Saturn – Page 4 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Saturn occultation by the Moon

Saturn occultation by the Moon
Sketch and Details by Fred Corno

Please find attached a drawing of the Saturn occultation by the Moon occurred on the 22nd of May 2007 from approx. 19.23 through 20.34 UT.
The occultation was visible from Europe, and I recorded the event in a drawing made at the eyepiece of my 5” apochromatic telescope.
Drawing was prepared in advance with a large disk representing lunar surface, where terminator position and main features were marked in graphite pencil.
During the event, I marked at 19.23 (point 1), 19.28 (2), 20.34 (3), 20.35 (4), 20.38 (5), 20.40 (6) the position of Saturn, drawing the shape of the planet.
Eventually, black for the unlit part of the moon and the sky surrounding it and the colors for the planet were added.
As Saturn was the most amazing feature of the event, unconsciously I drew it larger than its real size: nevertheless final effect of the sketch finely matches what remains in my memory of that wonderful night.

Best regards.

Fred

Saturn in mid-March 2009

Planet Saturn and moons: Tethys, Rhea and Dione
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

With the rings nearly edge on but opening just slightly, I felt it was time to record another sketch of the ringed giant. To begin the sketch I used a white Conte’ crayon and compass to draw a circle on black paper. I then used a mechanical drawing tool called a French curve to convert the circle into an ellipse after plotting a few points to create an equatorial bulge. When the shape looked alright for the bulging globe, I sketched the rings and then the globe while looking through a 4 mm orthoscopic eyepiece (magnification 362 x).

I observed Saturn for 40 minutes before beginning the sketch which took about 50 minutes to complete. I made note of the positions of the moons I could see and added Tethys (10.3) and Rhea (9.9) to the west of the planet and Dione (10.6) to the east. Titan was well beyond the planet to the west and Iapetus was visible above the planet to the south. Both of these moons were beyond the boundaries of the sketching area. The planets equatorial zone and the north and south temperate zones were bright and distinct. The darker regions over the remainder of the disk were less distinct through the polarizing filter I was using.
Although the transparency was only average at 3/5, the seeing however was exceptional at Pickering 8.5. The stars were rock steady for long intervals.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 6”x 16”, and white and black Conte’pastel pencils and Conte’ crayons. The globe of Saturn is about 2.5” inches in diameter. Brightness was slightly decreased (-3) and contrast increased (+3) after capturing the sketch using a digital camera.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 4mm eyepiece 362x, single polarizing filter
Date: 3-15-2009 4:20 – 5:10 UT
Temperature: 0°C (32°F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Pickering 8.5

Frank McCabe

Saturn Times Two

Two Views of Saturn
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla

Two sketches of the Saturnus with different techniques.

Object: Saturn
Scope: Schmidt-Cassegrain 5″ with Antares SW 7,4mm
Filter: Moon & SkyGlow
Date: 17th March 2009
Place: Poland, Wrocław – near city center
Weather: Good. Light wind
-Light pollution
-seeing: 6/10
-transparency: 6/10
Technique: Graphite pencil
Tooling: scan and GIMP2 working (blur option)

Two Lords of the Heavens

Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) and Saturn
Sketch and Details by Leonor Ana Hernández

COMET LULIN c/2007N3

The medium used: graphite pencil.
Negative image.

The equipment used: 12×80 Binoculars (Field 4,2º)

Date: 23-02-2009
Place: Cuerva (Toledo, Spain)

The night was explendid, clear and cold (1º C).
The Sky Quality Meter (SQM-L) shows 21,17 mag/seg arc^2

The comet and Saturn was in the same field of view, separated 2º aproximately. At 23:30 TU the coma was located between the stars HIP55574 and HIP55467 of Leo. The coma´s diameter fills the space between them completelly.
The tail was wide close to the coma but very thin at the end.
Quite visible and noticeable. The tail points to 80 Leonis and exceeds it with averted vision.
The nucleous was intense but not a like-star.
Saturn was fantastic with a pale yellow light and the thin ring that crosses the planet, like a cutter line. And Titan very close…

Unforgetable night!

Leonor

—
Leonor Ana Hernández

Webmaster’s note: ASOD will be featuring Comet 2007 N3 (Lulin) sketches for severals days due to the number of extraordinary sketches we’ve recently received.

Comet Lulin Meets Saturn

Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) and Saturn Conjunction
Sketch and Details by Jef De Wit

First my big appreciation for the website. I was a fan of APOD for years and discoverd ASOD only two month ago. Even the members of my astroclub specialised in sketching didn’t know of the website! I try to motivate them to send some of their best pictures, but I think I have to give the example first. I hope you like mine sketch.

The weather in Belgium was (and is still) very bad. I tried to see Lulin for several nights without any result. The 24th this month there was a brief opening around 3.30 (local time) in the clouds for about 20 minutes. I was on holiday and had only my binocular (7x50mm) with me. The observation was made from a balcony on the 10th floor. I had to lean – not without any danger – over the realing to see the comet, so I couldn’t install my tripod. To bad, because the binocular handheld there were no details vissible. The comet was a round, uniform spot in the sky. But that doesn’t matter, the conjunction with Saturn was a beautiful sight. I made a sketch and went outside in the hope to install the tripod. But the time I arrived downstairs the clouds were again omnipresent.

