Crater Posidonius at Sunset

Lunar crater Posidonius and environs at sunset - August 7, 2012
Lunar crater Posidonius and environs at sunset – August 7, 2012

Crater Posidonius at Sunset

On this night I watched the sunset terminator creep slowly toward ring-plain crater
Posidonius; in addition I sketched the crater and other features on the floor of Mare Serenitatis. Posidonius (96 km.) is an old upper Imbrian era impact remnant. Its age is underlined by the way shadows penetrate the rim at numerous points betraying impact damage there. The highest part of the rim is on the terminator side of this crater. Sunlight was still reaching Posidonius A and other high points on ridges including one on the inner ring. Beyond this crater to the west and south the great serpentine ridge could be seen in best light. This ridge is made up of dorsa Smirnov and dorsa Lister.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper 9″x 12″, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. After scanning, Brightness was decreased just slightly using my scanner.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 241x

Date: 08-07-2012, 06:30 – 07:40 UT

Temperature: 29°C (85° F)
clear, calm

Seeing: Antoniadi III

Colongitude 147.9 °

Lunation 19 days

Illumination: 73.4 %



Frank McCabe

Luna Through Cloud

The six day old crescent Moon through the clouds - April 16, 2013
The six day old crescent Moon through the clouds – April 16, 2013

Not really an astronomical observation more a romantic interlude.

Best to all, Dale

Do you want to know more about my interest in astronomy? If so take a look at my Website: http://www.chippingdaleobservatory.com/

Keep up to date with observations from Chippingdale Observatory by reading the Blog http://www.chippingdaleobservatory.com/blog/

Lunar craters Aristoteles and Mitchell

Lunar craters Aristoteles and and Mitchell - November 28, 2014
Lunar craters Aristoteles and and Mitchell – November 28, 2014

Hi,

Tonight I could do yet another lunar crater sketch:

Object Name: Aristoteles and Mitchell
Object Type: Lunar Crater
Location: Germany, Dusseldorf area
Date: 2014-11-28, 1910-1940 CET
Media: chalk pencil and charcoal pencil on black sketching cardbox
Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT
Eyepiece: TS HR Planetary 7mm
Clear skies!

Achim

Lunar craters Snellius and Stevinus

Lunar craters Snellius and Stevinius - November 25, 2014
Lunar craters Snellius and Stevinius – November 25, 2014

Hi,

yesterday evening, I got the opportunity to do another chalk/charcoal sketch of the moon. Here we go with my sketch of craters Snellius and Stevinus. Due to the bad seeing, I couldn’t go beyond the 10mm eyepiece this time.
Object Name: Snellius and Stevinus
Object Type: Lunar Crater
Location: Germany, Dusseldorf area
Date: 2014-11-25, 1715-1745 CET
Media: chalk pencil and charcoal pencil on black sketching cardbox
Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT
Eyepiece: Celestron X-cel 10mm
Clear skies!

Achim

Rabbit on the Moon

The Rabbit on the Moon, a naked eye sketch showing a commonly recognized pattern - November 5, 2014
The Rabbit on the Moon, a naked eye sketch showing a commonly recognized pattern – November 5, 2014

Rabbit On The Moon
Lunar Observing Pattern
Pilanesberg Game Reserve South Africa
5th November
Jet Black Canford Paper with White Pastel Pencil. Used a smartphone to take a picture and crop.
Sketched on holiday in South Africa – The ‘Rabbit on the Moon’ pattern really jumps out at you from Southern Skies and creates a whole new observing experience if you are used to the Northern hemisphere.

Total Lunar Eclipse

The Total Lunar Eclipse of October 8th 2014 as seen from the skies north of Catherine, Australia
The Total Lunar Eclipse of October 8th 2014 as seen from the skies north of Catherine, Australia
Detail of background sketch of full Moon that had color applied
Detail of background sketch of full Moon that had color applied

Total Lunar Eclipse of October 8, 2014, observed T250, Australia, north of Katherine. Nice atmosphere in the twilight moonrise partially eclipsed silhouetted against the red cliffs. This string is selected among the eight drawings, sketches showing the COLLECTED colors and visibility of lunar formations.
Full Moon déssinée the eve of the eclipse. It served as the background image for the realization of the rosary.
Sincerely
Serge

