Saturn and Mars, First Sketches

[Richard Hather]

Observing Information

Planets - Saturn/Mars

Date - 18/08/16

Time - 21:00-22:30

Lunar Phase - Full Moon 100% illuminated

Seeing - Average

Equipment - Celestron Nexstar 6SE

Eyepieces - Pentax SMC 8-24 Zoom

Additional info - I've been thinking about planetary sketches for a while now and with the sudden lovely Clear skies but full moon in the sky it finally pushed me to do it ☺️

Mars-

Mars would be the first planet to drop behind the houses so first on my list.
I managed to get some nice seeing at 10mm but anything more then that and I struggled to see and detail.
I could clearly see the North polar cap and a good amount of detail on the middle of the planet which I think was the Orographic cloud.
I'm not 100% sure on this I'm sure you guys will put me right if I'm wrong ☺️

Saturn-

I had a bit more time with Saturn then I did with Mars and I'm glad I did it really was a challenge ☺️
Getting the shape tight and the angle of the rings right proved difficult.
Straight away I could make out one of saturns moons which proved to be Rhea when I consulted stellarium this morning.
I could see 3 moons early on in the week so I was a little disappointed to be honest.
Saturn did yield some lovely detail though I could clearly make out the Cassini division and even the equatorial zone.
I really enjoyed the change of pace with planetary sketching and I will definitely be doing it again.

Clear skies ✨????

Richard

 

[mariosi]

Richard, 

Nice presentation and the sketches looks great! 

 

Regards 

Marios 

[Stu]

Nice sketches Richard, not easy.

Question... Do you use an erecting prism? The sketches tie up nicely with SkySafari if I don't reverse them but normal view in an SCT should be left-right reversed, same as a frac.

Did you detect the phase on Mars? I find it noticeably not round with a definite phase.

[ejp1684]

I find your sketches very impressive. I've had a go at sketching, and it's not as easy as many people imagine. My attempts were so bad I didn't even consider posting them, and the advice I was given was to practice and eventually things would improve. Thanks for sharing, and it's inspired me to practice some more (clear skies permitting).

Eric.

[Richard Hather]

7 hours ago, mariosi said:

Richard, 

Nice presentation and the sketches looks great! 

 

Regards 

Marios 

Thank tou Marios, I'm glad you enjoyed them ☺️

Richard

[Richard Hather]

5 hours ago, Stu said:

Nice sketches Richard, not easy.

Question... Do you use an erecting prism? The sketches tie up nicely with SkySafari if I don't reverse them but normal view in an SCT should be left-right reversed, same as a frac.

Did you detect the phase on Mars? I find it noticeably not round with a definite phase.

Thank you stu, this is why I love SGL ?

Not just compliments but questions, what I basically did was sketch the planets and then compare them to a pic I got showing the different areas of both Mars and Saturn.

I use the 90 degree diagonal that came with the 6se.

Im not sure what the phase looks like stu I have to admit it wasn't the best view of the planets I've seen but I couldn't resist giving it a go ☺️

Richard

[Stu]

48 minutes ago, Richard Hather said:

Thank you stu, this is why I love SGL ?

Not just compliments but questions, what I basically did was sketch the planets and then compare them to a pic I got showing the different areas of both Mars and Saturn.

I use the 90 degree diagonal that came with the 6se.

Im not sure what the phase looks like stu I have to admit it wasn't the best view of the planets I've seen but I couldn't resist giving it a go ☺️

Richard

Hi Richard,

Glad you liked the questions, I didn't want to come across as critical in any way, I just love getting to understand what I'm looking at, and how the person posting was looking at the object. It all helps us understand better. As an example to you of how we are all constantly learning, I've been doing this game a long time, and have largely been a refractor man. I dabble with Newts but they do baffle me on occasion. My most successful newt was a lovely 16" Sumerian, importantly it had push to encoders so I could actually find stuff. I mention this because it was only the other day that I truly clicked that the newt view is upside-down, and not vertically inverted. There is obviously a big difference but I'd never properly registered that fact! We are all learning all the time, that's my somewhat extended point!

Anyway, I've done some snap shots from SkySafari to try to work this out. In order, they are Mars correct orientation, Mars left right reversed, Saturn correct orientation, Saturn left right reversed. When I look at the detail on Mars, and also the position of Rhea, the correct orientation seems to match but an SCT with mirror diagonal should show a left right reversed image.

The phase on Mars is visible now it is well past opposition. At opposition it is 100% illuminated (think full moon), now it is around 85% illuminated so looks more oval shaped and the polar cap is harder to see. Seeing anything on Mars is an achievement at its current altitude and distance so you've done well. I've had times when I see plenty, and others when it's a washed out orange blob so you just have to keep trying. Hope this is all of some use/interest.

Stu

[Richard Hather]

7 hours ago, ejp1684 said:

I find your sketches very impressive. I've had a go at sketching, and it's not as easy as many people imagine. My attempts were so bad I didn't even consider posting them, and the advice I was given was to practice and eventually things would improve. Thanks for sharing, and it's inspired me to practice some more (clear skies permitting).

Eric.

Thank you Eric, I appreciate your kind comments ☺️

Saturn was probably the hardest object I've sketched so far.

Ive only sketches DSOs and planetary sketching is a different ball game I enjoyed it though and will have another go at some point ?

Keep trying Eric and trust me I wasn't sure if I should post these but I thought I mite as well ☺️

Richard

[Richard Hather]

56 minutes ago, Stu said:

Hi Richard,

Glad you liked the questions, I didn't want to come across as critical in any way, I just love getting to understand what I'm looking at, and how the person posting was looking at the object. It all helps us understand better. As an example to you of how we are all constantly learning, I've been doing this game a long time, and have largely been a refractor man. I dabble with Newts but they do baffle me on occasion. My most successful newt was a lovely 16" Sumerian, importantly it had push to encoders so I could actually find stuff. I mention this because it was only the other day that I truly clicked that the newt view is upside-down, and not vertically inverted. There is obviously a big difference but I'd never properly registered that fact! We are all learning all the time, that's my somewhat extended point!

Anyway, I've done some snap shots from SkySafari to try to work this out. In order, they are Mars correct orientation, Mars left right reversed, Saturn correct orientation, Saturn left right reversed. When I look at the detail on Mars, and also the position of Rhea, the correct orientation seems to match but an SCT with mirror diagonal should show a left right reversed image.

The phase on Mars is visible now it is well past opposition. At opposition it is 100% illuminated (think full moon), now it is around 85% illuminated so looks more oval shaped and the polar cap is harder to see. Seeing anything on Mars is an achievement at its current altitude and distance so you've done well. I've had times when I see plenty, and others when it's a washed out orange blob so you just have to keep trying. Hope this is all of some use/interest.

Stu

thank you stu, I will reply properly later but im currently at work ?

Richard

[Richard Hather]

it certainly is a puzzle there's no doubt that with Saturn I could see a moon on the bottom left and considering rhea is one of the brighter moons that's were my conclusion came from that had to be rhea.

 

Concerning Mars I'll be honest was a bit of detective work with the image I got of Google so maybe that was at fault.

Here are the images I compared my sketches to.

Richard