Author: Jeremy Perez

A Serpent Among the Stars

B68 and B72

Barnard 68 and 72 (The Snake Nebula)
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

B68 Oph dark nebula Difficulty level: 3/5
B72 Oph dark nebula Difficulty level: 4/5
The Snake Nebula
Date of Observation: 2002/08/02 22:51
Observing Site: Gokase
Transparency/Seeing/sky darkness: 5/2/5
Instruments: 50cm Dobsonian and XL40
Magnification: 60x
Width of field: 1.1 degrees

These are good photographic objects but difficult visually.
There are numerous faint stars in the field, although they are not as dense as in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Against this background a dark nebula shaped ‘S’ is visible faintly. The southern part of the winding dark nebula is wide and clear. It is conspicuous because the background is bright. It is not curved smoothly but bent sharply at two places. The northern part is bent at one place. The end of the northern part is not clear. There is a small separate dark nebula visible southwest of the Snake Nebula. This is B68. This is more clearly seen than the Snake Nebula because the background is bright. It is triangular with its corners being roundish.

A Smoky Cascade

IC 1318(c)

IC 1318(c)
Sketch and Details by Eric Graff

Object Name: IC 1318(c) (West Extension)
Also Known As: LBN 236, LBN 240, LBN 241, DWB 52, GAL 077.7+03.4
Object Type: Emission Nebula
Constellation: Cygnus
Right Ascension (2000.0): 20h 17.1m
Declination (2000.0): +40° 50′
Magnitude: —
Size: 40′ x 25′

Date/Time: 27 July 2008 • 05:45 to 07:00 UT
Location: Oakzanita Springs, San Diego Co., California, USA
Telescope: Parks Astrolight EQ6 • 6″ f/6 Newtonian Reflector
Eyepiece/Magnification: Parks 20mm Gold Series Plössl • 45x • 70′ FoV
Filters: Lumicon OIII
Conditions: Clear, Calm, 64°F
Seeing: Pickering 6-7
Transparency: NELM 6.4; TLM 14.2

This cascade of stars shrouded in smoky wisps of nebulosity caught my attention as I made the star hop from Gamma Cygni to IC 1318(b). The cascade ends at the sparse open cluster Collinder 419, whose brightest star is a close pair known as Struve 2666 (6.0, 8.2; 2.6″; 245°). Just northeast of this cluster the narrow stream of nebulosity blossoms into a hazy morass of delicate nebulosity – this is IC 1318(c). Fifth magnitude HD 193092 blazes with a reddish-orange light to the south.

Sketch Info: Nebulosity sketched with graphite applied with artist chamois and blending stump on 24# paper in 7½” circle. Stars with pencil and ink, cleaned up digitally (and colorized) in Microsoft Picture It!

Now You See It, Now You Don’t

NGC 6826

NGC 6826
Sketch and details by Dale Holt

These day virtually all of my deep sky observing is undertaken from my observatory using my 14″ F5 Newtonian coupled with a Watec 120N video camera. I sketch the ‘virtual’ real time image from the black & white monitor display in my office attached to the observatory.
I use an HB pencil, eraser and blending stump on standard cartridge paper. I scan the image and reverse to a negative before storing as a J Peg.

For this drawing of the ‘Blinking Nebula’ NGC 6826 in Cygnus I used a Lumicon UHC filter in front of the camera.

Clear Skies, Dale

Waning Blue

Daytime Moon

Daytime Moon
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

23 Day Old Waning Crescent

When the moon crossed my meridian today it was more than 75° above the southern horizon. That was about one hour before I began this sketch. The last time I purchased sketching paper I bought a few sheets of light blue paper for day time lunar and planet sketching. This August has been unusual for Chicago, Illinois, in that we have had many days with cool temperatures and low humidity. Today again was one of those very transparent days although clouds were frequent and stopped me from sketching from time to time. Actual sketching time was about 45 minutes over a two hour period.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: light blue drawing paper cut to 12’x14”, white Conte’
pastel pencils, a light blue Crayola pencil, a blending stump and my index finger too. No adjustments were need after scanning except size reduction.
Telescope: 4.25 inch f/ 5 Dobsonian and 12mm eyepiece 45x

