The moon rises later each evening now. That means a late night for sketchers. Luckily my small 70mm Televue Ranger on a telepod mount requires no setup. I keep it permanently set up in the garage.

The features I’ve sketched on the 18-day moon begin with sunset on Mare Crisium – on the terminator [...]]]>

Eighteen-day moon

The moon rises later each evening now. That means a late night for sketchers. Luckily my small 70mm Televue Ranger on a telepod mount requires no setup. I keep it permanently set up in the garage.

The features I’ve sketched on the 18-day moon begin with sunset on Mare Crisium – on the terminator to the left on my sketch. Plato is the dark oval at north (top), with Mare Frigoris encircling it to the north.

The large mare closer to the terminator are Mare Serinitatis and Mare Tranquillatis. Mare Nectaris is the oval sea south of Tranquillatis. Mare Imbrium is the largest lunar basin on the moon – the large feature below (south of) Plato. It’s between Plato to the north and Copernicus and Kepler to the south.

Grimaldi, one of my favorite lunar features is the dark oval flooded basin to the right, south of Kepler. On nights of favorable libration, beyond Grimaldi, the ridges of Mare Orientale appear. Did I leave out Tycho? It is the magnificent crater to the south of Mare Nubium. Tycho’s long rays span 1800 km from Tycho to the small crater Rosse in Mare Nectaris. You can actually follow the ray to Rosse in my sketch!

There is so much to see and study on a the moon, especially if you have a lunar map. The nights after the full moon are wonderful lunar observing nights, if only you can stay up to observe on them!

Skymap Pro chart of Jupiter and Neptune (the square at left), December 28, 1612

My sketch of Neptune with Jupiter and the Galilean moons

Galileo made the first recorded observation of Neptune in 1612 when Neptune [...]]]>

Galileo noted a fixt star (at left), now known to be Neptune on this sketch from December 28, 1612

Skymap Pro chart of Jupiter and Neptune (the square at left), December 28, 1612

My sketch of Neptune with Jupiter and the Galilean moons

Galileo made the first recorded observation of Neptune in 1612 when Neptune appeared to be close to Jupiter from his viewpoint on Earth. The”fixed star” Galileo noted to left of Jupiter (the left most star) on his December 28, 1612 sketch was actually Neptune! The two planets appear close to each other several times this year.

This year, both planets come to opposition in August and for several months on either side of opposition, the two planets appear to temporarily move backwards against the background stars. This is called retrograde motion, and they pass near each other three times this year. On May 26, the planets were only 23′ (or 23 arc minutes) apart.  On July 9th, near when I made my sketch, the two planets appeared 33.5′ apart.  And on December 21, the Winter Solstice, you can look for Neptune below Jupiter, 32′ distant.  This is a great time to easily see both planets in the same low power field of view through a telescope! At higher magnification, they won’t be in the same telescopic field of view, but you’ll find Neptune with just a small nudge or “go-to” to the North.

Galileo observed Neptune in December 28, 1612 and again one month later on January 27, 1613. Then, on the next night, he noted that the two stars seemed further apart. If he had observed the two objects again on the next few nights he would have realized that one of the “stars” was moving.

If you have a chance to look at Jupiter in July 2009, you’ll easily spot Neptune if you know where to look. Here is a star chart for July 25th showing the location of both planets low in the southeast at 11:30 p.m. They are rising, and will be higher in the sky later on. And here is a closeup star chart showing the tip of Capricornus. Use this chart to locate Jupiter in your eyepiece, and then you can easily follow the stars to Neptune. These star charts are made by Sky Map Software.

Neptune’s color in the telescope view is striking! It stands out as a bluish star to the north of Jupiter – about twice the distance north as the width of Jupiter and moons. After I sketched the pair of planets, I revved up the charting software, Sky Map Pro, and entered December 28, 1612. I was amazed to see the planets and moons layed out nearly as Galileo observed them. This may sound silly to you, but that 400 year-old view of the planetary lineup on 21st century software just took my breath away!

