Watercolor Pencil on Black Paper – Page 3 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Faint and Whispy or Very Tiny

Solar Prominences in H-alpha Eastern Limb
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

2009 Feb 24, 1510UT – 1600UT

Solar prominences in h-alpha, eastern limb

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
Erika Rix

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell
Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil.

Temp: -5.2° C, Humidity 74%
Seeing: Wilson 4, Transparency: very poor with improvement
Cirrus to the south, winds 5mph SE
Alt: 33.6, Az: 143.9

The eastern hemisphere, especially east to the northeast, was scattered with prominences. As transparency improved, details of these little prominences came to light. The most obvious set was around 90° position angle and then a squat hedgerow one around 40°. I stopped my first sketch midway and began a fresh one with a larger limb span to include the majority of them, most which were faint and whispy or very tiny.

I counted 8 more small slender ones that weren’t included in this sketch. I’m sure that given a little more time (or perhaps ambition to stay out there longer) the improvement in transparency would have revealed a few more. There was a very sharp small plage about 20 degrees in from the north limb as well as a few very hair-like filaments, particularly west, south, and east. It is reported by another solar observer that there are two new spots in that same location, indicating a new AR.

Prominence Prayer

Solar Prominences February 23, 2009
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

Solar prominences in h-alpha, eastern limb

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
Erika Rix

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell
Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil.

Temp: -2.6° C, Humidity 66%
Seeing: Wilson 4, Transparency: very poor
Partly cloudy, winds 13mph from NW
Alt: 33.2, Az: 144.1

A fairly tall prominence stood out on the eastern limb that looked like a pair of hands loosely pressed together in prayer. Par for the course on these larger delicate features, they look almost detached until you concentrate on that area for a more in depth look. This is the prominence I concentrated on for the observation sketch. There was another smaller prom just north on the western limb close to a position angle of 290-300 degrees. It consisted of two arches messed together with small spikes on the limb next to them. Another slender prominence worth mentioning was located on the southern limb.

A thick, squat filament was just inside the limb about 45 degrees further south than the sketched prominence on the eastern limb.

Plasma Arches on the Western Limb

Solar Prominences on February 13, 2009
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

2009 Feb 13, 1600UT – 1700UT

Solar prominences in h-alpha, western limb

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
Erika Rix

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell
Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil.

Temp: 3° C, Humidity 60%
Seeing: Wilson 3, Transparency: poor
Scattered, winds 7mph from NNW
Alt: 34.4, Az: 159.2

Approximately 30° inward from the eastern limb, a crescent-shaped plage was seen with a dark dot during my h-alpha observation. No AR was noted in white light. There were a few proms scattered about to the north and south, but the prominences on the western limb really stood out. At first glance it looked like two detached proms, but adjusting the outer etalon and increasing magnification, that section of limb came alive with prominence structure.

North is to the 4.5 o’clock position and west is the 2.5 o’clock position in my sketch.

Dances on the Solar Limb

Solar prominences 2009 Feb 05, 1655UT – 1725UT
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

2009 Feb 05, 1655UT – 1725UT

Solar prominences in h-alpha

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
Erika Rix

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell
Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil.

Temp: -6.4C, Humidity 49%
Seeing: Wilson 3, Transparency: poor
Mostly clear with thin layers of cirrus, Winds: 3.5mph SSW
Alt: 23.7, Az: 139.1

There was an area that I suspected was a new AR just NW of center while observing in h-alpha. It appeared to have two small plage with a single tiny sunspot to the west of them. After pulling out the ETX70 with a white light filter, all that I could see were moments of visible granulation and there were neither faculae nor pores to be seen.

To the south, in h-alpha, there was a very bright smaller prom with several tiny fingers of proms around it. Heading about 30 degrees west around the limb I noticed a thick medium sized prom that was very faint and the base of it was nearly impossible to see.

On the NW limb were two slender proms that on closer inspection it was obvious that they were actually one intricate arch of a prominence with delicate tendrils attaching at different points within it. A filament was visible to the north of it, nearly reaching to the limb.

Other than a short thick filament to the north about 15 degrees in from the limb, as well as a few tiny proms not already mentioned, I just soaked in the surface view and called it a day.

Arch of intricate Fingers

Solar Prominences at PA 120 degrees on February, 3rd, 2009
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

2009 Feb 03
Solar

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA, Lat 40.01/Long -81.56 Erika Rix

What first appeared as a loop close to PA 120 degrees, became a beautiful structure with intricate fingers creating an arch. Then looking to south of it in my view (which would be heading north solar orientation wise) was a very large, faint addition to the prominence. Thankfully seeing was good enough today to increase the magnification for a closer look. It topped out close to 57x mag at Wilson’s scale of 4.

