great red spot in a very original way. … four color drawing were made directly at the eyepiece of the 460mm telescope with some supplementation using the 600mm scope over two nights (August 11 and 12, 2010).”
Here are two of those sketches.

Serge Vieillard

Patience is it’s Own Reward

Uranus Observation on July 29, 2010

Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

I made an observation of Uranus on July 29, 2010 (05:30 U.T.) using my 9-inch (23-cm) F.13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain (310x). The small pastel green (or teal) disk of Uranus was very sharp at even higher magnification but I chose to examine it at moderate amplification. The center of the disk appeared to exhibit a faint dusky to dull (4-5/10) bar with a brightening (6-7/10) over the polar regions. These faint albedo features were not easy to detect but patience at the eyepiece allowed me to detect them. I hope that everyone gets a look at the Georgian planet.

A digital image produced in Pixelmator.

Carlos E. Hernandez

Jovial Giant

Jupiter August 3, 2010

Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

I was able to make another observation of Jupiter under good seeing conditions. I was able to make out a good amount of detail over the globe of Jupiter. I hope that you like it.

Date (U.T.): August 3, 2010
Time (U.T.): 06:40
L1 065.9*, L2 0.58.8*, L3 251.1*
Diameter (Equatorial): 45.8″
Instrument: 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Magnification: 129x and 310x
Filters: None (IL)
Seeing (1-10): 6-7, Antoniadi (I-V): II
Transparency (1-6): 4

Notes:
South Polar Region (SPR): Appears dark to dusky and mottled (3-4/10). An elongated dark (3/10) condensation is noted within it.
South (SSSTZ): Appears shaded to bright (6-7/10), but no other detail within.
South South South Temperate Belt (SSSTB): Appears thin and dusky (4/10).
(SSTZ): Appears dusky to dull (4-5/10) with shaded to bright (6-7/10) small ovals/rifts within it.
South South Temperate Belt (SSTB): Appears broad and dusky (4/10).
(STZ): Appears shaded to bright (6-7/10) with it’s following portion appearing to widen to the north.
South Temperate Belt (STB): Appears broad and dark to dusky (3-4/10). The following portion of it appears to diverge towards the north. It contains dark (3/10) condensations within it.
South Tropical Zone (STrZ): Appears bright (7/10) with no other detail visible within it.
South Equatorial Belt (SEB): Appears a faint pastel reddish-orange color with dull (5/10) streaks noted within it. The northern border of the SEB appears dull to dusky (4-5/10) and irregular.
Equatorial Zone (EZ): The EZ appears to contain a complex network of bluish-green condensations and streaks (lace-type). Bright (7/10) ovals are noted over the northern portion of the EZ between the prominent bluish-green festoons (3-4/10).
North Equatorial Belt (): Appears dark to dusky (3-4/10) with dark (3/10) condensations noted within it. A large bright (7/10) oval is noted over it’s following as well as smaller ovals along the northern border of the NEB. A bright (7/10) rift is noted to originate over the southern-preceding border of the and curve to continue over it’s midsection towards the following limb. The southern border contains bluish-green festoons (3-4/10) which project into the EZ.
North Tropical Zone (NTrZ): Appears bright (7/10) without any other detail visible within it.
North Temperate Belt (NTB): Appears dark to dusky (3-4/10) and bisected. The southern component appears to contain dark (3/10), elongated condensations.
(NTZ): Appears thin and shaded (6/10).
North North Temperate Belt (NNTB): Appears dusky (4/10) and thin.
(NNNTZ): Appears thin and shaded (6/10).
North North North Temperate Belt (NNNTB): Appears dusky (4/10) and broad.
North (NNNTZ): Appears this and shaded (6/10).
(NPR): Appears dark to dull (3-5/10) with dusky (4/10) mottling noted within.

A digital image produced using Pixelmator.

The best of luck in your own observations of Jupiter.

Carlos E Hernandez

Dessin de Jupiter

!

Bonjour,

Je vous joins un dessin de Jupiter réalisé le matin du 28 juillet dernier.
J’ai eu la chance de profiter d’excellentes conditions qui m’ont permises de dessiner la géante gazeuse dans de bonnes conditions et celà jusqu’à l’aubePour celà j’ai utilisé mon télescope 180 à des grossissements allant de x196 à x360.
Le dessin a été fait aux crayons de couleur.

Amicalement

Christian Gros

Hello,

I join(contact) you a drawing of Jupiter realized in the morning of last July 28th.
I was lucky to take advantage of excellent conditions which allowed me to draw the gaseous giant in good conditions and celà until dawn! For celà I used my telescope 180 in going swellings of x196 in x360.
The drawing was made for coloured pencils.

