Conjunction of the Moon, Venus and Mars on May 22nd, 2009
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez
I was able to view a Waning Crescent Moon (~23 degrees above the eastern horizon), a brilliant Venus (-4.32m,~31* above the eastern horizon) and Mars (1.35m, ~27* above the eastern horizon) over a lavender to bluish-gray clouded horizon. The trio was impressive over the hazy sky.
A digital image produced in Gimp.
Carlos
The Moon and Venus in Conjunction
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
Moon and Venus on the Morning of April 22, 2009
Before retiring for the evening I set my alarm clock to awaken at 4:30 am local time. I was not happy to see the sky heavily overcast but I did noticed that the sky to the east was clear from the horizon to about 12° up. Traveling due east for me would after 25 miles take you to the southern tip of Lake Michigan in Indiana. I could tell that this heavy cloud cover rolled in from the west while I slept but was not yet over the lake. I grabbed a pair of 8×50 binoculars and my sketching materials and climbed out a bedroom window onto the roof of my house to sketch. Originally I was hoping to use a telescope. At 5:00 am local time I could see both the waning crescent moon and Venus about 7° above the horizon. I noted the position of Venus relative to the moon and began sketching. Within 15 minutes the moon disappeared into the cloud layers followed by Venus and the view was over at about 5:16 am. The sky eventually cleared in the morning but the Lunar /Venus event was over by then.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 10″x 11″, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. Brightness was slightly decreased after scanning.
8 x 50mm binoculars
Date: 4-22-2009 10:00-10:16 UT
Temperature: 1°C (34°F)
mostly cloudy, breezy
Seeing: Below Average
Co longitude: 241.6°
Lunation: 26.75 days
Illumination: 9 %
Frank McCabe
Planet Venus near to the Sun
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
At about 2 pm local time my sky had cleared well enough to make an attempt to track planet Venus down during this early afternoon. The low humidity high pressure atmosphere that was overhead made this observation possible. Venus was about 13° North and 3° to the East of the sun and I knew I could safely block the sun from reaching my eyepiece using a large pine tree to block out the solar disk. Venus at the time of the observation was about -4th magnitude and 2.5 % illuminated. The disk of the planet was about 59” of arc in diameter and only 0.29 AU (27 million miles) from earth.
Sketching:
4.25″f/6 Newtonian 6mm eyepiece 107x
For this sketch I used: blue construction paper, 11″x 9″, a white Conte’ pastel crayon and a blending stump, for templating the planet as a circle I used a lens cap. Brightness and contrast were slightly increased (+2) after scanning.
Date: 3-21-2009 7:00-7:15 UT
clear skies, few clouds
Large numbers of greater sandhill cranes flying north
Frank McCabe
Venus on March 25th, 2009
Sketch and Details by Rafal Sikora
Venus
Planet
Przegedza near Rybnik, Poland
25.03.2009
Hello
Today I want to present a sketch which was made 25.032009 (about 3 days before conjunction with the Sun) during observations near my house in Przegedza. This day I really wanted to see Venus before the sunset, but, unfortunately, it was impossible to do for me.
Sketch made only with basic school pencil (HB).
Yours faithfully,
Rafal Sikora
The Conjunction of the Moon and Venus
Sketch and Details by Juan Perez (Juanchin)
Object: Moon / Venus conjunction
Date: February 27, 2009
Time: 19:15 LST / 02:15 UT
Location: El Mirage , Arizona USA
Instrument: Oberwerk 12×60 5.7 deg FoV
Detector: visual observation
Weather: Scattered Wispy/ translucent clouds; poor seeing; temperature-low 70’s
Comments: This amazing view consisting of double crescents is what caught my attention. Considering the cloudy situation, there were occasional breaks when I was able to get a good glimpse of the spectacle, giving me the chance to memorize some details for this sketch. The 1 degree or less separation of this waxing meets waning event was well worth waiting for the “clear” breaks. At most the seeing had a wispy fog like film in the atmosphere that gave Venus a glowing effect sort of when optical equipment gets plagued by dew.
The sketch was done using charcoal pencils; 2B 4B 6B; Reeves nylon hair paint brush for a stump;Strathmore drawing medium paper; Windows Paint for inversion, coloring and text.
Juanchin
The Planet Venus
Sketch and Details by Rafal Sikora
Venus
Planet
Przegedza near Rybnik, Poland
28 February 2009, 16:40 UT
seeing 3/5
Home Made Newtonian “Aurora” 227/1300 + barlow x2 + plossl 6.5mm
Sketch made with basic school pencil, nothing more. It is the first astronomical sketch I’ve done.
Planet Venus
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez
I made an observation of Venus on February 10, 2009 (00:30 U.T.) using my 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain (248x) under average to good seeing conditions (5-7/10). The central meridian was 271.7 degrees West, phase 35% (p 0.350), and apparent magnitude of -4.6. I was using a magenta (Wratten 30) filter, enhances both red and blue features and darkens green ones, to bring out the subtle albedo features over the Venusian cloud tops. I was able to make out delicate albedo features over the visible globe and especially along the terminator. Obviously they became more apparent when the seeing steadied for brief moments.
A digital image produced using Photoshop CS3.
Carlos
Venus over Brzeźno, Poland
Sketch and Details by Krzysztof Rajda
These two excellent sketches of Venus by Krzysztof Rajda demonstrate that the Planet presents wonderful views whether seen naked eye or through the eyepiece of a telescope. Superb work Kris!
Sketch information:
Obiect name:Venus
Place:Poland,Brzeźno
Date:09.01.2009
Amateur astronomer:Krzysztof Rajda
Venus seen through the telescope
Sketch and Details by Krzysztof Rajda
Sketch information:
Obiect name: Venus
Scope:SkyWatcher 150/750
Eyepiece:Vixen NLV9mm
Place:Poland,Brzeźno
Seeing:3/5
Date:05.01.08r
Technique:Pencil,graphics GIMP2
Amateur astronomer:Krzysztof(Kris)Rajda
Venus over Wroclaw, Poland
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla
Venus shining over Wroclaw city south horizon. Always beautiful.
Sketch information:
Object: Venus
Scope: Schmidt-Cassegrain 5” with Antares Speers-Waler 7,4mm
Filter: Baader Moon & SkyGlow, Meade #58 Green
Place: Poland, Wroclaw – near city center
Weather: Good. Seeing 7/10. Light Pollution.
Date: 29 December 2008.
Technique: Pencil and finger blur
Tooling: GIMP 2
Venus at higher power over Wroclaw, Poland
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla
and second sketch of Venus in the same time
Sketch information:
Object: Venus
Scope: Schmidt-Cassegrain 5” with Antares Speers-Waler 7,4mm
Filter: Baader Moon & SkyGlow, Meade #58 Green
Place: Poland, Wroclaw – near city center
Weather: Good. Seeing 7/10. Light Pollution.
Date: 29 December 2008.
Technique: White pastel and conte’ crayons on black paper
Tooling: N/A
Crescent Moon and Planet Gathering
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez
I was fortunate to have witnessed the grouping of the Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter again on December 29, 2008 (23:15 U.T.) with the addition of Venus. The Waxing Crescent Moon was now above the pair of Mercury and Jupiter. Mercury (-0.75m) was approximately 7.5 degrees above the western horizon, Jupiter (-1.51m) ~10 degrees, the Moon ~15 degrees, and Venus (-4.25m) ~33 degrees. Earthshine was easily visible over the unilluminated portion of the Moon. This grouping was very striking against a pastel blue sky with lavender clouds below over the western horizon.
A digital image produced using Gimp.
