mons, mountains – Page 5 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Gibbous Moon With Sinus Iridum Detail

Moon – Gibbous With Sinus Iridum Detail
By Mark Seibold

Technical Information regarding sketch:

A 19″ X 25″ pastel sketch [with the moons disc drawn at 12 ¾”] on black Strathmore Artagain pastel paper with use of various soft to hard pastel chalks on December 26th 2009 at 5UT ~ 9UT, partly produced from direct eyepiece observation over 2 to 3 hours, then finished indoors with photos taken from the eyepiece to produce a detailed close-up of the Sinus Iridum feature at the terminator. An artists conception was added at bottom as a final touch for a total work time of 4 ~ 5 hours. Observation was through my 10.1 inch f/4.5 Newtonian telescope with use of 32mm, 12mm, 9.7mm Super Plossls and 6mm Orthoscopic eyepieces. Ambient outdoor temperature in the 750 ft elevation foothills, west of the Cascades and Mount Hood, 30 miles east of Portland Oregon was approximately 34 degrees F. Wind gusting to 20 ~ 30 mph and subsiding to still at times.

*A slightly higher quality image may be viewed at
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/markseibold/Moon_PastelGibbous6_SinusIr.jpg.

On the plain at Hadley

Hadley Rille and Surroundings
By Peter Mayhew

For a lunar observer, seeking out the Apollo landing sites is an inevitable pilgrimage. The easiest, and most rewarding, site to locate is the Apollo 15 site at Hadley Rille on the edge of the Apennine mountains.

On the evening of 22nd April, the sky suddenly cleared just as I was about ready for bed, so I changed plans and took out the scope for a gaze at a crystal clear day 8 moon. Seeing was excellent, and lighting conditions were just right for picking out the Apollo 15 site features.

I tried hard to locate St George crater, which is on the tip of Mons Hadley Delta, was one of the Apollo 15 sampling site targets, and is visible in a small telescope, but I only got unsure brief suggestions of it; perhaps the sun angle wasn’t quite right for this. However I could see the rille itself easily, and several mountains and hills photographed by Scott and Irwin from the lunar surface, as well as Silver Spur, on the flank of Hadley Delta. The “x” marks the landing site.

For comparison, here are some links to photographs of these features taken from the surface.

Landing site panorama. Here Mons Hadley is on the left and Hadley Delta just right of centre.

Object name: Hadley Rille, Mons Hadley, Mons Hadley Delta, Hadley C, Apollo 15 landing site.

Object type: Lunar rille, lunar crater, lunar mountains

Location: York, UK

Date: 22nd April 2010

Media: graphite pencil on white paper

Instrument: Skywatcher Skyliner 152mm f8 Dobsonian with 10mm e.p. and x2 Barlow.

Shadows of the Lunar Caucasus Mountains

Shadows of the Lunar Caucasus Mountains
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

On Tuesday evening I thought I may spend some time observing Mars and perhaps make a sketch if the seeing was good enough to move to high power. Before pointing my scope at Mars I decided to take a quick look at the moon to see if there was anything interesting going on such as light rays of sunlight illuminating and creeping across the floor of a large crater. I soon forgot about Mars and raced indoors to switch sketching media. I know I can sketch twice as fast using white on black and speed is what I needed to capture the quick changing scene along the terminator. What I spotted was the dramatic shadows of the Caucasus Mountain peaks across the floor of Mare Imbrium. I quickly drew on the black Canson paper a faint, white Conte’ pastel meandering line right at the western edge of the Caucasus mountains and roughly outlined the shape of the shadows before any change in length occurred. At this point I felt I could continue sketching in the normal manner. Craters at the bottom of the drawing such as Cassini were not as light struck when I started this sketch as they appear here since I sketched top to bottom. It took about 75 minutes to complete the basic rendering and I spent an additional 15 minutes cleaning smudges and erasing mistakes that were obvious to me.

Mare Serenitatis is the southeastern illuminated region of the sketch. Over to the terminator on the western side of the view are the two “C” shaped craters Autolycus and Aristillus. Among the shadows in the middle of the sketch is crater Theaetetus and directly below the last long shadow is part of crater Cassini and some of the peaks of the lunar Alps.

I had some fun with this one.

See Rükl- Atlas of the Moon Plates 12 and 13

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: Black Canson sketching paper, 9”x 12”, White and black Conte’ pencils, a blending stump, plastic eraser. After scanning, contrast was increased (+1) using the scanner.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 9mm eyepiece 161x
Date: 4-21-2010, 2:00 – 3:15 UT
Temperature: 15° C (49° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co-longitude: 355°
Lunation: 6.6 days
Illumination: 42.7 %

Observing Location:
+41°37′ +87° 47′
Oak Forest, Il.

Frank McCabe

Shield of confusion

The Aristarchus plateau
Sketch and Details by Peter Mayhew
Hover cursor over sketch to view labels.

