Scorpius
Sketch and Details by Ron De Laet
Last night, I drove to a dark site with a clear view to the horizon. The nelm sunk below mag 6. M13 and M5 were visible with the naked eye. I made several sketches with the binoculars. Finally the constellation of the Scorpion caught my attention. I could not resist to put the Scorpion to paper. Constellation sketches are very enjoyable to do. Here is my impression.
Lambert, Lambert R, Pytheas and Draper
Sketch and Details by Richard Handy
Last night about 9:15 pm PST, while the lingering smoke from the local fireworks were still wafting through the evening sky, I decided to try my first sketch through a new binoviewer I had just purchased. I had previously decided to try a target on the mare adjacent to the terminator because I wanted to see if the binoviewer would allow me less eye strain and greater acuity when it came to judging very fine tones of surface albedo.
When I actually started viewing my eyes were instantly drawn to the quiet spectacle of Lambert, Lambert R, Pytheas and Draper on the wide expanse of Mare Imbrium. Just to the south of Lambert, a 30 Km Eratosthenian crater with terraced walls, lay Lambert R, a ghostly ring barely visible even in the grazing light near the terminator, it’s sunken ramparts in ancient times swallowed by hot Imbrium lavas. Further along to the south, the 10 Km Pytheas seems to ride a wrinkle ridge that extends down to 8.8 Km Draper and Draper C.
The entire area of the the mare to the right of the terminator could have used a little more attention. Though I wanted to spend a little more time studying this area prior to the sketch, the Moon and my neighborhood Eucalyptus trees have a thing for each other I guess! : lol : So around 10:45 PDT when the Moon starting playing hide and go seek with me I ended my session.
Here are the details:
Date: 7-4-06
Time Started: 9:34pm PDT
Time Ended: 10:47pm PDT
Seeing: Antoniadi III-IV
Weather: Clear with some smoke from the fireworks
Telescope: 12″ Meade SCT f/10
Binoviewer: WO-Bino-P (1.6X) nosepiece
Eyepieces: WO WA 20mm Plossls
Magnification: 243X
Lunation: 9.52 days
Phase 72.3 degrees
Features: Lambert, Lambert R, Pytheas and Draper
Medium: White and black Conte’ Crayons on black textured Strathmore paper.
Sketch size: 18″ x 24″
Mars: May – July, 1892
Sketch by Professor William Pickering
This series of Martian sketches was prepared by William Pickering in 1892. They were printed the article, “The Lowell Observatory, In Arizona,” by Edward S. Holden in The Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume VI, 1894, pages 160-170 at Google Books. Mr. Holden’s article featured Pickerings drawings along with comparison drawings made at the Lick observatory during the same Martian apparition. Holden expressed considerable concern over the conclusions Pickering and Lowell published regarding their observations of Mars:
The very essence of the scientific habit of mind is conscientious caution; and this is especially necessary in referring to matters in which the whole intelligent world is interested—as the condition of the planet Mars, for example. I may take as an example the telegrams regarding Mars sent by cable from South America in 1892 by Professor WILLIAM PICKERING, who is to be the chief observer at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. I quote two out of many such telegrams:NEW YORK, October 6, 1892. – The Herald correspondent at Valparaiso cables as follows: Professor PICKERING of the Harvard Branch Observatory at Arequipa says that he discovered forty small lakes in Mars.How does he know the dark markings are lakes? Why does he not simply call them dark spots? And is he sure there are forty?
NEW YORK, September 2, 1892. – Professor PICKERING of Harvard College sends the following to the Herald from Arequipa, Peru:
‘Mars has two mountain ranges near the south pole. Melted snow has collected between them before flowing northward. In the equatorial mountain range, to the north of the gray regions, snow fell on the two summits on August 5 and melted on August 7. I have seen eleven lakes near Solis Lacus varying in area from 80 by 100 miles to 40 by 40 miles. Branching dark lines connect them with two dark areas like seas, but not blue. There has been much trouble, since snow melted, in the Arean clouds. These clouds are not white, but yellowish and partly transparent. They now seem to be breaking up, but they hang densely on the south side of the mountain range. The northern green spot has been photographed. Many of SCHIAPARELLI’S canals have been seen single.”*
*Several of these canals were seen not only single but double at Mount Hamilton, do not know that they were so seen in Peru.
How is it known that there are two polar mountain ranges? How does he know that the flow will be northwards? And an equatorial range? Are not the gray regions so extensive that the description is, to say the least, indefinite? What is the evidence of “trouble” in the clouds? Is it certain that no clouds on Mars are white? How about the clouds “twenty miles high” reported by Professor PICKERING? Were they not white?
These and similar telegrams from South America regarding the happenings on Mars in the year 1892 were received by the astronomers at the LICK Observatory with a kind of amazement.
Mare Imbrium
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
Ray debris from crater Copernicus can be seen cast across this distant region of Mare Imbrium.
