Moon

Moon

Monday 11 August 2014

Early morning Copernicus

Hi all,

We had a great spell of clear nights last week that allowed me to do three sketches of the Moon over three consecutive nights.  The first was a revisit of Copernicus that I had sketched the month before but on a more advanced phase.

On this particular night, the phase was two days after Copernicus’ appearance on the terminator.  This made for a shallower angle of incidence of sunlight so many more of the smaller secondary craters to be visible.  Conditions on the night were not brilliant, and magnification at 250X still saw a lot of atmospheric thermal current distortion to the image, limiting how small the details I could see.  With a bit of perservierence a lot of these secondary craters could be made out.  You will find information on the formation of these ‘secondary impacts’ in my earlier write up on Copernicus below.

Being sooner after sunrise over Copernicus, the shadow structure made for a more dramatic lunarscape.  Longer shadows, greater contrast, and a visual feast.  The surrounding craters that accompany Copernicus also adding to the drama with there illumination.

Object:  “Early morning Copernicus”
Telescope:  C8, 8” SCT
Gear:  8mm LVW, 250X
Date:  5th August, 2014
Location:  Sydney, Australia
Media:  Soft pastel, charcoal and white ink on A4 black paper



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