My Astronomy Class - sketching Activities

[Ad Astra]

Hello Folks!

One of the things that I teach in my astronomy class is that a sketch at the EP is not ART - rather it should be an accurate scientific document recording what you see. While it is true that professionals (and many amateurs!) use cameras and CCD's for this today, most beginners don't own one of these. Even if you do, the ability to sketch well is valuable and fun!

Two activities are attached -

Lab Skills: Sketching with the Clock Method is designed to help you learn how to accurately place features that you see on a sketch. The activity stresses the four principles of an accurate scientific sketch: correct placement, size, orientation, and alignment. Almost everything we see in astronomy is round - Luna, Mars, Jupiter, not to mention the field of view in every EP and binocular! We use the idea of the clock divided into 12 hours to help you learn to make an accurate sketch.

Sketching Luna is real life practice for your 'clock method' sketching skills. Use first binoculars to sketch the entire lunar disk, then move on to the EP of the telescope at 100-150x and choose an interesting area to sketch at higher power. We use only 7x50 bins and 150mm dobs for this, but if you have a tracking equatorial mount - so much the better!

Have fun, and post comments here to encourage others and let us know how you are doing!

Dan

Lab Skills - Sketching with the Clock Method.doc

Lab #8 - Sketching Luna at the EP.doc

[Miranda]

Have to say, this is exactly what I was looking for about sketching.

Thank you