The first crater visible to the southeast (upper left) is 20 kilometer Pytheas. Like many of the craters in this part of the lava covered floor, it is from the Eratosthenian period and unlike the younger Copernican period craters does not display fresh crater rays. Northward the largest crater in this sketch is Lambert (30 km.). The inner wall terraces as well as the central craterlet were visible but the buried ghost crater Lambert R was not seen to the south with the higher sun angle here. To the west of Lambert the pair of bright spots is mons La Hire a solitary lunar mountain and remnant of the lunar highlands not covered over by lava. North of mons La Hire and projecting straight to the northwest is Dorsum Zirkel a wrinkled ridge of 200 kilometers length. Another shorter ridge to the northwest is Dorsum Heim which arcs to the northeast of crater Caroline Herschel (14 km.). The crater to the west of Pytheas and Lambert is Euler a 28 kilometer shadowed floor cavity with a brightly illuminated inner wall on the western side. Beyond this crater to the west southwest is the irregular, complex mountain feature mons Vinogradov an old Imbrian feature. On to the north northwest along the terminator are craters Diophantus (19 km.) and Delisle (25km.) with mons Delisle in between and closer to the crater of the same name. A dorsum or ridge or perhaps a buried crater rim creates a sharp curving demarcation between illumination and darkness along the terminator.
I would have preferred to use higher magnification during this observation but the wind was gusty and making observation a challenge.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 8”x 11”, white and black Conte’pastel pencils and a blending stump. Brightness was slightly decreased (-2) and contrast increased (+3) after scanning using Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 12mm eyepiece 121x
Date: 4-16-2008 3:36 – 4:15 UT
Temperature: 9°C (48°F)
clear, windy
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 35.4°
Lunation: 10 days
Illumination: 82.9 %
Phase: 48.8°
Observing Location: +41°37′ .. +87° 47′
Frank McCabe
C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)
Sketch and Details by Martin Mc Kenna
Three jets issuing from the nucleus of C/2004 Q2 Machholz on Dec 28th at 18.22 LT and Dec 29th through the 8″ F/6.3 S. Cass at 49X. Over a period of several nights I could see the position of the jets changing due to the rotation of the comets nucleus. These jets were bright white linear, pencil thin features that were easy to see. CCD imagers confirmed my visual sighting several nights later. Machholz was an unusual comet as it stayed far from the sun, was visible all night high in a dark sky and was easy with the naked eye. Not all comets are so considerate as many bright new comers remain hidden within bright twilight close to the sun skirting the horizon.
I was delighted to be the first in Ireland to track down this comet – my first observation was made late on a winters night before Christmas using a Meade 3.5″ ETX from a nearby pitch – a location which let me see low down into the eastern sky. I found the comet quickly above distant rooftops and in good time to as 20 min’s later dense mist and murk obscured the this sky sector for days afterward!
Orion
Sketch by Wade V. Corbei
NGC 6300
Sketch by Eiji Kato
Lunar Eclipse of January 28, 1888
Painting and Details by Professor L. Weinek of Prague
The wonderful coloring of the moon, when more than one-half of its disc is immersed in the shadow of the earth, which, as we know, is produced by the refraction of the rays of the sun in the atmosphere of the earth itself has as yet not been faithfully reproduced by any one. While the eclipsed moon stands out glowing against the dark sky, it offers such a variety of the most delicate tints of red, brown and blue that the artist is inspired by the beautiful sight, and seeks to reproduce what he sees. Through similar impressions I was led to attempt the painting of the phenomenon of the 28th of January, 1888. Relying upon my color-memory I made notes during the eclipse of the colors and localities where they were to be seen, and the very next morning I executed the picture in water colors. Without relying upon one’s memory, the following would seem the safest method by which to make a correct picture of the appearance and values of colors seen at night. The night scene should first be painted at the telescope by the aid of lamp light. In this case, however, the color gradations, made by daylight, could not be relied upon, as artificial light changes the appearance of the colors considerably; the correct tints would have to be found by experiment. Moreover, this picture, having been produced by lamp light, would, if examined by day, give an entirely wrong impression of the true appearance of the original. Consequently it would become necessary to illuminate the picture by day with the same lamp, after excluding all other light (perhaps by placing the picture in a closed box and examining it through a suitable opening) and to look upon it as a new original, and then to copy it by daylight in the usual manner.