Friendly

Christian Gros

Earth, Moon and Jupiter Conjuction

Moon july 4th 2010.jpg
Object Name : Earth, Moon and Jupiter
Object Type : Solar System
Instrument Used : Naked Eye
Location :
Date : July 4th 2010
Time : 2:45am local
Conditions : seeing 3/6, no clouds, a little dew
Media : Created a field sketch of this scene in my observing journal with pen and ink. The next day, I sketched the view with pastel pencils and black paper.
Description: The evening’s observations are drawing to a close when I notice the outline of the trees in the distance. Is that ghostly outline caused by the light of a gibbous moon? Then I realize that civil twilight is only two hours away. The light in the east is not due to the moon – but due to the sun.

Justin Modra

Mars unraveled

Mars
Planet
Malta (35.52N; 14.26E) at www.znith-observatory.blogspot.com
October 2009-May 2010
Graphite pencil, charcoal, white paper, scanner

This 2009-2010 Mars map is a collage of sketches made through my telescope (SCT 200mm, and colour filters) which spanned from October 2009 till May 2010. Mars offers the best telescopic views at opposition. Large surface markings offer interesting analysis and comparison with similar maps produced by astro-imagers using camears instead of their eyes. As often seen through an astronomical telescope eyepiece, the planet’s orientation is inverted, with Mars’ north polar cap at the bottom.
For a full detailed 2009-2010 Mars Apparition report, including visual observations and sketches made, I invite readers to CLICK HERE.

Charles Galdies

McNaught’s Best View Yet?

Subject: ASOD: McNaught’s Best View Yet ? – ” Juanchin ”

Object : Comet C/2009 R1 McNaught
Date : June 15, 2010
Time : 03:00 LST / 10:00 UT
Location : Wickenburg Arizona USA
Instrument : Orion 25 x 100 FOV 2.5 Deg.
Magnitude : ~ 6.5
Weather : Dark and clear sky, slightly gusty winds, cool upper 70’s
with a chance of Sagittarids! : )

Comments :
A major prediction for this comet was that perhaps being a first
timer to swing around our Sun, it might have a dramatic outburst
display like that of Comet Holmes.
Last week of June the 9th, I sketched McNaught while it passed by
M34, but the Moon was the factor that was robbing me of some extra
details. Details that tonight
were more noticeable. The ionic tail is longer, I’d say at least
over 1.5 Degrees. A fine thin tail stretching subtlely into a North-
Northwest direction. Also, what I believed was
the dust tail, a spur emanating from the coma and shooting towards
the West was visible. It kind of pointed towards the bright yellow
star of Delta Persei.
The coma itself showed its greenish tint along with a very bright
white core. I’m not very precise on determining the size of the
coma but I’d say it was in the vicinity of 10 arcminutes.(Someone
can help me here, will appreciate) ; ) I noticed the comet had
shifted during the course of about 1 hour. A star North of the
comet and grazing the tail was now on the the Southwest side and
embedded close to the dust tail. By a wild guess again, this comet
had traveled almost its own coma diameter in that 1 hour time lapse.

This will be my last chase for comet McNaught, twilight starts
creeping very fast soon after 11:00 UT. It hinders any chance to
see the comet rise higher and the dawn light starts washing
everything away. As the days progress the comet will be lower and
lower into the horizon and finally out of sight. I enjoyed every
bit of observation and I hope there are more of you out there who
did the same and sketched it.

Wishing all clear and dark skies,

Juanchin

P.S. I only saw about 3 Sagittarids that night, very bright with

The Moon and Venus in Front of My Home

Subject: Crescent Moon and Venus in front of my home

Hi Artists,all o.k.?O.k. for me at moment.This spring is very strange,in this moment cold and clouds and rain….i’m without words.
I sent my last sketch of great vision:Crescent Moon and Venus at sunset,made with my little bino 10×50 on trypod.
I am return from work and i see that beautyfull vision on clear blu sky.The seeing was perfect,very clear and on terrace of my room i mounted my trypod and my bino.
i made very quyckly this sketch and i stay ubeliever about the shadow of Moon,i don’t see one like that! Very clear,i can see the clear and the dark zones….incredible!
Under the Moon you can see the top of cypress of the hill folded by the wind.
At next and clear sky….i hope!
Ciao,Giorgio.

Site:Pergola,Marche Region,Center Italy.
Date:14 June 2010 10 p.m. Local time.
Instrument:Bino 10×50 on trypod
Seeing:Excelent
Technics:White pastel and pen on azure paper.