Author: Jeremy Perez

M82 and Supernova News

SN 2014J in M82 - February 2, 2014
SN 2014J in M82 – February 2, 2014

Object Name (SN 2014J in M82)
Object Type (Supernova in galaxy)
Location (Provence – France)
Date (Feb 2nd 2014)
Media (graphite pencil, watercolour on white paper)

Hello sketchers, here is my contribution to the observation of SN 2014J.

From Jan. 23rd till Feb. 11th I spend a lot of good time with the M82 supernova. Sketching the galaxy, estimate the visual magnitude and made watercolour of the sceneries.
Sometime I observed with friends and their materials, sometime I’m alone on the middle of no where, between the Provencal wild nature and the dark sky. Here in south France the temperature is quite high for the season but wind blows, so, often I place my car to protect the 12” Dobson from the mistral.
Attached is a kind of “auto portrait” (yes, that’s me!), from a photo I take tonight. On the basis I add the AAVSO curve with my own visual observations (blue cross is DMIB).

The technique used is inverted watercolour, so I invert the colours of the sketch while scanning. For the galaxy this is common sketch black on white – inverted.

Thanks to read this, clear sky to you all !
Michel

http://astro.aquarellia.com/

Side by Side Test: 5″ ED-Apo vs. 12″ Achro

Mars, Jupiter, Saturn - January 18, 2014
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn – January 18, 2014

5″ f9 refractor, x240 ]
12″ f10 efractor x350

location ; Backyard home in South. Korea
white paper [40 x30 cm] , graphite pencils , black ink
Date of observe/ sketch ; jan, 18. 2014.

Cook Crater

Cook Crater - February 3, 2014
Cook Crater – February 3, 2014

Object-Cook crater, Moon
Type-Crater
Location-Bangalore, India
Date-3-Feb-2014
Media-0.7mm click pencil, eraser, Processed with PS5…
Seeing condition-Average from city.
Instrument- Sky130mm f6.9Newtonian and Ioptron SmartEQ portable GEM.. 6mm eyepiece…

Hi guys, I sketched this after few weeks… I used Blade to whiten the crater borders….

Regards,
Santhosh S

White Storm on Jupiter

Jupiter - February 5, 2014
Jupiter – February 5, 2014

* Object Name: Jupiter
* Object Type: planet
* Location: Laboulbène (Tarn – France) N43.66 E2.22
* Date: 5th February 2014 22h45TU
* Media: pencil HB + 2B, white drawing paper, scanned + rescaled + colorized with PhotoPaint

Orientation: eyepiece view, no image flipping
Conditions: Lot of humidity, 3°C, no wind.
Equipment:
– Dobson Orion XT12 (305 x 1500mm => F/D 5)
– Eyepiece Panoptic 15mm + barlow x 3 Televue (mag x 300)

After a heavy rain, the sky suddenly went cristal clear. So I took my Dobson to a dark lane.

After having a long M82 supernova contemplation, I payed attention to Jupiter.
Its moons were in a rare configuration: all on the same side, but forming a trapeze instead of a line.
From left to right: Io, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa.

I was surprised by the amazing sky quality, seeing perfectly the Great Red Spot and some detail on tropical strips.
I saw an unusual white wave on the right side of the GRS I wanted to keep in memory by doing this sketch.

I could not establish if it was a continuous stream (as I draw it) or a suite of white storm clouds.
I did not find recent picture of Jupiter to confirm.
If somebody observed this, or made a picture at the same period, thanks for leaving a comment.

Thanks for your interest.
Jean-Marc Saliou
APAM astro club

Four Day Old Waning Lunar Crescent

Crescent Moon - February 3, 2014
Crescent Moon – February 3, 2014

An unusually clear winter day here in Chicagoland with high clouds racing towards us in front of our next round of snow. As twilight began the Moon remained at a good altitude for sketching as long as I worked quickly. During this sketch earthshine became exceptional but high thin clouds began to erase the fine view and heavy clouds ended the sketch before I finished.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used black sketching paper (12” x 14”), white and black Conte’ pastel pencils, blending stumps, white Pearl eraser.