A lovely bright day 12 moon hung in the southern sky just before and after sunset. The terminator was just to the west of the Aristarchus plateau. Having saved and saved this for sketching for months, I gave in and did it. The clouds kept rolling across the moon interrupting me; first low thick stuff, and later high foggy stuff. But by 9.30pm I had got most of the visible features on paper. It wasn’t the best night for seeing, but was tolerable. The plateau is a volcanic shield about 200km square, in the North West of the Ocean of Storms. It breaks all sorts of lunar records; the brightest crater (Aristarchus), the longest sinuous rille (Vallis Schroteri), the most coloured spot “Wood’s spot” (the shield itself). Aristarchus itself appears bright white, especially the area to the east. Surrounding the ejecta slopes is a dark melt band, and then rays can be seen extending east, north and south. The crater itself has a central hill and a dark band surrounding that, as well as darker bands on the western crater wall. North-East is the ghost crater Prinz. Herodotus is an older, flooded crater, which seems on initial inspection to be the source of Schroter’s valley; the view is deceptive because of the notch in its northern wall and the dark surrounding land. The valley itself is sufficiently broad to distinguish either wall, and winds first north, then west and finally south, narrowing as it goes. The north-west of the shield is guarded by the long mountain chain Montes Agricola. Mons Herodotus lies to its south. The western area near the terminator is crossed by wrinkle ridges. The area is so complex that it was a real struggle to take in all the detail that was there: for this reason I’ve dubbed it the “shield of confusion”. I suspect another visit with better seeing conditions will bring out new features.

The sketch was graphite pencil on white paper, done at the eyepiece. Instrument: Skywatcher Skyliner 150mm f8 Dobsonian, 10mm e.p. plus x2 Barlow.

Goldschmidt Rays and the Moon’s North Limb

Plato, Goldschmidt and Northern Limb
Sketch and Details by Deirdre Kelleghan

February 28th / March 1st 2010 23:20 UT – 00 :35 UT
200 mm Dobsonian Telescope FL 1,200
8mm TVP eyepiece = 150X
Goldschmidt rays and the Moons North limb

South is up in this sketch because that is the way I viewed it and sketched it. Pastels & Conte on black paper.

Our beautiful Snow moon was 99 .9 % drenched in the suns light when I went observing on the last day in February 2010. Along the NW limb several craters were on view in the libration zone, it was my intention to make a sketch of these elusive features. They presented on the limb as dark deep long shadows edged with sharp bright lines against the blackness of space.

However while these were interesting, my eye was magnetized toward the brightness of Goldschmidt and its ejecta rays, giving great form to the area. Several of these long dark lines were also on view on the edge of the limb close to Goldschmidt and Herschel . It was so visually interesting to observe the contrasts on the limb when the moon was so full, a black and white merry dance of slow movement and rich structure.

Plato never looked so dark and flat ,its black floor absorbing the suns light when most of the surrounding area was throwing it toward my eye. I adored the tiny pure white rim sections singing in the light. My sketch wandered across part of Mare Frigoris , the area around Plato and includes part of Mons Teneriffe .

—
Deirdre Kelleghan
Vice Char IFAS
Outreach IFAS
National Coordinator Astronomers Without Borders Ireland .
http://www.irishastronomy.org/
http://www.deirdrekelleghan.com/
Tweets by skysketcher

An Early Morning with Sinus Iridum

Sinus Iridum
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

In the waning moonlight the shadows of the Jura mountain peaks could be seen on the floor of Sinus Iridum. On this mid-August night I was experiencing and enjoying a full night observing and sketching. The moon occupied my time during the second half of this session all the way to sunrise. It was one of the rare nights with cool dry air and great seeing conditions.
Sinus Iridum (260km.) is what remains of the Upper Imbrium impact on the floor of the Sea of Showers. The dark basaltic lava floor with its wrinkled ridges could be clearly seen as the sunset shadow was approaching. Several notable and recognizable features could be seen and included Promontorium Heraclides at the southwestern end of the crater rim arc over to Promontorium Laplace on the northeastern side. Old craters Mairan (40 km.), Sharp (40 km.), Bianchini (38 km.), were all clearly seen and sketched as well as the younger impact scars of Harpalus (39 km.) and Bauguer (22 km.), with ancient Mare Frigoris (Lower Imbrium) beyond the remains of the ejecta of Sinus Iridum. Much of dorsum Zirkel (216 km.) and dorsum Heim (134 km.) could be seen paralleling the terminator at the lower end of the sketch.
I was pleased I did not miss this fine evening for observing and sketching at the telescope.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Canson paper 9″x 12″, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic and gum erasers. Brightness was decreased -2 using the scanner for this sketch
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian with 9mm (161x) eyepiece
Date: 8-15-2009 10:00-11:20 UT
Temperature: 16°C (60°F)
Clear , calm
Seeing: Antoniadi II
Co longitude 206.3°
Lunation days 24.3
Illumination 32.1%

Lunar Trio

Wolf Crater

Montes Harbinger

Schiller Crater

Sketches and Details by Dale Holt

I have assembled three sketches made at my hand over the Christmas holiday. The first caught my eye because of its shape under the illumination on the evening of observation. It struck me how it looks like a ‘love heart’ I later researched and found that this worn and likely flooded feature? Was Wolf no longer a Wolf’s den! But in my sketch perhaps a Wolf’s heart?

