Category: Planetary

Mars Cruises Through the “Beehive”

Mars Cruises Through the “Beehive”

Planet Mars and M44 (Beehive Cluster)
Sketch and Details by Juan Perez (Juanchin)

Object: Planet Mars and M44 (Beehive Cluster)
Date: November 03, 2009
Time: 0215 LST / 0915 UT
Location: El Mirage Arizona USA
Instrument: Orion 25 x 100 binoculars 2.5 Deg. FOV
Magnitude: Mars +0.5 M44 varying from 6 to 10 or so
Weather: Clear skies with a full Moon, calm winds and temperature of 60 Deg. F

Comments: I wanted to sketch this view a few days earlier when Mars was on the opposite of the cluster. Working the graveyard shift doesn’t allow me to take advantage of the best sky gazing opportunities when they present themselves.For this sketch, I had to wait until my days off from work. I would preffered to have caught Mars cutting through the cluster but I missed that chance. So here it is, Mars is still about 1/2 degree away from the open cluster, shining at +0.5 magnitude and heading in a East Northeasternly direction.The cluster itself contains a select few stars ranging from magnitude 6 to 10 or dimmer. I noted a couple of pale yellow stars but couldn’t distinguish any other subtle colors since I had the Beaver Moon in all its splendor right above me. I hope you all enjoy this sketch as much as I did. Juanchin

A Great Visitor

A Great Visitor

Comet Hale-Bopp
Sketch and Details by Per-Jonny Bremseth

Hey!
I send you comet Hale-Bopp, “a great visitor!”

I dont know if you like older sketches, but to me the comet
was so splended and great, that I never can forget it!
Well, I made this observation with 10 x 50 binocular when the
comet was near brightest.
I used crayons (watercolour) on black paper only.
Location: outside Trondheim city, Norway.
More info on my sketch.

From Per-Jonny .

The Moon and Jupiter at Dusk

The Moon and Jupiter at Dusk

Moon and Jupiter at End of September 2009
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

I was able to view a conjunction (or appulse) of the Waxing Gibbous Moon (10.8 days old) and Jupiter on September 30, 2009 (00:00 U.T., 8 PM EDT) over my southern sky. The Moon (-12.45mag.) and Jupiter (-2.67mag.) were very striking but the presence of clouds containing ice crystals, which produced a pastel reddish-pink and orange colors semi-halo, made it spectacular! I hope that others were able to view the event as well.

A digital image produced in Gimp 2.6.7

Carlos E. Hernandez

Shadow of Ganymede

Shadow of Ganymede

Jupiter with Ganymedes’ shadow and moons Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto
Sketch and Details by Peter Mayhew

* Object Name: Jupiter with Ganymede’s shadow: moons left to right
are Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto
* Object Type: Planet, moons
* Location: York, UK
* Date: 24th September 2009, 20:00 UT

I made a graphite pencil sketch on a white paper template at the
eyepiece, and also noted colours then. Later I scanned this and used
editing software to make the image a negative and then added colour.
The view was as seen through my Skywatcher Skyliner-150mm Dobsonian (f8)
with a 10mm eyepiece, giving x120 magnification and 26′ field of view.

The seeing was pretty wobbly at first but settled. Over about an hour
the shadow of Ganymede traversed from right of centre to left of centre.
I felt very lucky to see this as there was 100% cloud at 19:00 UT and
cloud obscured the view again at 22:00 UT, meaning that clear skies were
only present during the shadow transit. I was surprised at how visible
the shadow was, even at low power with a 25mm eyepiece.

Peter Mayhew

Two August Views of the King

Two August Views of the King

Jupiter and Moon on August, 20th 2009
Sketch and Details by Carlos Hernandez

I made an observation of Jupiter on August 20, 2009 (02:15 U.T.) using my 9-inch F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain. I noted much detail over the jovian disk as indicated. I was also able to make out albedo markings over Ganymede when the seeing steadied.

Two August Views of the King

Jupiter and moons on August, 20th 2009 close up
Sketch and Details by Carlos Hernandez

Date (U.T.): August 20, 2009
Time (U.T.) 02:15
L1 077.6, L2 207.2, L3 304.7
Instrument: 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Magnification: 287x
Filters: None (IL)
Seeing (1-10): 7, Antoniadi (I-V): II
Transparency (1-6): 4

