Mars – December 26, 2009
Sketch and Details by Krzysztof Bednarek (Scaiter)
Hello.
Here is my sketch of the planet Mars, the current diameter is 12.2 arc”
White paper, sketching, graphite pencil, HB
date of 26 December, the telescope Vixen achromat NP-80L, Soligor 9 mm eyepiece (133x) -2 * C temperature, transparency 3 / 5. Lodz, Poland.
Mars – December 16, 2009, 9:45 – 10:15 UT
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
Mars December 16, 2009
It was a cold, clear, moonless, early morning with Mars high in the southern sky. The mirror of the telescope took some time to cool down as the temperature continued to drop on this night and early morning. Mars was very bright at visual magnitude -0.4, 93% illuminated and 77.5 million miles from us.
My fingers were numb in just 10 minutes of sketching so I was inside at 10 minute intervals to thaw them.
I decided to make a graphite field sketch and when I finished I converted it to a color pencil sketch indoors. After completing the color sketch I returned to the scope with the sketch to check for accuracy and then concluded.
I did not spend any time trying filters and the seeing was about average (Antoniadi III). Mars is inverted in the sketch with the north polar cap down and the preceding side to the left.
Don’t miss a chance to have a look.
Sketching:
White sketching paper 8″ x 11″; HB graphite pencil, soft charcoal pencil for sky background, blending stump for blending orange and yellow Crayola pencil shavings. Brightness decreased at scanning by -2 using scanner
Date 12/16/2009 – Time 9:45-10:15 UT
Telescope: 13.1 inch f/6 Dobsonian and 9mm eyepiece 222x
Temperature: -19°C (-2°F)
clear, calm
Transparency 4/5
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Frank McCabe
Mars on November 29th, 2009
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
As the month of November closes Mars appears larger (9.8” arc) in the eyepiece than earlier in the month. The distance to the red planet at the time of the sketch was 143,600 km. (89, 200 miles). It is nice to see Mars so high in the morning sky, growing bigger and brighter each day as the distances continues to close.
The central meridian was at about 10° lomgitude at the time of the sketch. When I finished I checked a Mars map to identify features I was seeing during moments of good seeing. From north to south they were: the North Polar cap, Mare Acidalium, Niliacus Lacus, central Chryse, the side by side sinuses of Margaritifer and Aurorae, and finally Mare Erythraeum. If you are up before daybreak on a clear morning step outside and take a look at Mars as its disk gets bigger and brighter.
Sketching:
White sketching paper 8″ x 6″; HB graphite pencil, soft charcoal pencil for sky background, blending stump for blending orange Crayola pencil. Brightness decreased at scanning by -2 using scanner
Date 11/29/2009 – Time 8:00-9:15 UT
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 261x
Temperature: 9°C (39°F)
partly cloudy, humid, calm
Transparency 4/5
Seeing: Pickering 7/10
Frank McCabe
Mars on November 8th, 2009
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
November nights are typically the cloudiest nights of the entire year in the Chicago area. Last evening and early this morning the transparency and seeing were both pretty good despite the high humidity (80%) and temperatures approaching the dew point. Mars has already become a good target for high power examination through telescopes at 8.3″ of arc. Mars at 104.6 million miles away is still farther from us than the sun but we are catching up. I observed the planet not too far from the Beehive (M 44) with the central meridian at 220° shining at magnitude 0.6.
The gibbous phase of the planet was clearly evident as was the North Polar Cap, Utopia, and Maria Cimmerium and Tyrrhenum.
Mars on November 8th, 2009 (labeled)
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
Sketching: White sketching paper 8″ x 10″; 4B, HB, and 2H Graphite pencils; I used my fingers and a blending stump for blending. No adjustment after scanning was needed.
Date 11/8/2009 – Time 9:40-10:50 UT
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 4mm eyepiece 360x
Temperature: 9°C (49°F)
clear, calm
Transparency 4/5
Seeing: Pickering 8/10
Frank McCabe
Mars and “The Beehive Cluster”
Sketch and Details by Michael Rosolina
The clouds parted over West Virginia the other night allowing me to view Mars shortly after it passed in front of Messier 44, the Beehive.
I made this widefield sketch in order to capture the star cluster and its two attendants, Asellus Borealis–the Northern Ass and Asellus Australis, the Southern Ass. In Galileo’s time (about 180 years before Charles Messier catalogued it), M44 was known as Praesepe, the manger, where the Aselli ate their hay.