The full moon rises as the sun sets on the 14th day of the lunar month. A small telescope, such as the 70mm f.8.7 Televue Ranger I’m using for this series of sketches is a perfect instrument for full moon viewing. So are binoculars. The moon is [...]]]>

fourteen-day (full) moon

The full moon rises as the sun sets on the 14th day of the lunar month. A small telescope, such as the 70mm f.8.7 Televue Ranger I’m using for this series of sketches is a perfect instrument for full moon viewing. So are binoculars. The moon is a very generous target, and even the least expensive department store telescope will provide you many hours, days, months and years of inexpensive lunar observing fun!

The features you see on the full moon night are so different than the other nights. There are no shadows! So the features which stand out are the more reflective (bright white young craters and their ejecta) or the darker, less reflective mare.

Many new lunar observers think the full moon is too bright to view through a telescope. It’s not, but there are some tricks you can use to make your full moon view more enjoyable. One trick I like is to use a higher power eyepiece when viewing the full moon. That higher magnification dims the apparent brightness of the full moon. Another trick is to observe the full moon next to a streetlight or normal outdoor house lighting. We hate those lights when they ruin our dark skies, but they don’t hurt lunar viewing one bit, in fact they improve it! I don’t like to use moon filters or neutral density or polarizing filters when observing the moon. They diminish the sharpness of the features I want to view.

There are so many features I can identify on these sketches, but I’ll just mention the ones I have not covered before. My center sketch seems to be a little better than the “final” lower one. I can see, in addition to the great rayed craters Copernicus, Tycho and Kepler, lots of small bright white craters or ejecta. Proclus and Messier are near Mare Crisium, but it will take a map for you to find them. Proclus is a crater that is actually visible to the unaided eye at full moon, but I didn’t capture it on my sketch very well, probably because I made this sketch after midnight on a mid-week work night!

My photo of the fourteen-day moon

Jane's Head of Orion cluster

Astrophoto of Orion Head cluster by Morris Jones

Map of the constellation Orion

Galileo looked at the fuzzy patch surrounding the head of Orion through a telescope, and resolved many starts not previously known. He called it Nebulosa Orionis.

Look between the shoulder stars Betelgeuse and [...]]]>

Galileo's Head of Orion cluster

Jane's Head of Orion cluster

Astrophoto of Orion Head cluster by Morris Jones

Map of the constellation Orion

Galileo looked at the fuzzy patch surrounding the head of Orion through a telescope, and resolved many starts not previously known. He called it Nebulosa Orionis.

Look between the shoulder stars Betelgeuse and Bellatrix of the constellation Orion. The star you see with your unaided eye is Orion 39 or Lambda Orionis. Its Arabic name is Meissa. You can find this star on Galileo’s drawing by following the stars at the bottom of the drawing. The first star at left is 37 Phi1 Orionis. Three smaller stars follow. The next one is Meissa. It’s an amazing star! Surrounding the hot class O star (which also has a double) is a 150 light year ring of gas, which you can read about at Jim Kaler’s Stars website link above.

We now refer to the open cluster which contains this star as Collinder 69 or Sharpless 2-264.

A hand drawn original diagram of Galileo’s 21 stars can be found in Volume 3, page 964 of the National Edition.

my drawing

my sketch of Jupiter's rotation

Galileo published his observations in Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610: “On the 7th day of January in the present year, 1610, in the first hour of the following night, when I was viewing the constellations of the heavons through a telescope, the planet Jupiter [...]]]>

Galileo's drawing

my drawing

my sketch of Jupiter's rotation

Galileo published his observations in Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610: “On the 7th day of January in the present year, 1610, in the first hour of the following night, when I was viewing the constellations of the heavons through a telescope, the planet Jupiter presented itself to my view, and as I had prepared for myself a very excellent instrument, I noticed a circumstance which I had never been able to notice before, namely that three little stars, small but very bright, were near the planet…When on January 8th, led by some fatality, I turned again to look at the same part of the heavens, I found a very different state of things, for there were three little stars all west of Jupiter, and nearer together than on the previous night.”

