Secret Still Observatory

'I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the Moon'

The Crater Archimedes

Sketch made on Moon day 8

Mark

1 minute read

Sketched with white and black charcoal on black paper at the eyepiece over 30 mins between 20h and 21h UT, so the sketch was in fact started before the fall of darkness. Archimedes lies exactly on the illuminated side of the terminator.

Mark

1 minute read

Photographed with the Moon at first quarter at precisely the day/time that this transient effect is visible. I was looking along the terminator and attempting to identify some of the prominent craters when all of a sudden this jumped out at me. I swear that if I had tried to find it it would have taken hours! The effect is actually only visible for approx four hours or so on one day a month when the Moon is at first quarter (lunar day 6.9). The next date it is visible is the 17th March by my…

Mark

1 minute read

I thought it was worth trying sketching again considering the diabolical weather. This is done with white charcoal pencil on black cartridge paper (and so isn’t reversed in the scan). This I found actually much easier than sketching in pencil. It shows the craters Orontius, Saussure, Huggins, Nasireddin and Miller and is drawn from a photo taken at 21h15 on 28th April this year.

Jupiter (Early Morning)

A sketch of Jupiter very close to sunrise

Mark

1 minute read

This morning gave a really excellent view of Jupiter in the Dobsonian. The sky was lightening constantly as I watched and the reduction in contrast against the sky I believe enhanced considerably the view and removed any diffraction spiking that might have intruded. Venus as a semi-crecent and Sirius were also prominent.

Recent posts

Categories