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Dear all, yesterday, the weather forecast promised a clear evening with just a few small cumuli, so I prepared everything for a lunar sketch: Putting the Dobsonian to the terrace, collecting the sketching material and dressing up for -2°C. In the end, the sketching session was not as relaxing as expected. There was some poor seeing due to the heatings from the houses here in the city, then neighbours opened the window and that lead to an outage of visibility for five minutes. When I then had done half of the sketch, the clouds became more and the moon was gone. So I had to finish the sketch in the north of Promontorium Laplace from memory afterwards. Here's the result: Telescope: Martini 10" f/5 truss-tube Dobsonian Eyepiece: ExploreScientific 6.7mm/82° Date & Time: February 11th, 2021 / 2015-2115 CET Location: home, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: Koh-i-Noor chalk, extra charcoal and whitecoal pens and pieces on black Hahnemühle Ingres mould-made pastel paper Size: 24x31cm Clear skies! Achim

Dear all, this morning, before going off to work, I started the day with a lunar sketch of lunar sunset before sunrise at home. I had put the 5" MAK outside over night, so it was properly cooled. Telescope: Celestron NexStar 127 SLT Eyepiece: Explore Scientific 6.7mm/82° Date & Time: January 16th, 2020 / 0715-0745 CET Location: Home terrace, Dusseldorf Region, Germany Technique: Koh-i-Noor chalk, extra charcoal and whitecoal pens and pieces on Seawhite of Brighton black sketching paper Size: appr. 20x30cm Clear skies! Achim

Dear all, today after work I enjoyed the sunny afternoon on our terrace with the Lunt H alpha telescope. Here's the sketch with natural charcoal of our pretty calm home star. Telescope: Lunt LS 50 THa B600 PT Eyepiece: Celestron X-cel 10mm Date & Time: April 6th, 1530-1615 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: natural vine charcoal on white Hahnemühle Ingres mould-made pastel paper Size: 24x31cm  Clear and sunny skies! Achim

Dear all, yesterday afternoon, the forecasts for the evening were good so I set up the 10" truss-tube Dobsonian on the terrace for cooling down. Actually in the evening the sky wasn't as clear as expected but the cirrostratus luckily did not harm too much. It could have been brighter but anyway ... So I tried my new 2x focal extender with the 10 inch scope for the first time and magnified up to 370x. Seeing was okay and I really enjoyed travelling along the terminator from Plato via Copernicus down to Clavius. For the 10"er the focal extender is really an enhancement when viewing the moon and conditions are okay: I saw much more detail in Clavius as I have ever observed before. This would have been a good sketching target but finally I decided to go for a sketch of the magificient Copernicus (named after the famous Polish astronomer by Giovanni Riccioli mid of the 17th century): The crater floor was still completely in darkness, one could only see the bright, round rim of this 93km wide crater. The terraced slopes were just partly in the lunar sunrise yet. Obviously the central peaks are as expected lower than the rim - they were still hidden in the darkness. The two craters north of it are Gay-Lussac A and Gay-Lussac on the way to the Montes Carpates with their eastern parts already visible. Here's the sketch: Telescope: Martini 10" f/5 truss-tube Dobsonian Eyepiece: Explore Scientific 6.7mm/82° with Explore Scientific 2x focal extender Date & Time: Jan 22nd, 2021 / 1900-2000 CET Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: Koh-i-Noor charcoal, whitecoal and chalk blocks and pens on black sketching paper Size: 11"x11" Clear skies! Achim

Dear all, today morning I had a look at the GONG network images on the internet and set up my telescope to have a look at that awesome large prominence on the southeastern limb of our home star. First I concentrated on a sketch of just that wonderful prominence. After that, I created - as usual - a sketch of the full solar disc. I noticed that the prominence already had changed during my sketching time. Telescope: Lunt LS 50 THa B600 PT Eyepiece: TS HR Planetary 7mm Date & Time: June 28th, 2019 / 1045-1145 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: natural vine charcoal on white Hahnemühle Ingres mould-made pastel paper Size: 24x31cm  Clear (and sunny) skies! Achim