“I therefore concluded, and decided unhesitatingly, that there are three stars in the heavens moving about Jupiter, as Venus and Mercury around the Sun; which was at length established as clear as daylight by numerous other subsequent observations. These observations also established that there are not only three, but four, erratic sidereal bodies performing their revolutions around Jupiter.”

Every amateur or accidental astronomer who first views Jupiter and its lineup of moons, is amazed at the view. Galileo’s 1610 discovery of these four moons orbiting Jupiter changed history. Looking at the Jovian moons through a small telescope, while trying to imagine Galileo’s first observations, takes my breath away!

A page from Sidereus Nuncius: 1610

First page of my observing log: 1989

My first sketches of the rotation of the four Galilean satellites: 1989

nine-day moon

Lunar creature features

Rabbit on the full moon

Night owls can enjoy the nine-day moon – it’s up all night long. In my sketch, the magnificent crater Copernicus is visible on the sunlit side of the terminator – on the right side of the lunar center. It looks so insignificant right now, but [...]]]>

nine-day moon

Lunar creature features

Rabbit on the full moon

Night owls can enjoy the nine-day moon – it’s up all night long. In my sketch, the magnificent crater Copernicus is visible on the sunlit side of the terminator – on the right side of the lunar center. It looks so insignificant right now, but at full moon, its spendid ray system is a naked-eye delight! Tonight you see the deep crater floor half lit by the sun. Here’s a closeup of Copernicus sketched through a larger telescope at higher magnification (185x versus 19x on these full disk drawings) on nearly the same day of the lunar month.

From now until full moon, the dark lunar mare start to resemble creature features. I see half of the rabbit on the moon in my sketch. Mare Fecundatis and Mare Nectaris make the ears and Mare Tranquillatis (the Sea of Tranqulilty) makes a cute little bunny head. You can see other creatures in my February 2009 What’s Up podcast about the moon, linked below.

As we near the full moon, the sun angle is more direct and crater wall shadows disappear. There are some other craters on the terminator tonight, which will reveal their amazing ejecta rays in a few more days when the moon is full. Towards the left edge of the terminator, Tycho is half lit now, but at full moon, its rays extend 1000 km. The spectacular walled plain Clavius is just starting to reveal its beauty. Through a telescope, when the entire crater is visible, you’ll see a dozen smaller craters on its floor.

My What’s Up Podcast, July 2007: The phases of the moon

My What’s Up Podcast, February 2009: Galileo’s and other first views of the moon through a telescope

My photo of the nine-day moon

This year, my observing project is to recreate as many of Galileo’s original telescopic observations as I can. I’ll be using my smallest telescope, a 70mm refractor, and making my sketches using a 25mm eyepiece for a magnification of 19x. Each of my lunar sketch pages will each show three [...]]]>

three-day old waxing moon

This year, my observing project is to recreate as many of Galileo’s original telescopic observations as I can. I’ll be using my smallest telescope, a 70mm refractor, and making my sketches using a 25mm eyepiece for a magnification of 19x. Each of my lunar sketch pages will each show three sketches on the page. My first sketch is an “outline” of major features. The second sketch shows more detail, and the third is the final sketch. When I’ve matched all of Galileo’s lunar sketches, I’ll make a comparison montage.

The three-day waxing gibbous moon is high enough above the western horizon and far enough away from the setting sun to be easily visible. Earthshine illuminates the unlit features, and sun shines on the narrow crescent. Mare Crisium (the Sea of Crisis) is the oval dark geological feature visible on the lower right edge of the three-day-old crescent moon.

The crater Picard can be seen within the smooth surface of Mare Crisium. Along the terminator are some distinctive craters and other features, visible even at 19x. Following the terminator from right to left in my sketch, are dark Mare Fecunditatis and the large oval craters Langrenus, Vendelinus, and Petavius, all partially lit by the sunrise on their walls.

