Lunar Sketch 9 of 12: Archimedes

Evening All,

As my ninth installment of my lunar sketches I decided to try Archimedes (Longtiutde 3.993°W and Latitude 29.717°N). This evening's terminator was close by, so there was a strong contrast between it and the crater's floor. The crater is estimated to be 83km X 83km - making it a circular formation. The steep eastern walls were illuminated brightly, and elongated shadows were being cast in the direction of the terminator. The shadows in the crater appeared to be jagged, which would seem to suggest the western slopes are more rugged than the eastern ones. Interesting to hear what others think on the matter.

In addition to Archimedes, craterlets 'C' and 'D' were observed, as were 'Aristillus'. 'Autolycus', and 'Bancroft'. I found the area around Bancroft fascinating, and I would have very much liked better seeing conditions to spend more time exploring the area.

In fact the seeing was so bad that I could go no further than 138X tonight.

Other details from tonight's session include:

Location: Dundrum - Bortle 8
Seeing: 4pk
Transparency: 4
Instrument used: f/5 250mm Newtonian Reflector
Eyepiece: 9mm Expanse (66° AFOV)
Magnification: 138X
Time: 20:05 - 20:48 UT+1
Materials used: 2B, BB pencils, a black felt tipped marker, an eraser, and a blending stump. The image was sketched at the eyepiece, cropped and reszied using GIMP 2.1. The sketch was scanned, and uploaded to my PC.

As always many thanks for taking the time to read the above, and your comments and feedback are always welcomed.

Clear skies to all,

Darren.

Wow! What a terminator we have here, Darren.
Your terminator looks like a face looking to the right!
How about that??
I can see the eye and the nose.
Archimedes itself looks remarkably similar to a giant earring.
Both it and the crater Archimedes look stunning in your new sketch!
Many congratulations to you and your 250 mm Dobsonian plus for taking the time to give us a most marvellous sketch of Archimedes.

Clear skies from Aubrey.

Haha... I did not notice that face Aubrey. It looks kind of scary. Considering it's almost Halloween it's quite fitting though.

As always very many thanks for your kind words. 

Hopefully, we'll be treated to a few Clear nights over the week. 

Here's hoping!

Darren.