Dear all, as usual, I couldn't resist to create yet another charcoal sketch of the H alpha sun. It is relaxing for me to observe the proms and filaments and to try to catch them "as they are" on the paper. At first glance, the sun looks pretty similar - just at second glance and comparison with my other sketches, I have seen that it looks similar but always a bit different. The disc and the prominences are done with natural charcoal, just for the filaments, I needed a Koh-i-Noor artificial charcoal pen since it's darker. Telescope: Lunt LS 50 THa B600 PT Eyepiece: Celestron X-cel 10mm Date & Time: July 1st, 2019 / 1015-1045 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: natural vine charcoal and Koh-i-Nor charcoal pen on white Hahnemühle Ingres mould-made pastel paper Size: 24x31cm Clear (and sunny) skies! Achim

Dear all, today I had a look at the GONG H alpha network monitor (http://halpha.nso.edu/) and figured out that the filaments of the past week have now reached the solar limb and at least the final one of it appeared as wonderful set of prominences. On my left/right-mirrored sketch this is the one in the lower left sector - if I consider the 5 hours difference of daytime compared with the previous sketches correctly. So, here's the sketch: Telescope: Lunt LS 50 THa B600 PT Eyepiece: Celestron X-cel 10mm Date & Time: June 14th, 2019 / 1500-1530 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: natural vine charcoal on white Hahnemühle Ingres mould-made pastel paper Size: 24x31cm Clear (and sunny) skies! Achim

Dear all, today once again, I did a charcoal sketch of our star bringing us 33°C before lunch time. The solar "north pole" is approximately at the prominence at the top of the sketch. The sketch is right-left flipped. Beside the orientation of the north pole, I figured out on the internet that the bright spot in the left area of the sketch is AR12745. The disc and parts of the prominences is done with natural charcoal. The filament and the dark areas of the prominences are done with the charcoal pen. Telescope: Lunt LS 50 THa B600 PT Eyepiece: Celestron X-cel 10mm Date & Time: July 23rd, 2019 / 1130-1200 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: natural vine charcoal and Koh-i-Nor charcoal pen on white Hahnemühle Ingres mould-made pastel paper Size: 24x31cm Clear (and sunny) skies! Achim

Dear all, today at 30°C, I had a look to the H alpha sun the first time in summer this year. Here's the natural charcoal sketch of it: Telescope: Lunt LS 50 THa B600 PT Eyepiece: Celestron X-cel 10mm Date & Time: June 23rd, 2019 / 1200-1230 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: natural vine charcoal on white Hahnemühle Ingres mould-made pastel paper Size: 24x31cm  Enjoy the summer with clear (and sunny) skies! Achim

Dear all, yesterday evening, I started observing the moon and sketching crater Copernicus even 15min before sunset. The contrast on the moon wasn't perfect yet, but on the other hand the contrast on the sketching paper was better - no need for LED. Copernicus with its prominent ray system is wonderfully appearing on the full moon but this time I just concentrated on the 96km crater itself: Telescope: Celestron NexStar 127SLT Eyepiece: ExploreScientific 6.7mm/82° Date & TIme: June 12th, 2019 / 2130-2230 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: Koh-i-Noor chalk and charcoal pens on black sketching paper Size: appr. 30x30cm Looking in my filed skeches, I figured out that I have visited Copernicus five years ago. Here's a comparison of the two sketches showing some changes in technique: Clear skies! Achim

Dear all, this morning, I woke up because of lightning and thunder here in Dusseldorf area. After the thunderstorm had moved away towards northeast- and before the next bunch of clouds appeared, I enjoyed the sunshine on the home terrace. To maximize my joy, I set up the H-alpha-telescope to have a look at the solar "weather". This time I once again chose natural vine charcoal which is made of the very same atoms than the solar nucleus: carbon. The prominence on the top limb of my sketch was pretty tricky to sketch its set of needle-sharp "rays" in front of the foggy background. Let me share this sketch here as my second contribution to the solar imaging challenge: Telescope: Lunt LS 50 THa B600 PT Eyepiece: Celestron X-cel 10mm Date & Time: June 3rd, 2019 / 1000-1030 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: natural vine charcoal on white Hahnemühle Ingres mould-made pastel paper Size: 24x31cm Clear (and sunny) skies! Achim