I used Strathmore Artagain, Conte’ crayon and pencil, Prang watercolor pencil. I took a photo of it in the shade rather than using the scanner. It seems to reproduce the black paper sketches best for me.

The solar graphic was from the Tilting Sun program.

A Belgium Moon Mapper and a Thirteenth Century Theologian

Lunar Craters Mercator and Campanus
Sketch and Details by Dale Holt

Mercator and Campanus

I scanned the terminator with my 6” refractor, looking for a feature that caught my eye just a little more than the next, that formation that shouted out “sketch me”.
I was drawn to a pair of craters on the terminator, delightfully lit by the Sun and filled with shadows of the moment.
The upper of the two craters in my sketch is Mercator named after a Belgium Moon mapper (1512-1594). It is a flooded crater of 46km diameter with a flat and smooth floor which contrasts well with the very similar sized Campanus just below which is 48km in diameter but has a central peak and more dramatic terraced walls was named in memory of Giovanni Campano a Thirteenth Century theologian, astronomer and astrologer a common combination for the time. A considerable amount of research through my lunar library has led me to identify the small but bright crater to the right of Mercator as likely to be Marth, a German Astronomer 1828-1897, illumination prevented observation of its interesting double wall.

Telescope 6″ F9 Triplet refractor by Superscopes
Magnification 338X
Sketch made on Daler Rowney black paper with Conte Pastels, Derwent Pastle & watercolour pencils with plenty of blending stump action for effect

Dale Holt
Chippingdale Observatory
Chipping
Hertfordshire
England

Andromeda’s Subtle Structure

M31
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

M31(NGC 224) And Galaxy Difficulty level: 1/5
Date of observation: 1996/10/15 02:21
Observing site: Kuju
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 3/2/4
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian and XL14
Magnification: 110x
Width of field: 0.6 degree
It is interesting to observe at higher magnifications for details. It is a magnificent view with two dark lanes clearly seen. A brighter circular core is visible within the large elongated central bulge. West of the center lies a double dark lane. The regions other than the dark lanes show unevenness in brightness.

Solar Awakening

Solar Prominences
Sketch and Details by Les Cowley

After weeks of inactivity the sun stirred at the end of September ’08. The 28th saw a huge but faint prominence on the Southeast limb and the next morning revealed two large and bright prominences almost diametrically opposite each other on the SE and Northern limbs. They are pictured here as viewed from England through a Coronado 60mm H-Alpha single-stacked telescope at 50 and 80X. The sketches were made at the eyepiece with Derwent Studio, Watercolour (dry) and Drawing pencils on black Canford paper. A black hood blocked out extraneous light. Each had to be finished within 10 minutes because the prominences, particularly the southern one, were evolving quickly.

The Falls of Camelopardalis

Kemble’s Cascade
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

Kemble’s Cascade Cam
a line of stars

NGC 1502 Cam
open cluster

1999.12.31 01:02
10X42 Binoculars

A fine line of stars. Five to 10th magnitude stars are lined up in a straight line over a distance of about 2.5°. As it is large, 10×42 binoculars are most suitable. It is visible in a 3cm finderscope but looks partly nebulous. It stretches from the southeast to the northwest. The southeastern end of this stretch splits into two. Maybe this is where the base of the water falls is. Near the eastern end there is a bright star. With a careful look the star looks smudged at the edge. It is the open cluster NGC 1502. Near the middle of the line of the stars is the brightest star (5th magnitude); other stars are mainly of 8th magnitude. More than 20 stars are seen as a whole.

Mare Crisium

Mare Crisium
Sketch and details by Dale Holt

Mare Crisium (the “sea of crises”) is a lunar crater located in the Moon’s Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. This basin is of the Pre-Imbrian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. This mare is 376 miles (605 km) in diameter, and 176,000 km2 in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of wrinkled ridge toward its outer boundaries. Ghost craters, craters that have largely been buried under deposits of other material, are located to the south.

The crater has many notable features in and around it. The cape-like feature protruding into the southeast of the mare is Promontorium Agarum. On the western rim of the mare is the palimpsest Yerkes. The crater Picard is located just to the east of Yerkes, and northwest of Picard is the crater Peirce. Mare Anguis can be seen northeast of Mare Crisium. Mare Crisium is the site of the Luna 15 crash in 1969.

I used my 150mm F9 Triplet refractor and Denkmeier binoviewer fitted with 32mm Plossl eyepieces to view this Mare.

I captured the image on black art paper approx 125mm x 125mm using a white Conte pastel, white ‘Derwent’ watercolour pencil, white ‘Derwent’ pastel pencil, black ink pen & blending stump.

The image was scanned and reorientated hopefully to match the description above description lifted from Wikipedia.

Date of Sketch 15-Sept-2008 20.15 UT

Seeing Ant III

Mag 98x

Moon phase 99.6%

Location: Chippingdale observatory, Chipping, Hertfordshire, England