Lunar Crater Copernicus

Lunar crater Copernicus - November 3, 2014
Lunar crater Copernicus – November 3, 2014

Lunar Crater Copernicus

Across the Carpathian Mountains resting on the eastern Ocean of Storms is the
landmark crater of the Sea of Islands, mighty Copernicus. Copernicus is a 95
kilometer diameter complex crater that begins to show itself in all its majesty
two days past first quarter. During the time of “Snow-Ball Earth” 800 million
years ago the event that created Copernicus suddenly occurred. What remains is a
3.8 kilometer deep hummock covered flat floored, centrally peaked, terrace walled
spectacular sentinel. Especially during high sun the bright ray system of this
crater can be seen extending from the base of the glassy glacis in all directions.
The descent from the rampart to the mare floor below is about one kilometer. Three
of five peaks were clearly visible in morning sunlight. In 1999 the Clementine
near infrared camera detected magnesium iron silicates in the peaks indicating
rebound of this deep rock through the surface crust following the impact event.
To view this impressive crater all you need is a good pair of binoculars and an
opportunity between two days past first quarter and one day past last quarter.
Weather permitting, you can see it tonight.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 9”x 12”, white and
black Conte’pastel pencils and a blending stump.

Telescope: 13.1 inch f/5.9 Dobsonian and 9mm eyepiece 218x
Date: 11-03-2014, 00:45 – 02:10 UT
Temperature: 0°C (32°F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 23.2°
Lunation: 8.9 days
Illumination: 69.3 %
Phase: 67.4°

Frank McCabe

Lunar Crater Clavius

Lunar crater Clavius - November 1, 2014
Lunar crater Clavius – November 1, 2014

My sketch of lunar crater Clavius together with smaller craters Porter and Rutherfurd at the top of the drawing. Clavius measures 225km in diameter and is located near the southern pole of the Moon. It is named after Christophorus Clavius, a 16th century German mathematician and astronomer.

Regards,

Alexei Pace
Astronomical Society of Malta

Occultation of Saturn by the Moon

The Occultation of Saturn by the Moon - October 26, 2014
The Occultation of Saturn by the Moon – October 26, 2014

Object Name (Saturn, Moon first croissant)
Object Type (Occultation)
Location (Artignosc-sur-Verdon, France )
Date (2014 Oct 26)
Media (graphite pencil, watercolour, white paper, Paint.net for inversion and crop)
Occultation of Saturn by the Moon

Here join a watercolour I made while Saturn just leaves the very young moon.
That was a very nice spectacle indeed!
The original sketch was done in B&W on white paper; the small brilliant point on the very end of the moon croissant was used to define the Saturn disk intensity.
The colours were added in my workshop and the inverted while scanning.
During the emersion (17:17 UTC) the moon was less than 4° up my horizon and the sun was only 6° behind. So the sky was still clear.
The observation was made with a 102 f/10 refractor and a 10mm Delos EP, no filters.

Clear sky to you all !

Michel Deconinck

The Aristarchus Plateau

The Aristarchus Plateau, the lunar crater Aristarchus and environs - October 5, 2014
The Aristarchus Plateau, the lunar crater Aristarchus and environs – October 5, 2014

The Aristarchus Plateau, the lunar crater Aristarchus and environs – October 5, 2014[/caption]The Aristarchus plateau is one of the biggest and most spectacular volcanic regions in the Moon. With good seeing and the Moon high above the horizon, the region was impressive on October 5th, when it was near the terminator. Vallis Schröteri, the giantic lava channel meanders through the plateau starting from the famous Cobra Head vent, which is now mostly under shadow. The Aristarchus crater has a very bright wall with two dark bands; and to its north, Rupes Toscanelli stands out nicely. Finally, to the south of the plateau, the Herodotus Omega dome is easy to see, thanks to the oblique illumination.

Sketch: 2HB graphite pencil on white paper, scanned and processed with Photoshop CS3
Object Name: The Aristarchus Plateau
Location: Asturias, Spain
Date: October 5th, 2014 21:30-22:30 UT
Instrument: 120mm f/8.3 refractor + Barlow 2x + UWA 6,7mm (300x)
Observing report (in Spanish): https://sites.google.com/site/astrodgonzalez/observaciones/201410-aristarco
Best regards,
Diego González