Dear all, this morning, I woke up because of lightning and thunder here in Dusseldorf area. After the thunderstorm had moved away towards northeast- and before the next bunch of clouds appeared, I enjoyed the sunshine on the home terrace. To maximize my joy, I set up the H-alpha-telescope to have a look at the solar "weather". This time I once again chose natural vine charcoal which is made of the very same atoms than the solar nucleus: carbon. The prominence on the top limb of my sketch was pretty tricky to sketch its set of needle-sharp "rays" in front of the foggy background. Telescope: Lunt LS 50 THa B600 PT Eyepiece: Celestron X-cel 10mm Date & Time: June 3rd, 2019 / 1000-1030 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: natural vine charcoal on white Hahnemühle Ingres mould-made pastel paper Size: 24x31cm Clear (and sunny) skies! Achim

Dear all, yesterday evening I have chosen the lunar crater J. Herschel (named after British astronomer John Herschel from 19th century, the son of William Herschel) which exposed a pretty convexed floor in the rising sun. The crater has a diameter of about 150 km and lies at the northern "coast" of Mare Frigoris. The sketch starts with Harpalus in the South, then you can see the 24 km crater Horrebow (named after a Danish astronomer from 17th century) just at the southern rim of J. Herschel. At the northern end of my sketch we have the 71 km crater Philolaus. The dominating crater J. Herschel (too be precisely a walled plain) has a quite rough surface which is said to be caused by ejecta from the impact that formed the Mare Imbrium. This rough structure and its convexed shape resulted in a nice three-dimensional appearance. Southeast of it, I sketched the secondary craters J. Herschel F and la Condamine B which are located in Mare Frigoris. So here's the sketch: Telescope: Celestron NexStar 127 SLT Eyepiece: Explore Scientific 14mm/82° (due to the poor seeing, I couldn't go for the 6.7mm/82°) Date & Time: January 6th, 2020 / 1845-1945 CET Location: Backyard, Dusseldorf Region, Germany Technique: Koh-i-Noor chalk, extra charcoal and whitecoal pens and pieces on Seawhite of Brighton black sketching paper Size: appr. 20x30cm And finally here's a photo of my observation place: Clear skies! Achim

Dear all, yesterday evening, I went for a sketch of one of my favourite lunar craters: Plato. Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT Eyepiece: TS HR Planetary 7mm Date & Time: Feb 16th, 2016 / 2025-2120 CET Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: chalk-, whitecoal- and charcoal pens on black sketching paper Hope you like it! Clear skies! Achim

Dear all, yesterday evening, I set up my Celestron 5" MAK with Baader Maxbright Bino on the GoTo-Mount (Nexstar SLT) to have a look at our rocky companion in near space. First I just enjoyed the binocular view of the lunar surface: The trio Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel looked great but for sketching, the terminator had already gone a bit too far. The shadows were already pretty short, especially those of the large, flat crater Ptolemaeus. So I went north and was impressed by the wonderful view of eastrn Mare Imbrium. The famous triple Autolycus, Aristillus and Archimedes looked great and the mare ridges in the low lunar morning appeared very threedimensional. Further north the flat crater Cassini and the famous Vallis Alpes were prominent landmarks. But as usual I wasn't happy with just observing, so "Hhhmm, what should I sketch now?" The whole eastern arc of Mare Imbrium would have been a wonderul target but I didn't plan a longer session. I wanted to sketch just a single crater, so I picked the largest one in the area: Archimedes (which had been on my target list for some time already). Here's the result: Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT Eyepieces & Accessories: 10mm "Super", Baader Maxbright Binoviewer, TS diagonal Date & Time: March 16th, 2016 / 2030-2110 CET Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: chalk-, whitecoal- and charcoal pens on black sketching paper The flat, peakless interior reminded me of crater Plato but the volcanic material in Archimedes was a bit brighter. The shadow of the eastern crater rim covered almost half of the crater floor. The western rim shone bright in the sun. The hilly "peninsula" outside the southeastern crater rim and the northern parts of the Montes Archimedes looked pretty bright as well. The hilly area inbetween was showing a scattered mixture of brighter parts and dark shadowed areas. North of the crater, the western ridge of Sinus Lunicus was visible as dark ark in the low lunar morning sun. The small peak a the south of it produces a long triangular shadow. An hour later I had a peek on Jupiter with two moons and shadows on his clouds but the seeing wasn't good enough to see more than the GRF and Ganymede's shadow. Anyway, since Jupiter was not the main target of this evening, I wasn't too disappointed. Clear skies! Achim