Date: 8-24-2008 13:00-15:00 UT
Temperature: 20° C (68° F)
Partly cloudy, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 188°
Phase: 262.9°
Lunation: 23 days
Illumination: 44 %
Libration Latitude -6°
Libration Longitude -1°

Frank McCabe

Jupiter – August 9, 2008

Jupiter

Jupiter – August 9, 2008
Sketch and Details by Carlos Hernandez

I made an observation of Jupiter on August 9, 2008 using my 9-inch F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain. Much detail was noted over the planet, especially the North Equatorial Belt (NEB) and South Equatorial Belt (SEB). The seeing conditions were above average (5/10) for a short time before the clouds came in and ended my observing session. I welcome any comments that you may have on my observation.

Date (U.T.): August 9, 2008
Time (U.T.): 03:50
L1 201.1, L2 319.1, L3 316.6
Diameter (Equatorial): 46.4″
Instrument: 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Magnification: 163x
Seeing (1-10): 5, Antoniadi (I-V): III
Transparency (1-6): 4

Notes:
South Polar Region (SPR): Appears dark to dusky (3-4) and mottled.
South Temperate Zone (STZ): Appears thin and shaded (6/10).
South Temperate Belt (STB): Appears dark to dusky (3-4/10), thin and divided (northern component darker than southern). No ovals visible within it.
South Tropical Zone STrZ): Appears bright (7/10) with a thin, dusky (4/10) band over it’s central portion.
South Equatorial Belt (SEB): Appeared dark to dusky (3-4) and containing dark (3/10) dark condensations along it’s northern border and bright (7/10) undulating sections (strips) within it (preceding section wider in latitude than following).
Equatorial Zone (EZ): Appeared shaded to bright (6-7/10) with a thin, dusky (4/10) band across the center of it.
North Equatorial Belt (NEB): Appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10) and thin with dark rods (barges) along it’s northern border. Blue festoons (3/10) noted along it’s southern border.
North Tropical Zone (NTrZ): Appeared bright (7/10), but no other detail visible within it.
North Temperate Belt (NTB): Appeared thin, dark to dusky (3-4/10) and divided by a thin, bright (7/10) zone.
North Polar Region (NPR): Appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10) and mottled.

A digital image made using Photoshop CS3.

The best of luck in your own observations of Jupiter.

Regards,
Carlos

Binocular Treasure in Vulpecula

NGC 6940

NGC 6940
Sketch and Details by Rony De Laet

My first encounter with NGC 6940 was one of pure coincidence. I was sweeping with the binoculars along the rich Milky Way star clouds of Cygnus without any preparation. While trying to find the location of the Cirrus nebula, I stumbled upon an oval brightening in the sky, as large as the full moon. It was an enchanting, yet mysterious object. I did not know of such an object in the constellation Cygnus. This marvellous object turned out to be NGC 6940, an open cluster which belongs to the constellation Vulpecula. The easiest way to locate NGC 6940 is to start from … Cygnus, indeed. First locate Epsilon Cygni. Then move south to 52 Cygni, and a little west to 41 Cygni. Now move south until 41 Cygni borders the northern edge of the field of view. And voilà, there is NGC 6940. My 8×56 binoculars show a conspicuous, elliptical haze bordered with a handful of foreground stars. The lucida of this cluster is a mag 9 red giant. Therefore my binoculars don’t resolve many stars from the glowing haze. The cluster’s distance is about 2700 light years and its age is a respectable 800 million years. NGC 6940 is a very rewarding open cluster, and should be included in every tour of the summer constellations!

