Been going through some of the sketches on these pages and I have to say I am blown away by the detail you guys have captured. Here is my first sketch of the moon since I was about 14 on my 4.5" Tasco Reflector.
I was looking for an interesting feature which stood out tonight and Vallis Schroteri really caught my eye along with bright Aristarchus. Was hoping to spend some time capturing more detail but the blood thirsty mozzies and clouds ended up shortening the sketch (even though just this took about 90 mins).
One thing I have remembered since my last sketch all those years ago is how much detail the moon has. At first glance you look at an area and think, yeah this will be quick and then as you get going you realise just how much detail there is!
Hey Jason, Vallis Schroteri and crater Aristarchus are amongst my favourite features of the Moon. You've done well to lay down the detail you have, with a dob too (I'm assuming that it's a push-pull one). Aristarchus itself is one of the brightest features on the Moon too. Yeah, mozzies can be a bugger. But the good thing is winter is around the corner - no mozzies and a more settled atmosphere to really up the magnification. If you don't get frost bite first...
Sinus Iridum - Bay of Rainbows.
How they named these features, I've got no idea.
Still, being three days after first 1/4 Moon, the Northern mountains forming Sinus Iridum shone out like a beacon. A really stunning feature this enourmous mountain range, Montes Jura, that rose out of the darkness of the terminator. Very striking indeed, with the arc of disconnected beads of light reaching out of the dark.
Sinus Iridum while seemingly featureless has a wealth of Lunar history to tell. It is the result of a very, very ancient massive impact that resulted in its floor being completely flooded by lava. BUT, it is much older than the neighbouring Mare Inbrium (Sea of showers). The hint to Iridum's antiquity comes from the Wrinkle Ridges that span its width. Wrinkle Ridges are the terminator line of lava flows. These lava flow stop-lines all run somewhat concentric from their origin within Mare Inbrium. As such, the floor of Sinus Iridum lies some 600m below that of the mean height of Mare Inbrium!
Volcanism within Iridum also didn't finish with its flooding. There are at least four "domes" or volcanos within it, one of which I've captured in my sketch, in the top left quadrant of Iridum, a tiny double lobed feature which is Heraclides 4 (the volcano, 3km dia.) and Heraclides E (4km dia.) [Promontorium Heraclides is the southern spur of the Montes Jura chain that surrounds Iridum]. The four main volcanic vents within Iridum all lie to the west of the line of wrinkle ridges that flow into it. Quite a story book of history this area.
While bereft of big impact craters, long examination of the area begins to reveal a patchwork of small ray craters. These are around the 3 to 5km mark in diameter, but their ray systems extends a little further out. These ray craters are all relatively new impacts.
I hope you enjoy this sketch.
Object: Sinus Iridum & Montes Jura (North is down)
Scope: C8, 8" SCT
Gear: 8mm Celestron Ultima LX, 250X
Date: 20th May, 2013
Location: Sydney, Oz
Duration: 1hr 50min
Media: White & grey soft pastel, black charcoal and white ink on A4 size black paper.
At last I've been able to put pencil to paper again. Weather and work couldn't conspire this time!
While scanning the terminator for interesting features, I'm always on the look out for interesting "apparitions". These could be alphanumeric symbols, or anything that the mind recognises as a familiar shape or thing. This time, a lovely collection of rimae and craters worked to form a butterfly! As the sketch developed, I found two other items that curiously form a pine tree in silhouette and an old cross with rounded ends.
I also found the crater Vieta to be an interesting item. A striking feature of Vieta is the bottom most section of the crater floor has a very much longer shadow of the rim wall cast across it than the top section. Two things could be at play here: either the rim wall is taller than the surrounding rim (unlikely), or the crater floor has collapsed in this area allowing for the shadow to appear to extend further out (more likely). A tell-tale sign is the small fissure that sits just above the extended shadow that reaches out to the central peak.
While conditions tonight could have been better, and it was a very cold night, it was a dry evening that saw no dew form at all!!! Wonderful stuff as the previous week had seen the mornings sodden with dew.
I've included a labelled picture of tonight's sketch to show the location of the various items.
Object: A butterfly, a pine tree and an olde cross
Scope: orange tube C8, 8" SCT
Gear: 8mm Celestron Ultima LX, 250X
Date: 20th July, 2013
Location: Sydney, Oz
Media: White, grey and black soft pastel & white ink on A5 size black paper
Time: approx. 2hrs
It's been a long time since I've been able to do a sketch. Work and the weather conspiring as usual. Tonight I took a chance. The Moon was still boiling in the eyepiece, but not as much as on other occasions, so I took the plunge. And I was richly rewarded.
As most times has it, I took some time to scan the lunar surface for eye catching features. Damned if this time it wasn't a shadow with an uncanny resemblance to our homeland, Oz!
The early morning shadow creeping across from crater Maurolycus' eastern rim bore quite a striking likeness to a map of Australia. A very busy place here, with heavy cratering making for slow and time consuming progress. As time wore on, conditions improved, and the occasions of crystal clear seeing revealed sooooo much cratering at I'd guess the sub 1km mark. This resulted in tonight's sketch being smaller than usual, or my eyes would have just fallen out of my head.
The lower part of the sketch shows an unusual outline of two overlapping craters, Faraday and Stofler. Sitting right on the terminator with just the very tips of their rims being illuminated by the Sun.
I hope you enjoy this sketch, and are also surprised by the "Australia" shadow on the Moon.
Mental.
Object: Maurolycus and "Australia" shadow
Scope: C8, 8" SCT
Gear: 8mm Celestron Ultima LX, 250X
Location: Sydney, Australia
Date: 11th Oct, 2013
There were a few excellent sketching candidates last night. Yet it was this amazing rile complex that ultimately did it for me. Ever since I saw my first rile as a little boy through my 2” Tasco, I’ve always had a soft spot for these.
I can’t say I’ve ever seen such a collection of riles. This system all seem to be co-centric – they probably are, and possibly came about as a result of the cooling of the ancient lava fields they sit in.
On first inspection, only three, short, co-centric arcs are immediately visible. As time progresses with the sketch, these same arcs can be seen to extend much, much further, and shorter riles also become visible. All these riles seem to develop their own menacing and rampant charcter, crashing through mountains, slicing through craters, and gouging their path through the plains of lava – nothing seems to stop them.
Much of the appeal of this rile system comes from the surrounding lunarscape. The plains, the mountain ranges, the terraced large craters, and the barely observable ‘craterlets’ – all of these are integral to making the rile network so striking.
This is a great system of riles to chase down. Their number and co-centric nature will make this rile system readily visible to novice’s eyes.
“A fractured Moon”
Object: Rimae Hippalus
Scope: C8, 8” SCT
Gear: 8mm LVW, 250X
Location: Sydney, Australia
Date: 13th November, 2013
Media: White and grey soft pastel, charcoal and white ink on A5 size black paper
Duration: 1.5hrs