Object name: C/2007 N3 (Lulin)
Object type: comet
Location: Oostende (51° North 3° East, Belgium)
Date and time: 24 februari 2009 2.30 UT
Instrument: handheld binocular 7 x 50 mm
NELM: 4
Medium: graphite pencil (2B and 8B) on white printing paper, scanned and colours inverted

Bye (and sorry for my English)
Jef De Wit

Saturn’s Rings Nearly Edge On

Saturn and moons in mid February 2009
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

Saturn in mid-February 2009

While I was awaiting the waning gibbous moon to reach a higher position in my southern sky, I decided to try my hand at a Saturn sketch. With the rings nearly edge on I find that the ring system is much less intimidating to portray. To begin the sketch I used a Conte’ crayon and circular compass to draw a faint circle on black paper. I then grabbed an old mechanical drawing tool called a French curve to convert the circle into an ellipse after plotting a few points to create an equatorial bulge. When the shape looked alright for the bulging globe, I sketched the rings and then the globe while looking through a 6 mm eyepiece (magnification 241x). Saturn usually give me trouble while sketching, so after 15 minutes I found myself making too many errors so I erased the sketch and started over on the reverse side of the paper. The second attempt went better and after an hour I considered the planet sketch finished. I made a note of the positions of the moons I could see and added Tethys (10.3) to the west of the planet and Enceladus (11.9) viewed intermittently and Dione (10.5) to the east. Titan and Rhea were visible in the eyepiece at low power but beyond the margins of the sketch. The planets equatorial zone and the north and south temperate zones were bright and distinct. The darker regions over the remainder of the disk were less distinct through the polarizing filter I was using.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 7”x 9”, and a white Conte’pastel pencil and Conte’ crayons. The globe of Saturn is about 2.5” inches in diameter and was done using sharpened pieces of Conte’ crayon. Brightness was slightly decreased (-3) and contrast increased (+3) after scanning using Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 241x, single polarizing filter
Date: 2-13-2009 5:25 – 6:45 UT
Temperature: -2°C (29°F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Pickering 6.0

Frank McCabe

Awaiting the Opening of the Ring Plane

Saturn, February 13, 2002
Sketch and Details by Per-Jonny Bremseth, text by Rich Handy

Per-Jonny Bremseth’s beautiful 2002 rendition of Saturn with wide open rings contrasts with it’s current almost closed appearance. The nearly edge on view of the rings we have now will, over the course of a few years, open the ring plane up again for our appreciation of it’s wonders.

Two of the Solar System Giants

Planets Jupiter and Saturn
Sketch and Details by Janis Romer

Janis wrote:
“6/11/86, 9pm – midnight. Temple University’s Ambler Campus Celestron-14. I was so busy drawing that I entirely forgot to record eyepieces and observing conditions.”

This splendid pair of color pastel sketches captures many of the main attractions of Jupiter and Saturn as seen at the eyepiece in late spring of 1986. At that time Saturn was in the southwestern sky while Jupiter was in the southeast. – Frank McCabe

Saturn at the Beginning of 2009

Saturn with moons at the beginning of 2009
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

I made an observation of Saturn on the first day of the new year (January 1, 2009) at 07:30 U.T. using my 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain at 163x and 344x under clear and steady seeing conditions (S: 7/10, T: 5/6). It was exciting and strange to observe the ringed planet with such thin rings.

My wide field observation made at 163x depicts Saturn at the center with five satellites visible. The satellites, from following to proceeding, are Titan (8.4m), Enceladus (11.7m), Dione (10.4m), Rhea (9.8m), and Iapetus (11.1m).

A digital observation made using Photoshop CS3.

Saturn at the beginning of 2009 under higher magnification
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

At a higher magnification (344x) Saturn exhibited detail over its globe. The following is a description of the visible regions of the planet;

South Polar Region (SPR) was dark to dusky (3-4/10) with a dark (3/10) central core.
South Temperate Zone (STZ) was shaded to bright (6-7/10) and mottled.
South Equatorial Belt (SEB) appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10) with a thin, bright (7/10) zone over its center.
Equatorial Zone (EZ) appeared bright (7/10) with no detail visible within.
Ring Shadow (RS) appeared very dark (2/10) and thin
North Tropical Zone (NTrZ) appeared shaded to bright (6-7/10).
North Equatorial Belt (NEB) appeared dusky (4/10) and thin.
North Temperate Zone (NTZ) appeared shaded (6/10)
North Polar Region (NPR) appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10)

The rings appeared dusky (4/10) without any detail visible over them.

A digital observation made using Photoshop CS3.

Carlos Hernandez

Thinner

Saturn on December 2nd, 2008
Sketch and Details by Krzysztof Rajda

Saturn’s well known rings are seen almost edge on in this superb sketch by Krzysztof Rajda of Poland.

Sketch information:

Obiect name:Saturn
Scope:Soligor MT800,N200/800
Place:Brzeźno,Poland
Eyepiece:TeleVue barlow 2x,Antares Plossl 6mm.
Seeing:4/5 Antonadi
Date:02.12.2008r.
Technique:Pencil,graphics GIMP2
Amateur astronomer:Krzysztof Rajda(Poland)