As regards my observations of this eclipse I refer to my article on the subject published in No. 2846 of the “Astronomische Nachrichten.” I observed with the six-inch STEINHEIL Refractor of the Prague Observatory, with a power of sixty diameters, and made my picture at 1 1h 18m Prague mean time. At this hour the rim of the umbra of the earth’s shadow passed through the centre of Mare Nectaris, through Mare Tranquillitatis and east of Mare Crisium as far as Mare Humboldtianum. Towards the bright portion of the moon the grayish black shading of the umbra assumed a smoky brown hue, in consequence of the penumbra of the earth ; whereas towards the eclipsed portion, south of Tycho and north of Lacus Mortis it changed to a bright blue tint, and still farther towards the northeast it turned to a most beautiful red, which may be described as being a subdued mixture of rouge de saturne and carmine; it exhibited almost all the detail of the lunar landscape, together with numerous bright objects. This red coloring was particularly beautiful over Mare Imbrium, Plato, Sinus Iridum, Copernicus, Kepler and Aristarchus, and extended in an easterly direction beyond Gassendi; while westerly from this crater Mare Nubium and Mare Humorum assumed a sombre black-brown aspect. The crater Aristarchus was as conspicuous among all other objects during the eclipse as it is when the moon is fully illuminated, owing to its remarkable brightness. In consequence of the technical difficulties which are encountered in the process of printing in colors, the relative values of the colors as well as the gradual decrease of the line of the shadow of the earth are not presented in the accompanying picture as correctly as might have been desired. On the whole, however, this reproduction may be called a satisfactory one.
Image and text published in Volume IV of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific – 1892, available at Google Books.
Jupiter
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez
Date (U.T.): July 21, 2007
Time (U.T.): 04:20
L1 300.0, L2 115.3, L3 012.3
Instrument: 9-inch (23-cm) F/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Magnification: 273x
Filters: None (IL)
Seeing (1-10): 6, Antoniadi (I-V): III
Transparency (1-6): 4-5
Notes:
South Polar Region (SPR): Appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10) and mottled.
South Temperate Zone (STZ): Appeared thin and bright (7/10).
South Temperate Belt (STB): Appeared thin and dark to dusky (3-4/10). No ovals noted at this time within it.
South Tropical Zone (STrZ): Appears bright (7/10) and contains the Great Red Spot (GRS) and a dull (5/10) band following the GRS.
Great Red Spot (GRS): Appears dusky to dull (4-5/10) with a dark (3/10) center. I was unable to time it as a tree blocked my view.
South Equatorial Belt (SEB): Appears irregular, especially preceding the Great Red Spot (GRS). The portion of the SEB preceding the GRS appears dark to dull (3-5/10) over it’s northern half whereas dusky (4/10), isolated condensations are noted along the typical southern border of the SEB. The SEB following the GRS appears dark to dusky (3-4/10) containing bright (7/10) ovals/rifts within it.
Equatorial Zone (EZ): Appears shaded to bright (6-7/10) and contains a band (EZB) across it’s midsection. Blue festoon projections (from blue festoons along the NEB-S) are also noted within it.
North Equatorial Belt (NEB): Appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10) with a bright (7/10) rift originating preceding the CM (over the southern border) and extending towards the following limb. Two blue festoon bases were noted along the southern border of the NEB.
North Temperate Belt (NTB): Appears north of the NEB as broad, dusky (4/10) band.
North Polar Region (NPR): Appears dark to dull (3-5/10) and mottled.
Hickson 70
Sketch and Commentary by Bill Ferris
Move cursor over image to see labels.
Hickson 70: Galaxy Cluster (Canes Venatici)
RA: 14h 04.2m / DEC: +33º 20′.3
Instrument: 18-inch Obsession
Hickson 70 resides in far eastern Canes Venatici. The magnificent M3 can be found just 7 degrees to the southwest. But this cluster presents more challenging fare. My sketch combines 199X and 272X views in the 18-inch Obsession. Seven member galaxies in this tightly-packed cluster are visible. Hickson 70A is cataloged as UGC 8990 (=MCG +06-31-59, PGC 50139) and is often misidentified as IC 4371. The 16.1(B) magnitude galaxy resides at 14 hrs., 04 min., 10 sec,; +33 deg., 20.3 minutes and is nearly centered in my sketch. It features a stellar core and covers a 0′.7 by 0′.3 area. Hickson 70D (=IC 4370, MCG +06-31-60) appears as a tiny, 16th magnitude smudge along the northern edge of Hickson 70A. About 2′ to the south, Hickson 70B (=IC 4371, MCG +06-31-61, PGC 50140) displays a stellar core embedded within a 0′.5 by 0′.3 oval glow. 11.0 magnitude SAO 63918 simmers another 2′.3 to the south. The thin sliver of light 2′ to the east of Hickson 70B is MCG +06-31-064. This 16.2(B) magnitude galaxy covers a 0′.5 by 0′.2 area and is aligned northeast to southwest. Three galaxies are grouped to the southwest of Hickson 70A. These include 16.2(B) magnitude Hickson 70E (=IC 4369, MCG +06-31-58, PGC 50134), 17.3(B) magnitude Hickson 70F (=MCG +06-31-57, PGC 50133), and 17.4 magnitude 2MASX J14040011+3319540. Hicksons 70E and 70F are very close to each other and just 1′.3 southwest of Hickson 70A. High magnification was needed to consistently separate the two.
