M97

M97 / NGC3587 / The Owl nebula
Constellation - Ursa Major
Planetary nebula
Distance 1630Ly
Mag 9.9

Date - 2/3/13
Seeing - Antoniadi II
Transparency - poor
SQM 21.74 (LM 6.5)

Telescope - 16" f/4.5
EP 10mm Pentax XW x189 TFoV 0.22˚

Sketch notes
Easy find and due to the dark skies no filter was needed.
Took a while to be certain of the position of 'the eyes' due to poor transparency but every couple of minutes the Owl gave a brief wink.
No sign of the central white dwarf, which I really should of been able to of seen but again I put that down to poor transparency.

M108

M108 / NGC3556
Constellation - Ursa Major
Spiral galaxy (SBbc)
Distance - 46MLy
Mag 10.0
SB 13.0

Date 2/3/13
Seeing - Antoniadi III
Transparency - average
SQM 21.72 (LM 6.5)

Telescope 16" f/4.5
EP 14mm Delos x 135 TFoV 0.32˚

Sketch notes
An easy find just below Merak in Ursa Major.
Very tricky to pick out any dark mottled areas of the spiral arms but a couple brief moments showed they were there but really not enough time for me to draw there exact location, after a frustrating hour observing they showed only twice for a few seconds.
Quite suprised how the galaxy still held detail with a 10mm XW at x189 but settled on the 14mm Delos to show a little of the star field.

M109

M109 / NGC3992
Constellation - Ursa Major
Spiral galaxy (SBbc)
Distance - 55MLy
Mag 9.8
SB 13.5

Date - 2/3/13
Seeing - Antoniadi II
Transparency - Average
SQM 21.78 (LM 6.5)

Telescope 16" f/4.5
EP 14mm Delos x135 TFoV 0.32˚

Sketch notes
Fuzzy galaxy which was very hard to pick out any detail. Hints of two spiral arms neither of them seem ed connected to the central bar and were almost lost in the soft glow of the galaxy.
I think this would be a tough galaxy to get any detail out of even under better skies.

Lambert + Pytheas

Lambert (top) and Pytheas (bottom) are both found in the south part of Mare Imbrium.
Lambert has a diameter of 30km and has steep terraced walls with blast fragments north and south. I'd also read about the ghost crater Lambert R but I couldnt make it out, maybe this was because the Terminamator was so close?
Pytheas was similar in appearance to Lambert but smaller at only 20km in diameter.


Telescope / 4" f/11 Lyra
EP 3-6mm Nagler at 6mm x183
2045 UT - 2130 UT
Temp 2˚C
Transparency / Average
Antoniadi II
Colongitude 22.8˚
Phase 67. 8˚
Lunation 9.5 days
Media / Conte pastels and charcoal + black sketch pad

Eratosthenes

Eratosthenes sits at the north of Sinus Aestuum and rises from a fairly smooth surrounding area and is almost joined by the foothills of the Montes Alpenninus. 58km in diameter and 3.6km deep and a staggering 3.2 billion years old!


EP / 3-6mm Nagler at x220
18/2/2013
2235 UT - 2315UT
Temp 2˚C
Transparency / Excellent
Antoniadi II
Cologitude 11.4˚
Phase 78˚
Lunation 8.6 days

Lunar X

I've wanted to sketch the lunar X for a while now so last night I set my 4" Lyra up with plenty of time to spare.
The position of the X was easy to find even early in the evening before it showed, Werner crater is directly below the X with Aliacensis below that again, the large crater to the side is Playfair G.
The actual X is made by sunlight falling on the crater ridges of La Caille, Blanchinus and Purbach.

Telescope / 4" f/11 Lyra
EP / 3-6mm Nagler zoom at 5mm x220
17/2/2013
2140 UT - 2235 UT
Temp 3˚C
Transparency / Excellent
Antoniadi III
Colongitude 357˚
Phase 90˚
Lunation 7.53 days

Mare Serenitatis + Julius Caesar

With excellent seeing and transparency I really didnt know exactly what to sketch of the moon as theres so much to explore and its easy to get side tracked but this area north of Mare Serenitatis really stood out with high mountainous regions stretching through the Termiantor.
Its quite a large area to sketch (maybe too much?) and there was a huge amount of detail between Mare Serenitatis (at the top) and the 90km in diameter crater Julius Caesar at the bottom.


Telescope / 4" f/11 Lyra
EP / 3-6mm Nagler zoom at 5mm x220
16/2/2013
1935 UT - 2040 UT
Temp / 2˚C
Transparency / Excellent
Antoniadi II
Colongitude 346˚
Phase 100˚
Lunation 6.5 days