Praesepe was one of the objects that Galileo scrutinized with his new telescopes, discovering that it was a star cluster and not a nebula or cloud as previously thought. One of his scopes had about 15x, although he didn’t enjoy nearly the field of view that I had with my modern binoculars.
I made this sketch in the field with color pencils on black paper. I couldn’t give Mars the luminous appearance that I observed using color pencils on black paper, so I tweaked it a little digitally.
I am dedicating this drawing to a friend who passed away not long ago. Eric realized his dreams of astronomy by becoming an operator of the 100 meter radio telescope at Green Bank, West Virginia.
Best regards,
Michael Rosolina
Mars and M44
Planet and Open Cluster
Friars Hill, WV USA
3 November 2009 0830-0900 UT
Mars moving through the Beehive Cluster
Sketches and Details by Giorgio Bonacorsi
Hi all , how are you? I see yesterday the last sketch of Jeremy Perez and i say to myself: “I made the same sketch from home in the same day!” and i decide to sent you my last four sketches of “Mars in the Beehive” made with my bino bresser 10×50. I observe Mars also with my refractor 80/1000 at 333x and i see only the polar white zone but no partycular of surface.The best image of this event was throug bino 10×50, very stereoscopic and magnificent vision.
This is all for this moment.Thank you for your kind words, i’m o.k. at the moment, i hope next to sent you my new sketches of deep sky with my Dobson 10″.
Clear sky and good new sketches to all artists!!!
Ciao, Giorgio.
Name:Giorgio Bonacorsi
Site:Pergola,Marche,Center Italy
Date:from 31 October to 3 November
Instrument:Bino Bresser 10×50
Seeing:Good
Temperature:Cold,humidity,no wind.
Mars moving through the Beehive Cluster
Sketches and Details by Giorgio Bonacorsi
Mars moving through the Beehive Cluster
Sketches and Details by Giorgio Bonacorsi
Mars moving through the Beehive Cluster
Sketches and Details by Giorgio Bonacorsi
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
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
Mars at 10:15 UT on
July 20, 2009
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez
I was able to make my first observation of Mars on July 20, 2009 (10:15 U.T.) using my 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain. I was excited to observe the red planet once again after the last opposition. I hope to follow Mars as much as possible.
Date (U.T.): July 20, 2009
Time (U.T.): 10:15
CM: 213.4*W
Ls: 306.7* (Mid-Martian Northern Winter/Southern Summer)
De:-7.1*, Ds: -19.6*, Phase 92%, Diameter: 5.2 arc-seconds
Instrument: 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Magnification: 379x
Filters (Wratten): 23A (Light Red)
Seeing(1-10): 5-6, Antoniadi (I-V): III
Transparency (1-6): 2/6 (Dawn)
Notes:
The South Polar Region (SPR) appears to be obscured by a very bright to extremely bright (8-9/10) haze. Mare Cimmerium appears dark to dusky (3-4/10) towards the south-preceding (Sp) limb. Electris, Eridania, and Ausonia appear dusky to bright (4-7/10). Zephyria, Aeolis, and Aethiopis appear bright (7/10). Amazonis and Arcadia appear mottled and dusky to shaded (4-6/10). Elysium, Aetheria, Libya, Cebrenia, and Panchaia appear bright (7/10). Syrtis Major appears as a thin, dusky (4/10) streak along the following limb and partially obscured by a very bright to extremely bright (8-9/10) morning limb haze (MLH). The North Polar Cap (NPC) appears brilliant (10/10) along the northern limb.
I was unable to make an observation of Mars using a blue (Wratten 38A) due to excessive sky lighting.
A digital image produced in Photoshop CS3. The best of luck in your observations of Mars.
Carlos
Moon, Venus and Mars Conjunction
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez
I was able to observe the conjunction between the Waning Crescent Moon (25.7 days old), Venus (-4.21m), and Mars (1.14m) on June 19, 2009 (10:00 U.T.). I first noted the trio over in the eastern sky with the Moon approximately 34 degrees above the eastern horizon, Mars at ~29.5 degrees, and Venus at ~29 degrees. In the bright twilight sky Mars was a little difficult to pick out but once located it was easy to find. The sight was just as impressive using my Oberwerk 11 x 56 mm binoculars. Mars and Venus easily fitted in one binocular field. By combining three binocular fields I can place the trio as I noted them. I hope that others were able to view the conjunction as well.
Moon, Venus and Mars Conjunction through binoculars
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez
Digital images produced in Photoshop CS3.
Carlos E. Hernandez
