What Happened to the Great Red Spot?

Planet Jupiter and the Great Red Spot (GRS) - November 11, 1975
Planet Jupiter and the Great Red Spot (GRS) – November 11, 1975

Hey ASOD!

Why did the GRS get lighter and smaller after 1975?
As you see under my sketch, the GRS was brickred before a white spot became in
and passed the GRS on 9. nov. -75.
The GRS had allways a brick-red color before this happened, and since then, it
has been light red, orange or yellow!
The GRS was very easy to see on the disc of the planet before that!
Can anyone tell what happened?

I used color – pencils on black paper.
Loc.: Trondheim, Norway.

Best wishes Per-Jonny Bremseth.

Mel 20 the Alfa Persei Cluster

Mellote 20, Collinder 39 aka "The Alpha Persei Cluster"
Mellote 20, Collinder 39 aka “The Alpha Persei Cluster”

• Object Name: Mel 20
• Object type: Open cluster
• Location: Pelayo de la Presa Spain
• Date: December 22, 2013
• Media: Graphite Pencil HB 2 and 130g drawing sheet
• Inverted Color and processed: GIMP 2.8

– Search 9×50, 5th TFOV. Pedro Villamiel.

The image offered by this huge and remarkable cluster is, for me, the most rewarding of heaven.

Quietly watching him with binoculars is a pleasure.

October 8, 2014, Alcorcon-Madrid, Pedro Villamiel.

H alpha Sun sketch

Active regions, prominences, sunspots and plages on the Sun - September 28, 2014
Active regions, prominences, sunspots and plages on the Sun – September 28, 2014

Object Name Sun
Object Type H alpha with PST, XW-10
Location Tokyo japan
Date 2014/9/28
Media Black/red pencils on a white paper. Contrast adjusted with PC.

This my first submission to the site. I hope it is acceptable.
An M-class flare has erupterd at #2172 about one hour after this sketch. I could already see some active regions between the two sun spots.

Thanks.

Goldilocks & The 3 Sun Bears

Three prominences on the solar limb - September 11, 2014
Three prominences on the solar limb – September 11, 2014

Aloha!

While observing our ever changing Sun today I was struck by a grouping of prominences on the western limb. All of them of high intensity and curving towards the same direction. They made me think of the story of Goldilocks & The 3 Bears!

Cindy (Thia) Krach

Solar Sketch
Black Strathmore Paper
Pastel and colored pencils
60mm Lunt h-Alpha
56X
Maui, Hawaii

Webmaster’s note: Cindy has been instrumental in organizing a new Sketching Observing Award Program for the Astronomical League. Check it out here.

Comet Jacques & Struve 3053

Comet  C/2014 E2 (Jacques) in conjunction with Struve 3053  - August 24, 2014
Comet C/2014 E2 (Jacques) in conjunction with Struve 3053 – August 24, 2014

I found this comet in Cassiopeia the other night (August 24) near the colourful double star Struve 3053 and thought it made a nice composition. As I observed over the course of an hour I was surprised to see how quickly the comet moved against the background stars from the position I first sketched it at 11:15 local time to the position indicated by the X at about 12:10. The observations were made with a 120mm F/8.3 refractor at 42x in a 68 degree eyepiece from my Orleans, Ontario backyard.

Beta Monocerotis

The multiple (triple) star system, Beta Monocerotis
The multiple (triple) star system, Beta Monocerotis

Hi Asod! Last night I observed Beta Monocerotis, which is called the most beautiful multiple star of our skies. I also loved it, so I decided to sketch the star with my dobsonian telescope 10” f/5. Seeing was not bad, so with 250x I could note easily all the components; but colours were not simple to note, all of them seem to me white, bluish and greenish…
Wonderful star!

On the Horizon Near Mare Orientale

Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale - June 15, 2014
Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale – June 15, 2014
Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale, water color painting- June 20, 2014
Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale, water color painting- June 20, 2014

Goddess Selene showed me this beautiful old Lunar horizon landscape on the good seeing night on 15th 6. 2014.

I was very happy to see this view .

I opened covers of optics at soon after sun set , …. always the 35kg 18″ flat in front of the 13″ og cools slowly, the image saturn began to show encke minima when I started observing at 10 o’clark.
I was very tired then to give up observing as this 13″ never showed me a Lunar view that surpass 8″….. until now , I slept for 2-3 hours till 2 o’ clock ….. I woke up and again looked through the bino eyepieces.

The beautiful whole Lunar surface was there in incredible details that far surpass the 8″ even along the entire moon limbs… even in that low transparency night, then every skepticisms about the optical qualities shattered , vanished away.
The power of 13′ OG could penetrated twice times into the lunar horizon, so sketch span reduced from 70- 80 km of 8″ og to 30-40 km of 13″ og.

I was interested in water color painting when I was a high-school student and there is 40 years vacancy till worked again on this a lunar limb water -color picture.

…..Still work-able…, right?

