A First Sketch of Copernicus Crater

Copernicus Crater
Copernicus Crater and Surroundings
Sketch and Details by Ferenc Lovró

This is my first ever Moon-sketch, displaying craters Copernicus, Fauth and Gay-Lussac with some other sub-craters and domes not noted on the sketch. This is my actual sketch done at the eyepiece, no alterations were made after manually or digitally, other than resizing. It took about 45 minutes to finish, and I’m quite satisfied with it, although I’ve found that sketching the Moon is indeed very hard and very different from sketching deep space objects. Perhaps I should not finish Lunar sketches at the eyepiece but create only drafts with different markings for different shades and create the actual sketch in the warmth of the room. As an additional difficulty, the sky was 100% covered with a thin layer of cloud which kept the image in constant change, only 1 or 2 stars were visible here and there. Moon phase was about 69%.

Equipment: 12″ f/5 Newtonian
Magnification and filter(s): 250x + 30% neutral filter
Seeing: 4/10 Transparency: 1/5
Date/Time: 2009.12.26 17:15 UT
Location: Nádasdladány, Hungary

Object: Copernicus crater – Artist: Ferenc Lovró – Sketch Date: 12-26-09 – Sketch Location: Nádasladány, Hungary

2 thoughts on “A First Sketch of Copernicus Crater”

  1. You selected one of the most complicated areas of the Moon to draw… 🙂 Congratulations!

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