M71
Sketch and Details by Ernest Shekolyan
Hi!
That is my picture of M71 (globular cluster NGC 6838 in Sagitta 8.4m, 7.2′).
The sketch was done 27 July 2006 at village Ponizovka, South Crimea (Ukraine) under very dark sky (visual limit for naked eye was better 6.1m). 10″ 1:5.6 Dob, 6 mm UWA (Synta), 230x, FOV: 20 ang. minutes, graphite pencil, white paper, then photocopy + level correction, crop and inverting in ACDSee.
Sincerely yours, Ernest Shekolyan
M16 – The Eagle Nebula
Sketch and Details by Eric Graff
Object Name: Messier 16
Also Known As: NGC 6611, Cr 375, Mel 198, C1816-120, IC 4703, Sh2-49, Eagle Nebula, Star Queen Nebula
Object Type: Open Cluster + Emission Nebula + Dark Nebula
Constellation: Serpens (Cauda)
Right Ascension (2000.0): 18h 18m 45.0s
Declination (2000.0): –13° 47′ 54"
Magnitude: 6.0
Size: Cluster 21′; Nebula 35′ x 28′
NGC Description: Cl, at least 100 st L & S
Discovery: Philippe Loys de Chéseaux, 1746
Date/Time: 4 July 2008 • 04:20 to 06:45 UT
Location: Oakzanita Springs (4,010 ft. elevation), San Diego Co., California, USA
Telescope: Parks Astrolight EQ6 • 6" f/6 Newtonian Reflector
Eyepiece/Magnification: Parks 15mm Gold Series Plössl • 60x • 52′ FoV
Filters: Lumicon OIII
Conditions: Clear, calm, 62°F
Seeing: Pickering 4-5
Transparency: NELM 6.3; TLM 14.0
The Eagle Nebula (or the Star Queen Nebula, if you prefer) is one of the most spectacular "Great Nebulae" in the sky – in photographs, anyway. Unlike other emission nebulae on Messier’s list (M8, M17, M20, and M42-43), the Star Queen does not willingly yield her secrets to the visual observer. In fact, she puts up a rather tenacious fight.
The sky was not quite wholly dark when I centered my scope on M16 soaring above the brink of Oakzanita Peak. The nebulosity itself was not visible yet, but I immediately set to work sketching the visible members of the bright and easy open cluster invested in the nebula. By the time this task was completed the sky had darkened completely as the billowing clouds and star-studded reaches of the Milky Way cast their net above the entire eastern horizon. In the eyepiece gossamer veils of tenuous nebulosity draped lazily over the sparkling star cluster like a lumpy, disheveled cloak.
The best view in my scope occurs at 60x magnification with an OIII filter. The nebulosity is complex and the hazy morass dances with subtle possibilities, but getting that detail onto paper was challenging; the region around the famous "Pillars of Creation" was particularly difficult in this regard. Once I was satisfied that I had done all I could with the central portion of the nebula I was able to pick up faint, nearly featureless extensions on nearly every side by placing the cluster just outside the field of view and sweeping slowly from side to side (N-S or E-W; kind of like looking for the tail of a comet).
Coggia’s Comet – July 13, 1874
Sketch by Frederick Brodie
From Stars and Telescopes – A Hand-book of Popular Astronomy by David P. Todd, MA, PhD, 1901. Available at Google Books.
NGC 6934
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
Globular cluster NGC 6934 is an 8.9 magnitude ancient sphere of thousands of stars in the constellation of Delphinus. It is situated in a nice star rich region of the constellation at R.A. 20 hrs. 34 min. and Dec. +7° 24’. This globular can easily be located by star hopping. Begin at Beta Delphini and move through and past Eta Del. to Epsilon Del. Now extend this arc distance an equivalent length beyond Epsilon Del. And you will arrive at NGC 6934. To my eyes the diameter appeared to be about 5 arcmin. At 52,000 light years most of the brightest stars of this globular fall between 14th and 15th magnitude. I was able to detect granularity at the core but a scope larger than 10 inches would be best for resolving stars in this cluster. This globular is worth a look.
Sketching:
9”x11” white sketching paper; 6B, 4B, HB graphite pencils and a blending stump;
Scanned and inverted; brightness of some stars adjusted with MS Paint.
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian: 24 mm widefield eyepiece 60x and 12 mm eyepiece 121x
Date and Time: 7-23-2008, 7:00-7:30 UT
Seeing: Pickering 7/10
Transparency: Average 3/5
NELM: 4.4
Frank McCabe
Hickson 80
Sketch and Details by Bill Ferris
Hickson 80: Galaxy Cluster (Draco) RA: 15h 59.3m / DEC: +65º 14′.0
Instrument: 18-inch Obsession
The four-pack of faint galaxies in my sketch comprise the compact galaxy cluster, Hickson 80. A pair of 14th magnitude stars stand separated by just 30″ near the center of the field. Hickson 80A and 80B, paired to the north, appear to mirror that stellar duo. Hickson 80A is the 15.7(B) magnitude sliver covering a 0′.8 by 0′.2 area and aligned roughly north-south. It is cataloged as 2MASX J15591912+6513579, according to the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED). Hickson 80B (=PGC 56590) is the tiny, 16.4(B) magnitude smudge just 30″ to the south. Hickson 80C lies an arcminute due west of 80A. It is a 16.1(B) magnitude galaxy cataloged as PGC 56572. The most challenging member of the quartet is 16.8(B) magnitude Hickson 80D. This faint little stinker resides 50″ southeast of Hickson 80C and is only visible with averted vision. You’ll find this collection banished to the far northern reaches of the heavens, in Draco.
