To circle or not to circle
Just after sunset on April 1st, 80% of the sky was draped in patchy clouds as far as the eye could see. I intended to draw the crescent moon engaging with the Pleiades cluster. In anticipation, I prepared a CD-sized circle and a side plate-sized circle. This action involves drawing both circles using a white gel pen and then filling the circles in with soft black pastels. Even the blackest drawing card or paper is never black enough for me. One was for a binocular drawing of the targets, and the other was for a possible telescope drawing if it cleared up.
However, later on, I decided not to draw within a circle at all. My judgment on observing the clouds was to try doing a binocular drawing, keeping it unrestricted to include the inevitable clouds and some details of the crescent moon and M45.
Drawing menu
On the drawing’s menu was the unlikely possibility of a totally clear view. Over the hour or so, I had partial views of the moon, craters within the crescent, fleeting views of some M45 stars, and brief views of the complete cluster. Of course, endless trains of clumpy clouds flying in front of both targets added to the challenge.
A strong breeze also blew my box of pastels and pens across what was left of our deck after storm Eowyn. I drew the circle of the moon using a clear glass disc, which, being see-through, helped me judge the shape of the terminator. The young moon remained mostly visible for the time I was observing it. Sometimes, parts of it got lost in the rushing cloud. Occasionally, a crystal-clear glimpse showed me Crisium and Cleomedes.
Drawing
When I had greyed the crescent shape, I noticed that one of M45’s stars was almost dead centre above the dark limb between the moon’s horns. Electra was placed in the drawing right away. I knew the occultation proper was some minutes away. However, it was available, and that may have been the only star the Pleiades offered that evening. Electra on the limb just before the moon hid it, would have been my preferred choice, them’s the breaks, as they say.
Back to the drawing, I added the craters close to the terminator held in the tip of the lower horn—two white-rimmed sunkissed indents. When moments allowed, I added the Earthshine I could see. The crescent’s limb had a distinctive white line around it and a darker line outside its edge. The reflected moonlight seemed to pour out like a wave interacting with ice in our atmosphere, creating a coppery hue in the clouds, a tiny incomplete moon halo.
Roll on September
In the drawing, we view the clouds in our atmosphere, M45 in part, and the crescent moon. The moon and the cluster were vast distances from each other and my eyes—a pleasure to observe despite the clouds. The next opportunity to see this occultation from Ireland will be September 12th, 2025.
Constellation Taurus, the Crab Nebula and the Seven Sisters aka The Pleiades, aka M45
