The measurement of the height of lunar features by measuring the length of the cast shadows – December 28, 2014
Lunar Features at First Quarter
Lunar Craters and Montes
Dunboyne, County Meath, Ireland
28/12/2014
Graphite pencils plain paper
This is a sketch I did as part of an assignment for an Astronomy course I am taking for fun. The exercise was to calculate 4 lunar features heights by making accurate sketch observations, measuring the shadows and calculating the height using the distances along with the Earth-Sun-Moon angles. It just happened to be clear at exactly first quarter. I am having trouble sketching a very dark black and new to many of the sketching techniques and making it up as I go along. Is there an extra dark lead past an 8b or should I be looking sketch on black paper? I am also having problems scanning and am taking photos of my sketches? Any help appreciated. Clear Skies! Kevin
Vallis Schröteri, a huge lava vent and rille system on the Aristarchus Plateau – January 2, 2015
Hi,
find attached a charcoal and pastel sketch of Aristarchus, Herodotus and the famous Vallis Schröteri. I hope you like it.
Object Name: Vallis Schröteri, Aristarchus, Herodotus
Object Type: Lunar Valley and Crater
Location: Germany, Dusseldorf area
Date: 2015-01-02, 1800-1845 CET
Media: chalk pastel pencil and charcoal pencil on black sketching cardbox
Telescope: Martini 10” f/5 Dobsonian
Eyepiece: Skywatcher HR Planetary 5mm
Clear skies!
Mare Humorum including Gassendi, Rimae Mersenius and Rupes Liebig at the terminator – December 2, 2014Gassendi, Rimae Mersenius and Rupes Liebig at the terminator labeled
Aloha!
This was one of those nights things just fall together. Excellent seeing and light enough from the Moon that I could see the paper well. After finishing my sketch at the eyepiece I went inside to clean it up and was pleasantly surprised that I liked it pretty much the way it was.
110km wide Gassendi Crater showed some excellent roughened floor details with hummocks casting shadows as well as floor rilles illuminated as bright & dark lines. Rima Mersenius is brilliantly lit on the terminator and the bright scarp of Rupes Liebig can be seen at the base of the wall.
Gassendi Crater, Mersenius Rille, Rupes Liebig, Mare Humorum @11.7 days lunation
.12/2/14 2030-2140 HST
12.5″ Portaball, 227x
Canson Black paper and white and black Conte’ Crayon, white charcoal pencil
Photoscape to adjust contrast
Cindy (Thia) Krach
Haleakala Amateur Astronomers
Maui, Hawaii
Lunar crater Schiller and environs – August 6, 2014
Hello,
Crater Schiller
Object Type: Moon
Location: Tarragona – Spain
Schiller crater formation is still unknown, but one of the most plausible theory argue that due to an impact of a small asteroid or comet fragmented with a small impact angle.
While I was observing and drawing this beautiful crater, I imagined what it would have been to observe the crash and its immediate aftermath. Actually, the moon never disappoints.
For more details of my observation you can visit my blog:
Lunar mountains as they appear along the limb – December 6, 2014Anomalous December 6, 2014 libration illustrated
The night on December 6 , 3;00-4;00 am was great to observe the 15day moon.
After study some pdf Taurus-Littrow Valley ,NASA, in web, l looked through the eyepieces and soon l found the position of the 15day lunar shade terminator was wrong and strangely for, l remember the lunar phases on 15day moon were always [East-West]ward apparent, this time it was anomalously [North-South] ward.
l think it was not because by libration definitely but by some unknown force pushed the moon downward against the flat normal orbital plane of moon-earth system. l was so tired that night that l had only one hour observation not enough time to check how the limb shade was changing even l could’nt sketch reasonably well the old China or Korean Taoism like landscape and this magnificent similarly scenery was stretched along the limb almost 350km long and of course my limitation was only 70km span , yes-, l have also experienced the Grand Canyon like scenery once with the 8′ og in Dec 2013, twice was recently with the 13″ og 1.5months ago. Now is a Taoism scene.