Sun (H-Alpha)
Sketch and Details by Ernest Shekolyan
Hi!
That is my picture of Sun on 7 May 2007 (13:40 msc). PST Coronado + 10 mm Super (Synta).
Interesting features: bird-like active chromispheric flash in center of solar disc and a number prominences on the limb. Graphite pencil, white paper, then photocopy and processing in ACDSee (coloring, soft, some additional manual drawing).
Sincerely yours, Ernest Shekolyan
C/2007 W1 (Boattini)
Sketch and Details by Michael Rosolina
At present, there are two comets in the night sky that bear the name Boattini. One, C/2008 J1 (Boattini), is currently moving out of Cepheus and is visible all night long. The other, C/2007 W1 (Boattini), dipped below the horizon for northern hemisphere observers back at the end of May and did not reappear until the beginning of July. To see C/2007 W1, an observer had only a short time span as the comet rose with the constellation Cetus and was soon lost in the dawn glare.
My sketch shows how W1 Boattini appeared to me through my 15×70 binoculars on the morning of July 15th. I then was able to take advantage of clear weather and plot the comet’s position over the next two mornings as it traveled to the NNW through Cetus past the 4th magnitude star lambda Ceti.
The original sketch and position updates were done in the field on Strathmore sketch paper with a 2B pencil and blending stump. I then inverted the sketch after scanning, applied 5% blur, and added the text.
Like most comets, W1 Boattini was easiest to see from dark, moonless skies with good transparency. It was difficult to impossible to observe visually while the Moon was bright, but now that Luna is on the wane, it will once again be possible to observe it. It is now in Aries, higher in the sky and visible earlier and for a longer time before morning twilight. If you get the weather and opportunity, try and observe it over several mornings to detect its motion against the background stars.
Michael Rosolina
Friars Hill, West Virginia, USA
Hickson 92 (Arp 319 / Stephan’s Quintet)
Sketch by Eiji Kato
Ray Crater Proclus
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe
Bright rayed crater Proclus (28 km.) lies between the highland Marsh of Sleep (Palus Somni) and the lowland Sea of Crisis (Mare Crisium). Proclus is a young crater about the same age as large crater Copernicus. But unlike Copernicus, the Proclus impact event arrived at an angle less than 15° from the west southwest based on the butterfly wing pattern of debris seen on the lunar surface. This pattern can be seen again on the eastern side of the moon several hundred kilometers to the south of Proclus with craters Messier and Messier A (not drawn here). The gray area to the upper right of Proclus is Palus Somni inside the “forbidden zone” where no rays can occur in the uprange direction. See chapter 10 of “The Modern Moon” by Charles Wood, Sky Publishing Corporation, for a more complete explanation. The rim of this crater in the high sunlight was as brightly illuminated as the rays. This crater is nearly as bright as larger Aristarchus across the lunar nearside to the west. Like crater Tycho this is one of those craters that are most impressive at high sun even with a modest size telescope. More than a lifetime of observing and even sketching awaits the amateur astronomer on moonlit nights.
Sketching
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper 12”x8”, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. After scanning, Brightness was decreased (-6) and contrast increased (+5) using Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 241 x
Date: 7-16-2008, 4:20-5:45 UT
Temperature: 25° C (76° F)
Clear, light winds
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude 67.6°
Lunation 13 days
Illumination 95.8 %
Frank McCabe
M39 and NGC 7082
Sketch and Details by Rony De Laet
The brightest open cluster of Cygnus is Messier 39. With a diameter of more than a full moon, M39 is a beautiful binocular object. To find this open cluster, just drawn an imaginary line from Deneb (Alpha Cygni) to Alpha Lacerta and point your binoculars at the middle of that line. There you’ll find M39 as a large triangular configuration of 6 brighter stars with a dozen fainter ones. While you have this open cluster in your sight, try to find a neighbour of M39: NGC 7082, at one and a half degree to the south. NGC 7082 is rather dim, compared to M39. My binoculars show only a few faint stars in an elongated misty patch of weak unresolved star glow. M39 and NGC 7082 appear to be close companions, but this an optical illusion. While M39 is 830 light-years from us, NGC 7082 is about 5 times further away. With both objects in the field of view, it is not difficult to imagine that NGC 7082 floats far behind M39 through the night sky.
Site : Bütgenbach, Belgium
Date : July 1, 2008
Time : around 23.45 UT
Binoculars : Bresser 8×56
FOV: 5.9°
Filter : none
Mount : Trico Machine Sky Window
Seeing : 3,5/5
Transp. : 4/5
Nelm : around 5.8
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.)
