After observing Saturn early on the morning of 4th February, I shifted my C11 telescope to the Moon.
The 60km diameter crater Bullialdus was prominent in Mare Nubium, with stark shadows and multiple central peaks showing in this illumination. After a quick pencil sketch, I took a photograph and some time later sketched the scene, using soft pastels on white paper.
North is to the top. The two craters below Bullialdus in the centre are Bullialdus A and B respectively. Above and to the left is the large flooded crater Lubiniezky .
It was worth the effort getting up at 4am to take advantage of the excellent seeing conditions and a phase of the moon I don’t often observe.
Details:
Crater Bullialdus in Mare Nubium, C11 (280mm SCT, 2.5x Barlow)
Adelaide, South Australia, February 4th 2013, 5:00 am local time.
Soft pastels on white paper.
-Ivan
Ivan, great sketch and very effective technique giving excellent depth and texture, thanks for sharing 🙂
Dale UK
Ivan,
Beautiful sketch, it looks like a carving in sandstone. I love it.
Frank 🙂
Thank you Dale. I’m still experimenting with pastels. I’m finding better results on white paper than black for now.
Frank, thanks for the kind comment.
-Ivan