Deirdre Kelleghan  skysketcher@gmail.com
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Get the moon in your head  - What's up for September 2012 - International Observe the moon night 2012 

9/10/2012

 
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Almost Full Moon Lunation 12.75 days Sketch
 Get the Moon in your head

‘At conjunction the moon occupies a position between the sun and the earth; it is then illuminated by the sun’s rays on the side which is turned away from the earth. The other hemisphere, which faces the earth, is covered with darkness; hence the moon does not illuminate the surface of the earth at all. Next departing gradually from the sun, the moon comes to be lighted partly upon the side it turns toward us, and its whitish horns, still very thin, illuminate the earth with a faint light. The sun’s illumination of the moon increasing now as the moon approaches first quarter, a reflection of that light to the earth also increases. Soon the splendour on the moon extends to a semicircle, and our nights grow brighter; at length the entire visible face of the moon is irradiated by the suns resplendent rays, and at full moon the whole surface of the earth shines in a flood of moon light. Now the moon, waning, sends us her beams more weakly, and the earth is less strongly lighted; at length the moon returns to conjunction with the sun, and black night covers the earth.’

Extract from Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger) 1610 by Galileo Galilei translation by Stillman Drake from the book Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo.

Now there ye have it, direct and clear from the master Galileo. Read it slowly, imagine it, and animate it in your mind. Observe it for yourself, spend time with the moon soon you will understand its movements.

Galileo was a great man for sharing the moon through his telescope. He shared with other scientists, princes, students, the pope, and artists. He was compelled to share it as it was such a magnificent sight even in his small telescope. He wrote Starry Messenger to share his drawings and observations of the moon, far and wide.

The way Galileo writes about the moon pulls you in to be part of his exploration. He thereby   transports his readers to share his thoughts as he figures out the lunar surface, phases and features of the moon observed over 400 years ago.  Today you can still find freshness pouring from his enquiring mind in his descriptive writing.

Sharing the moon with the public is an affliction borne with large smiles by many astronomers all over this planet.  It’s amazing that there are so many people today that have never had an up close and personal view of the moon in a telescope. International observe the moon night invites astronomers to show the moon to people on September 22nd. This is a global event, with an increasing bubble of participants.

If you have binoculars or a telescope consider joining in and showing the moon to your neighbours. Register here its easy.

Check the map for other IFAS clubs sharing the moon on the night

The moon is a constant in our existence; our eyes are drawn by it to look up from all over the planet.  Galileo made sense of the moon for us, at great risk to his freedom.  Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin lifted the entire planet by landing on it for the first time back in 1969.   On September 22nd you can easily pick out the Sea of Tranquillity with your eyes. Wink at the moon is an action request from Neil Armstrong’s family, to honour his memory. It’s also a really cool simple public outreach exercise.

Weather permitting I will be on the promenade near Bray head with St Cronan’s Stargazers and our telescopes from 19:00 hrs till 20:30 approx   September 22nd
.



What's up for September 2012 from Jane Houston Jones


Solar Sketch and Comet Garradd sketch Sept 1st - GRAIL to the Moon - What's Up for September 2011 GRAIL to the Moon

9/6/2011

 
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September 1st 2011 Solar Sketch East limb proms,Active Region 1283 , Fibrils show Magnetic field lines, Large filament. 10:50 UT
PST 40 / 8 mm TVP eyepiece - 50 X
Pastel , Conte, Pencil on black paper

There were  several  proms on the solar limb that morning but these busy proms  on the eastern limb seemed to be the most interesting to me.

Some of the magnetic field lines around AR 1283  stood out for several seconds in good detail so I sketched them in with pencil over the pastel. That's why they appear a little shiny as pencil does that  when used over pastel. Fibrils in the suns chromosphere  line up along magnetic field lines giving up  secret invisible information about their shape and extent of some of  the magnetic activity in the Active Regions.

Obviously I am re tuning and re focusing the telescope constantly  to capture all these features on the same plain , on a piece of paper. The sketch is CD size.



