Mercury Transit – 1970

Mercury Transit
Mercury Transit

Hey Artists!

As the time of the “last” transit of Venus is perhaps ended, I would like to show all an old
but spectacular observation of a transit of Mercury I made in 1970.
My sketch shows not only a solartransit, but the planet also passed over a close bipolar
sunspots!!
It was interesting to observ the absolute black Mercury with the umbra in the spots.
The umbra was easy seen brighter. My info on sketch is in norwegian!
This was a lucky observation, indeed!!
Location : Trondheim, Norway.
I used pen and pencil on this original sketch.

Thanks for nice comments on my sketches!!
Have a clear sky and nice time to all!

Per-Jonny Bremseth.

The Sun of november the 7th

H-Alpha Sun - November 7, 2012
H-Alpha Sun - November 7, 2012

Object Name (Sun)
Object Type (H alpha regio…)
Location (Rocbaron in Provence – France)
Date (2012 Nov 7th)
Media (graphite pencil for the prominences, pastel on white paper for the solar texture, Paint.net as digital tool)
Scope My new Lunt LS35THa/B600 on motorized EQ3 mount with 10mm eyepiece.

I made a pastel texture on CàGrain Canson white paper to imitate the solar surface, and I sketched the proeminences on another paper with graphite pencil. Then I combine both digitalized sketches via Paint.net respecting the 3 bright areas. I cheat a little bit regarding the color pushing my sketch to orange which is maybe more convenient for the contrasts.

Clear sky to you all !

Michel Deconinck
http://www.aquarellia.com

Atlas and Hercules Craters

Atlas and Hercules Craters
Atlas and Hercules Craters

Object Name: Atlas and Hercules Craters
Object Type: Lunar Crater
Location: Vilassar de Mar, Barcelona (Spain)
Date: October 4, 2012
Media: Graphite pencil and white paper.

Other data:
Telescope : SW 120/900 ED
Eyepiece: Baader Genuine Ortho 6mm + TeleVue Barlow x2, 300x
Baader Neodymium Filter.
Without clouds, seeing I in Antoniadi scale, good transparency

Lunar Phase: 19 days.
Height of the Moon 45 degrees above the horizon

I hope you enjoy it.

Best regards,

Enrique (iluro)

Craters Lansberg and Reinhold

Craters Lansberg and Reinhold
Craters Lansberg and Reinhold

Both of these craters look similar when their floors are in shadow as was the case when I viewed them. Lansberg (40 km) is a walled plain crater sitting where Mare Insularum meets south Imbrium. This old impact dates back to the Upper Imbrian and is near the center of my sketch. Reinhold (49 km) is a prominent lunar impact crater of the Eratosthenian period and is also on Mare Insularum. It is below Lansberg near the bottom center of the sketch which by direction is north as per the inverted Newtonian telescope view. At the top of the sketch (south) I was able to catch the Riphaeus Mountains receiving first light during this waxing gibbous phase.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Canson paper 9″x 10″, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and blending stumps. Sketch was scanned

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 242x
Date: 10-25-2012, 00:30 – 01:25 UT
Temperature: 16°C (60° F)
hazy, high clouds, calm
Seeing: average Antoniadi III
Transparency: poor
Colongitude: 29.0 °
Lunation: 9.52 days
Illumination: 79.0 %

Frank McCabe

A Conjunction with Some History

Conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Aldebaran
Conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Aldebaran

At the last day of October I sketched a beautiful conjunction between the Moon, Jupiter and Aldebaran. The building in the foreground was my holiday-resort (illuminated by a streetlight), a renovated farm from 1669. By chance: in the first months of 1669 Jupiter was also next to Aldebaran in the sky. So the first inhabitants could have witnessed a similar conjunction. To add some more history: the location was less than 10 km from Middelburg, the town where the telescope was invented!

Clear skies

Jef De Wit

Location: Biggekerke, Netherlands (51°29’ N 3°31’ E)
Date and time: 31 October 2012 around 19.30 UT
Equipment: naked eye
Medium: pastel pencils and soft pastels on black paper (A4), Jupiter and Aldebaran were brightened with Paint

M51 from Mauna Kea

Messier 51
Messier 51

M51 dessinée au T400, au sommet du Mauna Kea à 4200m d’altitude (Hawaii) juin 2012.
Une expérience rare, un seeing exceptionnel.

Amicalement

Serge

French-English translation by Google Translate

M51 T400 drawn at the top of Mauna Kea at 4,200 m altitude (Hawaii) in June 2012. A rare experience, an exceptional seeing.

Regards

Serge

Barnard’s Galaxy & Little Gem Nebula

Barnard's Galaxy & Little Gem Nebula (NGC 6822 / NGC 6818)
Barnard's Galaxy & Little Gem Nebula (NGC 6822 / NGC 6818)

Object Name – Barnard’s Galaxy & Little Gem Nebula (NGC 6822 / NGC 6818)
Object Type – Galaxy / Planetary Nebula
Location – Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, California
Date – August 7, 2012
Media – Graphite pencil, white paper
Equipment – 15″ reflector (103X)
Conditions – Transparency 5/10 (Saguaro), seeing 7/10 (Pickering)