Notes:
South Polar Region (SPR): The Wesley Impact Scar (WCIS) was not clearly visible over the northern border of the SPR. This agrees with the images of the WCIS obtained recently which indicate the dissipation of the impact debris. The region appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10) and mottled.(STZ): Appears shaded to bright (6-7/10), but no other detail is visible within.South Temperate Belt (STB): Appears dark to dusky (3-4/10) with a dark (3/10) elongation projecting into the South Tropical Zone (STrZ) towards the preceding limb. South Tropical Zone (STrZ): Appears bright (7/10) with the dark (3/10) elongation over it’s preceding half extending from the STB. South Equatorial Belt (SEB): Appears dark to dull (3-5/10) with it’s southern component dark to dusky (3-4/10) and northern component dusky to dull (4-5/10).Equatorial Zone (EZ): Appears bright (7/10) with an irregular, dull (5/10) band over the equator. Very bright (8/10) and large ovals are noted over it’s northern half. Blue festoons (3/10) are noted to project into it from the southern border of the NEB.North Equatorial Belt (): Appears dark to dusky (3-4/10) with dark (3/10) extended barges (or coalesced groups of barges) noted along the northern border and blue festoons along the southern border. Bright to very bright (7-8/10) rifts are noted within it. North Tropical Zone (NTrZ): Appears bright (7/10) without any other detail visible within it.North Temperate Belt (NTB): Appears bisected and dusky (4/10) with an elongated, dark (3/10) condensation extending between the two components (center transit timed at L2 216.2/L3 313.8). Another dark (3/10) condensation was visible over the northern component preceding the larger condensation. (NTZ): Appears bright (7/10) without any other detail visible within it. (NPR): Appears dark to dusky (3-4/10) and mottled.

A digital image produced in Photoshop CS3.

Carlos E Hernandez

Morning Mars

Morning Mars

The Planet Mars on the morning of September 12, 2009
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

Morning Mars Sketch

I was up very early in the morning observing and sketching the moon. When I finished I noticed the planet Mars was nearby the old crescent moon in the sky and since the atmosphere was producing good seeing I thought I’d have a look.
I was pleasantly surprised I could see a little more than the last time I looked so I decided to make a sketch at high power (362X). When I finished the sketch I later found I was looking at a central meridian on Mars of 36°- 40° longitude. So I was looking at: Mare Erythraeum, Chryse/Xanthe and Mare Acidalium on down to the North polar hood. From my sketch you can tell I was not seeing much detail but Mars is already getting interesting with four months to go until opposition.
At 6.1″ of arc and 229 million kilometers (143 million miles) away Mars remains a small target but soon it will be a regular observing target again.

Sketching:

6″x 8″ sheet of white sketching paper, a set of Crayola colored pencils, clean blending stump, and plastic eraser.
Telescope: 10″ f/5.7 Newtonian on a drive platform with a 4mm orthoscopic eyepiece at 362x
Weather Conditions:
Clear, humid, calm
15°C (59°F)
Seeing: 7/10
Transparency: 4/5
Time:
10:00-11:00 UT 9-12-2009
Location:
Oak Forest, Illinois

Frank McCabe

Jupiter and Moons Do a Double Take

Jupiter and Moons Do a Double Take

Jupiter and transiting moons, Ganymede and Europa
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard

Serge made these remarkable Jupiter sketches on the evening of August 19, 2009 while attending an Astronomical meeting in Valdrôme, France. He was using a 600mm scope and was sketching Jupiter and its moons and shadows as they crossed in front of the planet. The larger moon and shadow is Ganymède and the smaller one is Europa.

Jupiter and Moons Do a Double Take

Jupiter and transiting moons, Ganymede and Europa
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard

Serge’s remarks roughly translated are, “Then, Ganymède leaves the planet, Europe having about the same luminosity that the planet has, disappears between the two shadows which are oval in appearance due to perspective. The effect of relief is seizing, one feels the 3D, and the height of the satellites compared to Jupiter which are accentuated by the presence of shadows. Then Europe appears and cuts out in the darkest zones of the limb. It bites the shadow of Ganymède for it is its turn to leave the disc of Jupiter. At this time, the relief is total”.

Jupiter Strip

Jupiter Strip

Jupiter, the Great Red Spot and Io’s Shadow
Sketch and Details by Michael Rosolina

Hello,

This is a strip sketch of Jupiter. Instead of drawing the Jovian disk as a ‘snapshot” in time, I watched the central meridian and recorded features as they rotated past it, giving me an “unrolled” version of a section of the sphere. Since Jupiter makes one complete turn about every 10 hours, this can be a very useful way to keep up with its rapid rotation.

As you can see, much was happening including a transit of the Great Red Spot (GRS), lots of activity associated with the North Equatorial Belt (NEB), and a transit of Io. The Galilean moon itself was not visible to me but the shadow it cast was quite prominent against the bright cloudtops of the Equatorial Zone (EZ).

The drawing was done at the eyepiece on Strathmore recycled sketch paper using 2B, HB, and 6B pencils. Other notes are with the sketch.

Object: Jupiter
Type: Planet
Location: Friars Hill, WV USA
Date: August 26th, 2009

Thanks,

Michael Rosolina

Jupiter in Motion

3D Sketch of Jupiter
Sketch and Description by Fred Burgeot

From several of my sketches of Jupiter, I made a planisphere of this planet and a rotating globe that I would like to submit….The sketches were made between july 20 and august 17 from France with good seeing conditions (4 to 8/10). The scope is a 16″dobsonian (Mirro Sphere) with an equatorial plateform, magnification is 350X with a binoviewer, no filter. 1H15 for each individual sketch, 8H to make the planisphere (handmade), and 1H to map it on a rotating sphere with the computer. My friend Pascal Chauvet helped me in this last task.

Best regards,
Fred Burgeot.

Jupiter - Flat

Flat Version of Jupiter Sketch
By Fred Burgeot