ear all yesterday evening, I did a small chalk/charcoal sketch of the moon with the 3" MiniDob. I hope you like it. Telescope: Skywatcher Heritage 76/300 Eyepiece: Skywatcher UWA 5mm/58° Date & Time: April 29th, 2130-2200 CEST Location: home, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: chalk and charcoal pens on black sketching paper Size: 4" in diameter Clear skies! Achim

Hi all, tonight, the clouds vanished for some hours so I set up the Dobsonian on the terrace and did a lunar sketch again. Telescope: Martini 10" f/5 Truss tube Dobsonian Eyepiece: Skywatcher 5mm UWA 58° Date & Time: Feb 3rd, 1800-1900 CET Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: chalk and charcoal pens on black sketching paper Size: 11"x11" Literature: Craters of the Nearside Moon, Features of the Nearside Moon (both by John Moore) Right in the center of the 200km Rima Hyginus, there's Hyginus itself which - as per Moore -- is assumed to be a volcanic caldera instead of an impact crater. Southwest of it there is the crater Hyginus A. Further to the west and south, Rimae Triesnecker lead to the crater Triesnecker whose northwestern rim wasn't illuminated yet. Clear skies! Achim

Hi all, yesterday evening I got cold fingers at -3°C when sitting behind my 5" MAK doing a sketch of lunar crater Eratosthenes. Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT Eyepiece: Skywatcher 5mm UWA 58° Date & Time: Jan 6th, 2017 / 1740-1840 CET Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: natural charcoal and chalk on black sketching paper Size: 11"x11" Image is mirror-reversed. Eratosthenes is about 58km in diameter and is located at the western end of the Apennines. On the sketch you can see as well the western rim of the low crater Stadius (SE of Eratosthenes) and the craters Eratosthenes C and Wolff B. Clear skies! Achim

Hi all, yesterday evening, I could do yet another lunar sketch with my tiny 3" Mini Dobsonian. Round about one and a half day before the full moon, there were still some craters at the western limb favourably lit showing fine shadows. Telescope: Skywatcher Heritage 76/300 Eyepiece: Skywatcher Planetary 5mm Date&Time: October 25th, 2120-2205 CET Place: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: chalk and charcoal pencils on black sketching cardboard Size: 3" Diameter Hope you like it! Clear skies, Achim

Hi all, after the clouds vanished later in the evening, I set up the 10" Dobsonian in the courtyard and went for a lunar sketch. This time I had to start with 10mm eyepiece since the seeing wasn't proper in the beginning. Later on I could change to 5mm giving 250x. So here's my sketch of Mare Nectaris region: Telescope: Martini 10" f/5 Dobsonian Eyepieces: 10mm Celestron X-cel and 5mm Skywatcher Planetary Date & Time: Dec 30th, 2015 / 0015-0130 CET Place: home courtyard, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: Koh-i-noor chalk and charcoal pencils on black Daler Rowney Ebony sketching paper Lunar age: 19 days Hope you enjoy it! Clear skies! Achim