Mike73

Thanks Pete, Rory, Rev. :)

Sat24 showed a three hour gap in the clouds and gave me enough time to explore day 13 of the moon.... The three named craters in this sketch show along the terminator. The largest crater at the top is Pythagoras, 130km in diameter with steep 5000m cliffs and a double central mountain (although only one showed at the time of the sketch). Oenopides is next with steep terraced cliffs, 68km at its widest point and suffers the same crushed walls as Pythagoras from the walled plain Babbage in the centre. Right at the bottom of the sketch is Markov the smallest crater at 41km in diameter and with 2400m cliffs. Telescope / 4" f/11 Lyra EP / 3/6mm Nagler zoom at 6mm x183 Temp / 2˚C Transparency / average Antoniadi III Colongitude 65.6˚ Phase 26.6˚ Lunation 12.99 days

Thanks Rob and its great having the encouragement from you guys but I've been learning to sketch almost by trial and error and I wouldnt like to pass on any of my bad habits or mistakes, maybe one day when I'm more confident in my drawings... I'd love to see more people sketch though, it looks harder than it actually is and I think that puts people off. I'm really shocked just how good the views of the moon have been from such a small aperture frac! Happy days! :)

Crater Parry at the top of the sketch has a diameter of 47km and although its heavily damaged and lava flooded, steep cliffs still surround it and cast an ink black shadow which really stood out and was the reason for sketching this area. Below Parry is the walled plain Guericke at 63km its larger but heavily eroded and partly open to Mare Nubium. Telescope / 4" f/11 Lyra EP / 3-6mm Nagler zoom at 5mm x220 Date 20/1/13 Temp / -1˚C Transparency / clear Antoniadi II Colongitude 17.5˚ Phase 69.4˚ Lunation 9.04 days Sketched with Conte pastels and charcoal on a 12"x8" sketch pad. Last night was the first time using my little 4" Lyra on the moon....By the time I finished the sketch my teeth were cold and my jaw was aching from grinning so much, it really is a cracking little scope with hardly any CA visible and teamed up with the Nagler zoom it proved to be a winning combo!! The whole point in getting the Lyra was to get out and enjoy whatever clear skies we get, if I didnt have it I wouldnt have gone out last night. Stood up nudging a big dob whilst trying to juggle with bits of charcoal and pastels isnt the way to make a lunar sketch believe so the I think the Lyra is here to stay for a long time. :)

Excellent sketch and really enjoyed the write up Rob. Your written notes work really well with the sketch and is something for me to aspire to. Happy new year Rob :)