Go Observe – Plato

Jan 19, 2018 at 6:16 am

This is a drawing of the walled plain Plato on the moon. It is sketched using a 200 mm dobsonian telescope with a 6.3 mm Plossel eyepiece. This gives a magnification of 96X . The sketch was produced using soft pasetls , watercolor pencils and a wooden cocktail stick . It is a black and white drawing with 3D effects in highlights and shading. By Deirdre Kelleghan

    In my previous blog I mentioned that I had sketched Plato in detail. However in my haste to sketch the lunar eclipse I had wiped it out by overlaying it with red pastel . While writing I remembered another detailed sketch of Plato which was not compromised by a lunar eclipse. It would be my wish that you would go observe Plato and perhaps draw it. This particular version of Plato was sketched back in February 2007 , on an evening when the seeing was perfect. Sometimes our atmosphere can be very unsteady.  Observing the moon when this is happening makes the view very wobbly, therefore not conducive to sketching. When the seeing is steady, moon viewing can be very beautiful. Occasionally the sun's light can become a momentary master sculptor of lunar features as it touches the tops of mountains or the rims of craters. 'The purpose of education is to give to the body and to … Continue reading →

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