Sketches 11&12 Sept

[michaellxv]

Sat 11th I went to Stockport with only half an expectation of clear skies and that's what we got.

Early on the Moon and Venus looked great together. They looked to be almost at the same phase.

An interesting formation to the south of Mare Crisium caught my attention. A mounain? area that looked like a starfish. See first sketch although I haven't captured it very well.

We were dodging clouds all night and the dew got the better of me.

I was also able to enjoy some views through a 12" colapsable Skywatcher before it too sucumbed to the dew.

Jupiter improved as it rose. We saw the transit of Europa.
NGC253 was great. Very bright in the central region and visible to the edge of the FOV.
NCG104 also looked great with resolved stars all throughout.

Sun 12th back at home looked like a promising night. I went on the hunt for M57. Found where it should be and that's all. See second sketch :rofl:not sure if this really counts for the September challenge.

Then turned to Jupiter and watch as Io moved in for a transit. For the first time conditions and timing were right for me to see the GRS :2thumbs:. Can't get take a photo so I drew a picture.

Started having problems with the power cable falling out so I called it a night.

PS. Almost forgot to add, this afternoon I saw my first sunspot too.

[Paddy]

Well done Michael. I haven't had the courage to attempt moon sketching yet, but it will come. I'm not sure why you're so coy about your M57. Looks good to me.

It is amazing, that first spotting of the GRS. And I reckon every subsequent one is just as good. And the moon transits also never lose their magic.

[michaellxv]

Well, you could say my M57 is 100% accuarate to what I saw, which was nothing. I did not put pencil to paper to M57 itself, the 3 dots are the stars where I was looking.

The moon can look overwhelming when you first look at sketching it. The trick to getting started is focus on the big structures first and don't try to do too much.

e.g. Pick a crater and start with just its basic outline shape. Very rarely is this going to be a circle. From there you can start adding details, again the biggest things first. Nearby smaller craters, a central peak, shadows around the crater wall etc. The longer you look and draw the more detail you get onto the paper.

One of the things I find very hard is getting different levels of shading.

[Paddy]

:rofl:I thought the one at about 8 o'clock was the nebula.

[orestis]

nice sketches,

regards orestis:thumbsup:

ps-i haven't seen the grs yet should try one day