Deirdre Kelleghan
Lunar Photo of the Day December 23rd 2009
Technical Details
Dec 21st '09; 17:30 UT - 18:15 UT. 200 mm reflector, 26mm eyepiece, FL1200 mm. Pencil rotated. Seeing 2 , Lunation 5.23 days. 0°C.
10:15 AM; Deirdre added this info: I would have liked to do a pastel drawing of the Solstice Crescent Moon but it was too cold. To shorten my drawing time I choose to use pencils. The diameter was determined by a cereal bowl, approx 4 inches. The wonderful Mare Nectaris, was one of the best defined areas. Fracastorius showed its horseshoe edging out of the terminator. Piccolomini's central mountain was wrapped in shadows which created its circular shape. Seeing was not so good, Earthshine was just visible but no details stood out in the dark body of the Solstice Moon as one would expect.
Dec 21st '09; 17:30 UT - 18:15 UT. 200 mm reflector, 26mm eyepiece, FL1200 mm. Pencil rotated. Seeing 2 , Lunation 5.23 days. 0°C.
10:15 AM; Deirdre added this info: I would have liked to do a pastel drawing of the Solstice Crescent Moon but it was too cold. To shorten my drawing time I choose to use pencils. The diameter was determined by a cereal bowl, approx 4 inches. The wonderful Mare Nectaris, was one of the best defined areas. Fracastorius showed its horseshoe edging out of the terminator. Piccolomini's central mountain was wrapped in shadows which created its circular shape. Seeing was not so good, Earthshine was just visible but no details stood out in the dark body of the Solstice Moon as one would expect.
Astronomy Picture of the Day - Venus Occultation - Dec 6th 2008
Meade LX 90 FL 2000mm
35mm eyepiece = 57X
Dec 1st 2008 - Greystones Co Wicklow Ireland
Freezing
Pastels/Conte on FineArt Pastel Velour Paper
15:35 - 17:10 approx too cold to time with any great regard
Venus was shining like a million dollar jewel in the early evening sky. The young moon hung low in milky blue atmosphere, giant Jupiter watched the visually stunning occultation unfolding below.
As it got darker more and more detail became visible on the crescent moon.
Between finishing the Venus vanishing sketch and the reemergence of Venus
I put as much lunar detail as possible in the time and under the conditions as I could.
The view as Venus reappeared and once again sparkled like a diamond stuck on the moon was breathtaking .
I quickly place the planet as accurately as I could and then continued to enjoy the view
35mm eyepiece = 57X
Dec 1st 2008 - Greystones Co Wicklow Ireland
Freezing
Pastels/Conte on FineArt Pastel Velour Paper
15:35 - 17:10 approx too cold to time with any great regard
Venus was shining like a million dollar jewel in the early evening sky. The young moon hung low in milky blue atmosphere, giant Jupiter watched the visually stunning occultation unfolding below.
As it got darker more and more detail became visible on the crescent moon.
Between finishing the Venus vanishing sketch and the reemergence of Venus
I put as much lunar detail as possible in the time and under the conditions as I could.
The view as Venus reappeared and once again sparkled like a diamond stuck on the moon was breathtaking .
I quickly place the planet as accurately as I could and then continued to enjoy the view
Spaceweather front page June 2nd 2009
Active Region 1019 June 2nd 2009 PST 40 mm / 8mm TVP Up scaled by eye Pastel, and Conte on black paper 11:00 UT
Astronomy Sketch of the Day November 5th 2007
Comet 17/P Holmes Bray Co Wicklow Ireland
28th October 2007
18:40 UT Mag 2
Reflector FL 1200mm/8mm eyepiece/150X Pastel/Conte/Black Paper
Here is my sketch from October 28th,2007. I got going early to avoid the predicted cloud cover. I had a long look into the halo around the nucleus. The material emanating from the pin point center seemed to be heading in a more southerly direction than I had observed in previous evenings. I could see darker areas fanning in the opposite direction in the inner halo. A star was visible just inside the outer halo. Because I could see a star through the out gassing then it must be very thin? The star was visually similar in size to the comet nucleus but a little dimmer. Sometimes the coma seemed to momentarily have transparent spaces within it. I have not seen a star in the area of the dark spaces, I wonder if these spaces are filled with dust? All this was visible even though there was a 17 day moon rising almost directly under the icy action.
March 27th Sydney Observatory
28th October 2007
18:40 UT Mag 2
Reflector FL 1200mm/8mm eyepiece/150X Pastel/Conte/Black Paper
Here is my sketch from October 28th,2007. I got going early to avoid the predicted cloud cover. I had a long look into the halo around the nucleus. The material emanating from the pin point center seemed to be heading in a more southerly direction than I had observed in previous evenings. I could see darker areas fanning in the opposite direction in the inner halo. A star was visible just inside the outer halo. Because I could see a star through the out gassing then it must be very thin? The star was visually similar in size to the comet nucleus but a little dimmer. Sometimes the coma seemed to momentarily have transparent spaces within it. I have not seen a star in the area of the dark spaces, I wonder if these spaces are filled with dust? All this was visible even though there was a 17 day moon rising almost directly under the icy action.
March 27th Sydney Observatory