Petavius, the third of the 4 evenly spaced, and similarly sized craters shows some of the prominent crater floor structure of central peak and rimae – which I sketched as a dark angluar line. Funerius, fourth and last of the big craters on the terminator tonight, are near the two smaller craters, Snellius and Stevenius. In my sketch, I just show the crater floors flooded with shadow.

Earthshine reveals Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis, Nubium and Humorum. And I was able to see the crater Aristarchus (the white feature top middle of the earthshine) and Plinius and Linne — the small white features in the lower middle of earthshine.

Use the link below to Hitchhikers Guide to the Moon to identify other features.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Moon

Sketch of Petavius

Sketch of Langrenus, Vandelinus, Petavius, and Furnerius a few days after full moon February 3, 2007, a 16 day-old waning moon.

My photo of the 3-day moon

My sunspots

In the summer of 1612, Galileo sketched a series of sunspots which were published in Istoria e Dimostrazioni Intorno Alle Macchie Solari e Loro Accidenti Rome, (History and Demonstrations Concerning Sunspots and their Properties), in 1613. Galileo corresponded with other scientists and artists who also were sketching the [...]]]>

Galileo's sunspots

My sunspots

In the summer of 1612, Galileo sketched a series of sunspots which were published in Istoria e Dimostrazioni Intorno Alle Macchie Solari e Loro Accidenti Rome, (History and Demonstrations Concerning Sunspots and their Properties), in 1613. Galileo corresponded with other scientists and artists who also were sketching the sun in the early 1600′s. He used a 16mm, f/11 Galilean refractor, and many drawings are known to have survived. He observed the sun using attenuated eyepiece (attenuated by Earth’s atmosphere when the Sun was low on the horizon at dusk) and eyepiece projection techniques.

A lot of people repeat the story (which is really just an urban legend) that Galileo became blind by looking at the Sun through his telescope. He went blind in 1672, from a combination of cataracts and glaucoma more than half a century after publishing his sunspot sketches.

In his sunspot letters to Mark Welser, dated May 4, 1612, Galileo mentions observing the Sun directly — but only at sunset. In its final paragraph, he mentions that his pupil Benedetto Castelli has discovered a better way to observe – using a projection method.

My sunspot drawings were made mostly in 2002, near solar maximum, so I was able to see and sketch and classify hundreds of sunspots and other solar features. The one pictured here was made a few years earlier, tho’. I used three telescopes for my observations, a homemade bright yellow 6-inch f/10 Dobsonian reflector which I made in John Dobson’s telescope making class, an Orion 80mm refractor with a white-light solar filter and a Televue 70mm Ranger refractor with a Coronado h-alpha filter. I used these instruments to make daily sketches over two solar rotations (about 2 months) and completed the Astronomical League’s Sunspotter Club observing program. My 2002 solar sketches are linked below.

Some Solar links:

Historical Sunspot Drawing Resource Page

My whole disk, sunspot and h-alpha drawings of the Sun

A solar sidewalk astronomy article I wrote for the SOHO mission website

My What’s Up podcast for May 2009 is all about the Sun

My Trapezium sketches

Galileo’s observed the Trapezium stars in the sword of Orion on February 4, 1617. He labeled the three stars “c”, “g”, and “i”. These stars are known now as the “D”, “C” and “A” components of Theta 1 Orionis, or 41 Orionis. He did not see the fainter [...]]]>

Galileo's Trapezium

My Trapezium sketches

Galileo’s observed the Trapezium stars in the sword of Orion on February 4, 1617. He labeled the three stars “c”, “g”, and “i”. These stars are known now as the “D”, “C” and “A” components of Theta 1 Orionis, or 41 Orionis. He did not see the fainter “B” component.

Galileo’s text states that the apparent spacing of stars “a” and “g”, as seen through his telescope, exactly matched the apparent spacing of two of the stars in Orion’s belt as seen with the unaided eye. This implies a power of 27 for his telescope.