C/2009 P1 Garradd Sketch

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C/2009 P1 Garradd September 1st 2011
Mag 8 Seeing 2 / 34 X / 35 mm eyepiece
200mm objective / FL 1,200mm
Bray , Co Wicklow Ireland.
South is up

The Comet was close to the hook in The Coathanger Astarism aka C399 Collinder 399 ,aka Al Sufi's Cluster or Brocchi's Cluster.
The X marks the position on September 2nd but cloud prevented a second sketch.



I was very impressed with the distance this icy visitor had covered in twenty four hours.
Garradd finder maps here below

garradd_findr.pdf
File Size: 109 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


GRAILS A & B  Launch together September 8th
Where would we be without Apollo, those ground breaking adventurous manned missions to our Moon?  Included in my blog this month is a pdf showing the landing sites of Apollo missions, you can use the maps in it to see the places with your own eyes. (Courtesy of Jane Houston Jones)

The Grail mission twins will fill the cup of lunar knowledge to the brim with new data from these high tech robotic Moon scanners. It should be interesting at the end of the mission to see where the twins will be crash landed; this action will also generate information about the Moon.

Listen to this months What's Up video podcast below to get a good overview of the mission.

More on the GRAIL mission here
Two instantaneous launch opportunities are available daily for the GRAIL mission to blast off during a 42-day period extending from September 8 through October 19.

I will be watching the GRAIL launch on
Spaceflight Now  check in on the morning of the 8th to see how the weather window is doing and update yourself on launch times.


What's Up for September 2011 - Jane Houston Jones -  It's GRAIL to the Moon

You can see lunar landing sites on the Moon with your own eyes ! Download the pdf for a map to help you see them for yourself.

whats_up_on_the_moons_2_lunar_landing_sites.pdf
File Size: 1654 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

The Big Moon Ball Project - What's Up for March 2010 from Jane Houston Jones - My Solar Painting on NASA Solar System Exploration What's Up Page

3/3/2011

 
The Big Moon Ball Project – A work in progress

The Moon? The Moon? How on Earth do you explain the Moon to small children?  In many other talks I had done so in graphic from and with images but wanted to try something different. I figured I would have a go at  an interactive workshop in a field, as one would of course .


Made me a Moon ball and put it on a stand , borrowed a super two million candle torch , put it on a stand.  Then I invited my new astronomy group St Cronans Stargazers to join me at our usual place.  As it was midterm a small but smiling group turned up, perfect for a first run!  We pretended the torch was the sun and the children were the Earth and I became the Moon.  For the first orbit of the Earth I spoke about the phase they see from the Earth as they looked at me ( the Moon Ball)  moving from New to First Quarter, then Full, then Last Quarter , then back to New.

The children got the idea very quickly as the sun ( torch) illuminated the phases while they ( the Earth ) turned in unison in the field at the end of my road. The Big Moon Ball beamed the moons phases into their eyes.  Clip boards and paper were provided for the second orbit of the Earth .The children sketched the four main Moon phases as they happened and wrote down the names . The parents were very helpful  ,standing at the points of the phases and also helping the children see their clipboards and their drawings  in the dark.

Of course this workshop would be so much more powerful if the Moon was in the sky at the same time . I am continuing to develop the activity , it suits the Irish cloudy sky syndrome and is also an indoor workshop.  Every child wanted to hold the Moon Ball and help put it in the car afterwards . A whole bunch of fun was over in a blink , the children had lovely practical drawings for their folders , and were on their way to understanding the Moons movments.

The Big Moon Ball Project  was welcomed by Engineers Ireland as part of Engineers Week 2011

Huge thanks to my husband Bernard for help with the sun and for taking the photographs.
The Moon Ball is getting an upgrade , the far side is being painted in now and the near sids is developing more details , craters, rays and mountains.

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I am so pleased and totally knocked out  that my dear friend Jane has included one of my Solar inspired paintings on her What's Up page this month. 

My painting is 8 inches by 8 inches
acrylic and pastel on canvas.
It was inspired by the images of  the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

You can see the image more clearly on the link below here and find many interesting solar system connections  too.


Solar System Exploration

    Picture

    Author


    Deirdre Kelleghan is amateur astronomer,
    an artist and also  likes to write.

    "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lighted"
    Plutarch

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