Site : Bütgenbach, Belgium
Date : June 28, 2008
Time : around 23.30UT
Binoculars : Bresser 8×56
FOV: 5.9°
Filter : none
Mount : Trico Machine Sky Window
Seeing : 2,5/5
Transp. : 4/5
Nelm : around 5.9
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with Photo Paint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

(Note: if the sketch does look too dark on your monitor, try to darken the room.)

A Trio in Resplendent Isolation

Bullialdus

Bullialdus and A and B
Sketch and details by Richard Handy

Sitting in replendent isolation on the lava plains of Mare Nubium, the magnificent 61 km Bullialdus reflects the early morning sunlight strongly off the steep cliffs ringing it’s western rim. If you were to stand on this precipice next to this face, a nervous downward gaze would reveal huge islands of collapsed rubble nearly 1800 meters of almost vertical drop below you. Wrapping around in great arcs with your field of view, on the opposite side of the crater, these giant terraces would appear as tumbled foothills rising from a deep gray plain, interrupted by the brightly lit jutting central peaks of Bullialdus. The wreath of folded crust that forms the glacis of Bullialdus is one of it’s most alluring aspects. It seems replete with craggy flows of broken crustal rock arranged radially around the outer rim. As an Eratosthenian aged crater, little is preserved of this iconic crater’s once prominent ray system, but at one time it must have been quite a sight, powdery rays splayed across the long cooled Nubium flows. But time, sunlight and micrometeorites fade everything. Craters like Bullialdus are classified as complex craters. The force of the impact of the original asteriod is strong enough to distort the surface downward a few kilometers. In response to this compression, the surface rebounds almost explosively, creating extraordinay results: central peaks and rim terrace mega collapse slides. Bullialdus’s peaks are close to 1000m high. The annulus of mass wasting, especially in a couple of areas to the south west of the floor do appear to almost encroach on the central peaks. To the south of Bullialdus is Bullialdus A. There seems to be a scooped depression that connects Bullialdus to it’s diminutive neighbor, as if the shock of A’s formation created a landslide off this section of the glacis of Bullialdus. Futher to the southwest Bullialdus B echos this odd terrain.

Sketch Details:

Date: 6-25-07 Start- 4:30 UT End- 6:00 UT
or: 6-24-07 21:30 to 23:00
Lunation: 10.05 days Phase: 61.1 deg Illumination: 74.2%
Lib. in Lat.= +5 deg 56 min Lib. in Long.= -00 deg 10 min
Seiing: Antoniadi II to III Weather: clear
Telescope: 12″ SCT f/10
Bino viewer: W.O. Bino-P with 1.6X nosepiece
Eyepieces: 12.4 mm Meade Super Plossls
Magnification: 393X
Medium: White and black Conte’ Crayon on textured black Strathmore paper.
Sketch size: 18″x 24″

A Day Before Full

Schluter

Schluter, Grimaldi, and Riccioli Craters
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

At one day before full moon the illumination along the western terminator, nearly at the limb was highlighting the Upper-Imbrium crater Schluter (92 km.) with its central peak protruding out from the darkness of the crater floor. The outer reaches of Mare Orientale in the name of the Cordillera mountains were just beyond the sunlight at the lunar limb. The largest feature in this sketch is the lava covered, very dark floored impact basin known as Grimaldi (230 km.) What we see of Grimaldi is the inner ring of a 440 kilometer, two ringed mini-basin. This Pre-Nectarian impact event was originally described as a walled plain crater of advanced age with a heavily worn and battered rim. The basin is noted for a large gravitation anomaly beneath the surface associated with a high mass density concentration. Adjacent to Grimaldi to the west is semi-dark floored walled plain crater Riccioli (150 km.) At the same age as its eastern partner it shows damage and age especially from the ejecta pitched out by the Mare Orientale event.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper 9”x12”, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. After scanning, Brightness was decreased (-5) and contrast increased (+4) using Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 9 mm eyepiece 161 x
Date: 8-16-2008, 3:15-4:40 UT
Temperature: 15° C (59° F)
Clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude 85.7 °
Lunation 14.7 days
Illumination 99.4 %

Frank McCabe