This observing report from Galileo’s notebook is translated from the Latin: “The arrangement of fixed stars pictured here was discovered by me near the point of Orion’s sword, from which they arise toward the north and lean a bit to the east; and g and b appear equal in magnitude, a smaller really by little, but two, c, i, rather faint, scarcely a fourth or fifth part of g itself. Three, a, b, g, form a very obtuse angle. The lines through b, a, and through i, c, are almost parallel, but will [eventually] meet [in a direction] towards c, a. Two, c, i, are equidistant from g, which they practically touch. The distance between a and b is adjudged three semidiameters of Jupiter, to which the distance b-g seems triple. These things were observed by me the fourth day of February 1617 at Bellosguardo.”

I sketched the Trapezium using my 70mm Televue Ranger and two eyepieces — my 25mm Zeiss Abbe for a 19x and 16mm Zeiss Abbe for 30x magnified view. At 19x I had difficulty seeing the B or faintest component of the trapezium stars. But when I upped the magnification to 30x I could see all four stars easily.

Here is an astrophoto of M42, the Orion nebula, showing the Trapezium stars. It was taken by my hubby Morris Jones.

Here is Charles Messier’s sketch of M42 and the Trapezium stars

Here is a huge list of links, references and additional information about Galileo’s observations.

Galileo's 1609 telescope

There were separate housings at either end for the objective and the eyepiece

When I started thinking about how to integrate International Year of Astronomy into my 2009 What’s Up podcasts I naturally focused on Galileo’s first observations through a telescope 400 years [...]]]>

Galileo telescope replica and my TV Ranger

Galileo's 1609 telescope

There were separate housings at either end for the objective and the eyepiece

When I started thinking about how to integrate International Year of Astronomy into my 2009 What’s Up podcasts I naturally focused on Galileo’s first observations through a telescope 400 years ago. Over the first months of 2009 I had collected a gallery of Galileo’s first sketches, watercolors and engravings. These historic observations suggested a project I’ve been wanting to do for some time — to recreate all of Galileo’s astronomical sketches through a similar sized instrument.

Galileo made his first telescope, a spyglass that magnified 3x in June or July 1609. Next he made an eight-powered instrument and presented it to the Venetian Senate in August. His next telescope, which magnified twenty-one times is the one he used to observe the bumps and shadows on the moon, Jupiter and its moons, and individual stars within patchy nebulae. These first observations were unveiled to the world in his book, Sidereus Nuncius published in March 1610.

Galileo’s telescope, pictured above has a objective diameter of 37 mm and a focal length of 980 mm. The instrument’s magnification is 21. My Televue Ranger (ED Doublet Apochromatic refractor) has an objective diameter of 70mm, a focal length of 480mm, and using a 25mm Zeiss Abbe Orthoscopic eyepiece, yields a comparable magnification of 19. The field of view, however is dramatically different between the two instruments. Galileo’s longer focal length and smaller objective (which he also stopped down to lessen chromatic aberation) give a relatively small field of view  – 15 degrees. My shorter focal length and larger aperture instrument has triple that FOV.

What this means is that a telescopic view of Venus through both instruments will show the same size Venus, but in my ‘scope there will be more “sky” around Venus, and in Galileo’s there will be mostly Venus. A view of the moon is a different matter. Just a portion of the moon is visible at any one time through Galileo’s scope and the entire moon is visible through mine.

Galileo’s drawings and watercolor paintings of the moon inspired me to sketch what I see through the eyepiece. I’ve been sketching since first light with my own first telescope over 20 years ago. This year, I’ll be honoring Galileo and celebrating the 400th anniversary of telescopic observations by creating 21st century sketches through a small refractor. I hope this journey back 400 years to revisit Galileo’s observations encourages you to look up. And I hope you’ll enjoy my sketches standing side-by-side with these historic first astronomical observations through a telescope!

NPR story: Galileo’s Telescope Travels Far, Sees Farther

Galileo’s telescope: specifications and images