Akkana's Planet Sketches


My moon sketches and general sketches are on separate pages. I have also split off the Mars sketches from before 2003 and from the 2003 opposition. I also have some Saturn ring sketches in a discussion of the various ring gaps.

Check out my astrosketch mailing list on egroups if you're interested in discussions about sketching. The list of links there is a good collection of other sketch pages.

[Jupiter 9/26/2009, from the eyepiece] [Jupiter 9/26/2009, smudged] Jupiter on Sep 26, 2009 through an 80mm f/6 Orion acromat ("semi-apo", whatever that means). First image is raw from the eyepiece, second is after some smudging and touch-up work.

Takahashi LE 7.5mm plus 2.5x Tele-Vue barlow for a total of 160x. Image hasn't been flipped, so it's right/left reversed. The moon on the left is Io; the dark smudge against the right of the equatorial zone is just a spot on the paper (removed digitally in the second image).

[Jupiter 2/12/2002] Jupiter on 2/12/2002, 12.5" reflector.
[Jupiter: another big rift in the NEB] Jupiter on 2/3/2001 at about 9:30pm PST. Image is reversed (refractor orientation, I forgot to flip it after scanning).

This is not the GRS, it's in the NEB! This Great Northern Spot seems to be a recent development.
That's a moon (Europa?) off the NEB, and a star above the NP.

[Jupiter: another big rift in the NEB] Jupiter on 12/05/2000 at 10pm: another huge rift in the NEB, this time on the side opposite the GRS.
[Io Transit] Io transit of November 29, 2000, at the end of the transit, about 11pm. Jupiter looked like it has a mouth open about to swallow (or, more accurately, spit out) Io ... like some huge mouth-breeding fish.
[Jupiter's SEBoa] A bit of whimsy for Jupiter observers who are also fans of Antoine De Saint-Exupery's book The Little Prince
[Jupiter with white intrusion into NEB] On 11/19/2000 at 11:10pm PDT, through a 6" f/8 dob, I noticed a white intrusion -- almost like a reverse festoon -- extending from the NEZ into the NEB. It preceeds the GRS by a little less than 90 degrees. I've never seen it before, and have no idea what it is, but David North saw it too.
[Jupiter through the new 8 Jupiter on 9/29/2000 -- my first Jupiter sketch of the "oughts", and my first look at Jupiter through my newly-made 8" dob! Europa's shadow is visible near the GRS; Europa itself is just about to transit.
[Jupiter with major disturbances north of the GRS] Jupiter on 12/1/99 at 9:45 PST, just before Europa disappeared behind the planet. Note the zone of disturbance north of the GRS, and the train of ovals following it. Primary sketch made with a C5, but some of the details added based on the view in a 12.5" Newtonian. (Image reversed to show correct (Newtonian) view, not SCT view.)
[Jupiter on 10/5/98, 9pm PDT] [Jupiter on 10/5/98, 11pm PDT] Jupiter on 10/5/98, through a Takahashi FS128, at about 9pm PDT (left) and 11pm (right).
[Jupiter (GSfkaR) on 9/12/98] September 11-12 '98, at 10:20pm PDT: The Great Spot Formerly Known as Red (GSfkaR) is leaving a trail of white ovals in its wake. With my Cave 6", I could resolve the white patch coming out of the spot, but could not resolve it into individual ovals. The same night, the ovals were easy in the Fremont Peak 30" and a 14.5" dob, and visible with difficulty in a Takahashi FS128.
[Jupiter through an 80mm f/11.3] For comparison, here's a Jupiter sketch I did a year ago through my 80mm refractor from my driveway. I think this is more of a comparison of my sketching skills than of the views through the different apertures. :-) Though I've never seen detail inside the GRS through an 80mm the way I did through the 6".
I also have some sketches of the moon, Mars, and of the gaps in Saturn's rings.
Akkana's Astronomy page
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