Always clear nights, to all amateurs
K. S. Min

—————-

Object; Two mountains near Mare Orientale West Lunar limb

Observe/ Sketch for 2.5 hours; 15. 6, 2014

Water color painting for 2 hours ; 20. 6, 2014

13″ refractor, x 530, naglar 7s type 1

Lunation ; 16 day [14 day is incorrect]

Altitude of moon at 3 ;00 am; about 40 deg [maybe the amount of photons flow from that night’s moon came into the 13″ was 1/100 in compare with that from the clear cold winter nights’ high alt. moon ]

Location ; Backyard home in South. Korea

White paper [40 x30 cm] with pencils , [70x 40 cm] in color with brushes

Mars: 02:00UT May 31, 2014

Planet Mars - May 31, 2014
Planet Mars – May 31, 2014
Planet Mars - May 31, 2014
Planet Mars – May 31, 2014

Mars: 02:00UT May 31, 2014

Average seeing and transparency occurred during the entire observation time.
I was using a 6 mm eyepiece to get the magnification up to 241x.
The color version was made indoors after the graphite eyepiece sketch.

The north polar cap was small and clearly visible. Mare Acidalium appeared very dark and Niliacus Lacus appeared somewhat darker than during my observation one week ago. Sinus Meridiani, Sinus Sabaeus and Margaritifer Sinus were all clearly visible. Clouds were visible over Aeria and the parts of Syrtis Major just visible at the preceding limb. Clouds also covered Tharsis.

Equipment and Sketching:

This is an eyepiece sketch made with a HB graphite pencil, blending stumps, White Pearl eraser on white sketching paper and assorted colored pencils.
Date 05/31/2014 – Time 02:00 – 03:00 UT
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian on an equatorial platform and 6mm eyepiece 241x with a Neodymium filter
Temperature: 20°C (68°F)
Partly cloudy, calm
Transparency 3/5
Seeing: Antoniadi III

Mars: May 31, 2014; 02:00-03:00 UT
CM 355°, Dist. 0.79 AU
Dia. 11.9”, visual mag. -0.5
Illum. 91.4 %

Frank McCabe

Mars at Opposition 2014

Mars at  2014 Opposition - Chart is comprised of sketches from 19 separate observations
Mars at 2014 Opposition – Chart is comprised of sketches from 19 separate observations
Mars at Opposition 2014 - Chart is comprised of 19 separate sketches
Mars at Opposition 2014 – Chart is comprised of 19 separate sketches

Hello,
I made ​​19 drawings during the opposition of Mars in 2014, observed T400 x450 750. Prior work finalized in color, I kept on files other than the “gross eye” picture. This allows me to offer two world maps: one color, the other from these crude drawings.
The method:
– Flattening drawings with the “MAP” function IRIS software;
– Creation of a mosaic with a logicile retourche image of the best areas of each drawing.

Bonjour,
J’ai réalisé 19 dessins lors l’opposition martienne de 2014, observé au T400 x450 à 750. Avant le travail de finalisation en couleur, j’ai conservé sur des fichiers à part l’image “brute d’oculaire” . Cela me permet de vous proposer 2 planisphères : l’un en couleur, l’autre à partir de ces dessins bruts.
La méthode :
– mise à plat des dessins avec la fonction “MAP” du logiciel IRIS;
– réalisation d’une mosaique avec un logicile de retourche d’image des meilleurs zones de chaque dessin.

Serge

Mars: May 06, 2014

Mars - May 6th 2014
Mars – May 6th 2014
Mars - May 6th 2014 colorized
Mars – May 6th 2014 colorized

Mars: May 06, 2014

Earth’s atmosphere was only permitting a mediocre view at best.
To the south bright Hellas was visible up to the limb. Mare Tyrrhenum, Mare Cimmerium and southern Syrtis Major all appeared dark, contrasting nicely with lighter Libya and Aeria. The northern reaches of Syrtis Major appeared much lighter than the southern parts. Alcyonius Nodus was intermittently visible.
A portion of Elysium could be seen but was mostly cloud covered. Utopia and the North Polar cap were plainly visible. Limb haze was present on both the preceding and following limbs.
It is always a pleasure to view and attempt to make a sketch of Mars.

Equipment and Sketching:

This is an eyepiece sketch made with a HB graphite pencil, blending stumps, white Pearl eraser on white sketching paper. Colorized version made indoors from the eyepiece sketch and notes on the colors needed from colored pencils.
Date 05/06/2014 – Time 04:10 – 05:15 UT
Telescope: 13.1 inch f/5.9 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 333x with a Neodymium filter stacked on a neutral density filter; An Equatorial platform was also used
Temperature: 6°C (43°F)
Partly cloudy, breezy
Transparency 3/5
Seeing: Antoniadi III-IV

Mars: May 06, 2014 04:30 UT
CM254°, Dist. 0.66 AU
Dia. 14.15”, visual mag. -1.1
Illum.96.5 %

Frank McCabe