The second of my sketches, and personal favourite of the three is of the magnificent mountain range, Montes Harbinger, I was drawn by the brightly illuminated peaks and anthracite black, jagged and far reaching shadows reminiscent of the angry wood hungry teeth of an old rip saw!

Finally for the of my trio, completed last night it depicts the giant foot print of Schiller, seeing was good and detail plentiful, a wonderful way to spend an hour.

I hope these trio find favour with you? Drawn using my 6″ refractor in all cases & rendered with pastel & watercolour pencils upon black artist paper.

Happy New Year, Dale

Crater Euclides and Montes Riphaeus

Crater Euclides and Montes Riphaeus
Sketch and details by Frank McCabe

In southern Oceanus Procellarum not far from mare Cognitum you can locate a bright little Copernican era crater that formed after the last of the dark lava had solidified. This little 12 kilometer crater wearing the bright ejecta blanket is Euclides. The bright ejecta makes it easy to pick out at high sun and with a little bit of shadow and high magnification the nearby Riphaeus mountains also show some fine relief. In the upper left of the sketch note the front range of these mountains which date back 4 billion years. These mountains are likely the remains of a very large crater rim that was not completely buried in the lava flooding. Other similar sized and smaller craters in the region also reveal some bright ejecta betraying their young ages. To learn more read the LPOD caption for May 24, 2006.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Canson paper 10″x 12″, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic and gum erasers. Brightness was decreased -2 and contrast increased +2 using the scanner for this sketch
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian with 6mm (241x) eyepiece
Date: 11-28-2009 4:15-5:40 UT
Temperature: 0°C (32°F)
Clear becoming partly cloudy, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi II -III
Co longitude 44°
Lunation 11.4 days
Illumination 80.7%

Frank McCabe

Sinus Iridium Ejecta and Beyond

Lunar craters Mairan, Sharp, Harpalus and the Jura Mountains
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

The lunar feature known as the Jura Mountains includes the rim of the Sinus Iridium impact and is visible here in late day sunlight. The debris field can be seen extending westward to Mare Frigoris. All of Sinus Iridium is in shadow which gives this region an unfamiliar appearance. The impact that created the large mountainous debris field occurred during the Upper Imbrium period (3.8 billion years ago). Some of the mountains are a lofty 5 kilometers high. Superimposed on these mountains are two forty kilometer complex craters known as Mairan and Sharp; another similar sized crater can be seen on Mare Frigoris and is called Harpalus (39 km.). At high sun this crater shows a bright young crater ray system in addition to a fine glacis. There are 3 pillow-like features to the far left in the sketch at the edge of the Iridium ejecta. The two that are closest together are the famous large lunar domes known as Gruithuisen Gamma and Delta.
It is always worth while when not expecting a rigorous day ahead to get up a little earlier than usual to see what is going on in the sky before sunrise. This is especially true when the sky is clear and very transparent.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Canson paper 9″x 12″, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils , and Conte’crayons, a blending stump, plastic and gum erasers. Brightness was decreased -2 using the scanner for this sketch
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian with 9mm (161x) eyepiece
Date: 11-12-2009 11:00-12:00 UT
Temperature: -3°C (27°F)
Clear to partly cloudy, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude 212.7°
Lunation days 25.27
Illumination 20.1%

Frank McCabe

Three Rings Around a Target

The Southwestern Limb of Moon with Montes Rook and Cordillera
Sketch and Details by Peter Mayhew

Object Name: Southwestern Limb of Moon with Montes Rook and Cordillera.

Object Type: Lunar mountains

Location:

Date: 3rd October 2009

Medium: Graphite pencil on white paper.

Instrument: Skywatcher Skyliner 150mm f8 Dobsonian, 10mm e.p. with x2 Barlow.

Seeing: Very turbulent with intermittent stillness.

The Montes Rook and Cordillera with labelled features
Sketch and Details by Peter Mayhew

The moon was 14 days old and this part of the south west limb was the only region under contrast. Craters were only visible when close to the terminator, or if rayed or darkened with basalt flows. The mountain peaks stood out perfectly in moments of stillness. The three concentric mountain rings around the (not-visible) Mare Orientale were clearly defined. I include a labelled version.