Lunar craters Billy and Hansteen with the mountain Mons Hansteen – December 4, 2014Billy, Hansteen and Mons Hansteen labeled
Craters Billy and Hansteen
It has been cold in Chicagoland and although it was sunny most of the day, high cirrus clouds moved in after sunset to block out all stars fainter than 3rd magnitude. Ice crystals at high altitude generated a colorless halo around the Moon. Not the best conditions for sketching but the first chance in 4 weeks for me. My target for this sketch was the pair of craters at the southern edge of Oceanus Procellarum. Crater Billy (46 km.) with its dark smooth lava covered floor and crater Hansteen (45 km.) with its hilly, irregular floor and terraced walls present contrasting looking craters of similar size and age. Between these craters is a large arrowhead shaped volcanic extrusion feature called Mons Hansteen. This object always looks very bright at or near full Moon.
Sketching:
Black Canson paper, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils, white Pearl eraser, blending stumps
Telescope 13.1” f/6 Dobsonian telescope on an equatorial drive platform at 222x with 9mm eyepiece
Date: 12-04-2014, 02:00 – 03:00 UT
Temperature: -7°C (20° F) mostly cloudy, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi IV (poor)
Colongitude: 54.2 °
Lunation: 11.4 days
Illumination: 92.5 %
Lunar crater Posidonius and environs at sunset – August 7, 2012
Crater Posidonius at Sunset
On this night I watched the sunset terminator creep slowly toward ring-plain crater Posidonius; in addition I sketched the crater and other features on the floor of Mare Serenitatis. Posidonius (96 km.) is an old upper Imbrian era impact remnant. Its age is underlined by the way shadows penetrate the rim at numerous points betraying impact damage there. The highest part of the rim is on the terminator side of this crater. Sunlight was still reaching Posidonius A and other high points on ridges including one on the inner ring. Beyond this crater to the west and south the great serpentine ridge could be seen in best light. This ridge is made up of dorsa Smirnov and dorsa Lister.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper 9″x 12″, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. After scanning, Brightness was decreased just slightly using my scanner.
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 241x
Date: 08-07-2012, 06:30 – 07:40 UT
Temperature: 29°C (85° F) clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude 147.9 °
Lunation 19 days
Illumination: 73.4 %
After some weeks during the “White nights” without a look in the sky, I started observation at the 7th August with my new 130/1200 Aspherical Doublet Apochromat (it was planned by Ralf Mündlein and me in the last two years) the planet. The air was quite well and the conditions were warm and dry.
A nice crater with some little impacts and mountains at the bottom took my attention. So I made a drawing of this view. I hope you like the “Mersenius”.with it´s nice landscape.
Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale – June 15, 2014Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale, water color painting- June 20, 2014
Goddess Selene showed me this beautiful old Lunar horizon landscape on the good seeing night on 15th 6. 2014.
I was very happy to see this view .
I opened covers of optics at soon after sun set , …. always the 35kg 18″ flat in front of the 13″ og cools slowly, the image saturn began to show encke minima when I started observing at 10 o’clark.
I was very tired then to give up observing as this 13″ never showed me a Lunar view that surpass 8″….. until now , I slept for 2-3 hours till 2 o’ clock ….. I woke up and again looked through the bino eyepieces.
The beautiful whole Lunar surface was there in incredible details that far surpass the 8″ even along the entire moon limbs… even in that low transparency night, then every skepticisms about the optical qualities shattered , vanished away.
The power of 13′ OG could penetrated twice times into the lunar horizon, so sketch span reduced from 70- 80 km of 8″ og to 30-40 km of 13″ og.
I was interested in water color painting when I was a high-school student and there is 40 years vacancy till worked again on this a lunar limb water -color picture.
…..Still work-able…, right?
Always clear nights, to all amateurs
K. S. Min
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Object; Two mountains near Mare Orientale West Lunar limb
Observe/ Sketch for 2.5 hours; 15. 6, 2014
Water color painting for 2 hours ; 20. 6, 2014
13″ refractor, x 530, naglar 7s type 1
Lunation ; 16 day [14 day is incorrect]
Altitude of moon at 3 ;00 am; about 40 deg [maybe the amount of photons flow from that night’s moon came into the 13″ was 1/100 in compare with that from the clear cold winter nights’ high alt. moon ]
Location ; Backyard home in South. Korea
White paper [40 x30 cm] with pencils , [70x 40 cm] in color with brushes
