Kircher, Bettinus and Zucchius sketch

[Mike73]

Amazing night of seeing on the moon last night, Antoniadi I decreasing to AII later, very rare that I get nights like that from home.

I'm now kicking myself that I didn't pick something more tricky to observe/sketch. I need to get a decent book or something to help plan my lunar observations better. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has a good book to recommend?

I'd forgotten just how tricky it can be to sketch along the terminator as everything changes so quickly and I usually have to tidy lunar sketches up the next morning but have left this one exactly how I finished at the EP, total sketch time was 15 minutes.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Mike a wonderful sketch you really have a brilliant talent

[JamesF]

A lovely sketch Mike.  Really looks three-dimensional.

James

[baggywrinkle]

Lovely sketch, I am going to give pastels a go.

Do you have to fix the pastels with a spray or are they ok without? In my dim and distand youth I used pastels but we had to fix them to stop them being rubbed out.

[Mike73]

Thanks for the comments James, Mark and Baggy.

I used to fix my sketches but stopped using fixative as I've found they can do more damage than good. You need to give each sketch a few very light coats to properly fix it, if you overdo it you'll give it an almost mottled like appearance which doesn't look good!

I was going through some of my sketchbooks yesterday and yes some of them have very lightly smudged or faded but not by much, I'd rather that than the mottled look anyway.

[seo]

Excellent sketch and lots of talent involved...!

[mariosi]

Very nice drawing Mike!

Thanks for sharing

Marios

[MartinB]

Superb, so dramatic. I am very envious of your talent Mike. I have tried sketching the moon and it is great for studying a small area in depth but the end product usually end up something akin to a bird dropping.

[Siriusmeg]

That's gorgeous Mike - really dramatic.  I love sketching the terminator as you get the bits that appear to float in the darkness.

15 minutes - speedy work too!!

[laudropb]

Very nice sketches. I am afraid I do not have your artistic talent, but I do enjoy sketching the Moon. If nothing else it makes you look more closely.

[Astro Imp]

WOW!!! That is incredible Mike.

BTW it's good to have you back with us.

[Mike73]

BTW it's good to have you back with us.

Thankyou Alan, good to be back.

[Stu]

Great stuff Mike, amazing for only 15 mins, but amazing full stop too!

I just had the bins out last night and the moon looked incredibly sharp, fantastic detail along the terminator particularly around Shickard and also Vieta I think. Aristarchus was very bright too.

[Mike73]

Cheers Stu.

Sketching the moon can be pretty hectic as things change so quickly so I do like to get the shadows and highlights done in about 10 minutes then give it another 5 minutes to do as much as I can. After 15 minutes things have changed so much I just take the sketch pad inside and carry on observing.

Had a lot of clear skies recently to enjoy the moon and the next week looks clear aswell, I just hope this weather continues into the new moon period so I can get out to the dark site.

[estwing]

you've not lost your talent Mike...when people ask me what things look like in the night sky your Blog is unbeatable....

[Mike73]

you've not lost your talent Mike...when people ask me what things look like in the night sky your Blog is unbeatable....

What a nice thing to say, thanks Calv.

[acr_astro]

Hi Mike,

I'm truly impressed of the excellent quality of your sketches!

Great!

Achim