The Young Desert Moon

The Young Desert Moon Just Past Sunset
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

The Young Desert Moon Just Past Sunset

I just returned to the cloudy Midwest this afternoon from a brief trip to Mesa, Arizona. On the evening of October 19th the beautiful sunset had just occurred and the search for the young waxing crescent moon began in earnest. A quick turn to the eastern sky and the dark portion of the Belt of Venus could be seen 3° above the horizon. Looking back to the southwestern horizon I spotted the 1.8 day old, 3.8% illuminated moon in the golden green glow in that part of the sky at 6:08pm local time (1:08 UT October 20, 2009).
While the sun was setting, I began to sketch the scene using a piece of copy paper and a number 2 pencil. I took careful notes on the sky colors, positions of trees, cactus and roof tops of homes in Sunland Village East where I was sitting while I made this pencil sketch. After arriving back in Oak Forest, Illinois, I converted the pencil sketch and notes into an oil pastel drawing on to white sketching paper.
I did not have access to a telescope at the time of this sketch but if I did I would have been looking at craters Neper, Gauss and Phillips the latter two along the lunar terminator and the former near the illuminated limb.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: medium weight white CPP sketching paper 9″x 12″,
Grumbacher oil pastels, blending stumps, plastic eraser, and a razor blade, redrawn from a graphite pencil sketch and notes
Telescope: none
Observation Date: 10-19-2009, 6:00-6:45 local time
Temperature: 32°C (90°F)
Clear, calm, warm
Seeing: very good
Lunation number 1074
Lunar age 1.82 days
Illumination 3.8 %

Mesa, Arizona

Frank McCabe