Telescope 4.25”f/5 Dobsonian riding on an equatorial platform, 21mm wide field eyepiece 26x
Date and Time: 02-03-2014; 17:30 – 18:25 local time
Seeing: mostly Antoniadi III
Transparency: clear to overcast
Temperature: -6.7 °C (20°F)
Colongitude: 315.8°
Lunation: 3.85 days
Illumination: 20%
Favorable longitudinal libration

Frank McCabe

Freckled Sun

Sun - White Light - February 4, 2014
Sun – White Light – February 4, 2014

Object : Star / Sun
Date : February 04, 2014
Time : 10:30LST / 03:30 UT
Location : Surprise Arizona USA
Medium : Digital sketch done on Iphone with apps
Instruments : Orion 25×100 Binos, William Optics GTF81 APO, 5mm Orion edge-on planetary eyepiece, White light filter, Iphone with PaintFX and Juxtaposer Apps.
Magnitude : -26.7
Weather : 65deg. F, Clear sky (in the morning), no wind and just great day altogether!

Comments: Greetings everyone! Please allow me to bring you this new digital sketch utilizing my Iphone. recently or should I say last month- January. The Sun presented us with one of the biggest sunspots in recent times. That sunspot being AR 1944, It crossed the entire disc of the Sun from our point of view and went all around to reappear again. Well, here I’ve done my best to depict it as it is already under way racing across the face of the Sun. It is now designated AR 1967. It also comes with a fairly huge companion group – AR 1968. As some of you may already know, these freckles on the Sun are ‘cold’ areas comprised of strong magnetic fields capable of hurtling solar flares or coronal mass ejections, CME’s for short. As an added reference, I superimposed an image of the Earth just for size comparison next to those massive sunspots.
Back to the sketch! Are digital sketches or drawings considered a genuine art medium? A medium for sure but I once thought that maybe it’s a bit like cheating. Textures, colors, filters and a plethora of other effects are already predetermined and laid out for you. I’d say, If you get to show and display the view or scene that you have in mind using a digital format and you succeed, then it’s all worth it. I like the the ‘old school’ pad and pencils but i had to give it a try. Enjoy!

Dark and Clear skies,

Juanchin

Supernova 2014L in Messier 99

Messier 99 and SN2014L - February 4, 2014
Messier 99 and SN2014L – February 4, 2014

ASOD – Supernova in M99 sketch – “Kim byong su”

file name – “m99_supernova_Kim Byong su”
object Name – Supernova in M99 sketch
Location – But-gogae Gosong-ri Yangdong-myeon Yangpyeong-gun Gyeonggi-do S.KOREA
Media – pencil, charcoal , white Paper
XQ 10″ Dob / TMB 6mm “208x”

this sketch image 1280 pixel..

140x – Sharp => Looked for a short time(0.2~1.5 seconds)
208x – Cloudy Sharp=> Looked for a long time (2~3 seconds)

Jupiter and Io shadow

Jupiter - December 30, 2013
Jupiter – December 30, 2013

Hello,

I would like to submit a pair of visual observations for consideration.

Many Thanks
Stephen Pedajas

Jupiter
Planet
Hadfield, UK
30 December 2013
21.15 UT
Photoshop digital render from visual observation sketch.

Seeing 3 of 5

TSA102S FL 816 f/8
Delos 4.5
Magnification x181
iOptron MiniTower II

Jupiter and Io Shadow - December 30, 2013
Jupiter and Io Shadow – December 30, 2013

Ghost of California

NGC1499 - California Nebula
NGC1499 – California Nebula

Object Name California Nebula in Perseus – NGC1499
Object Type emission nebula
Location Budy Dłutowskie – small village in central Poland
Date 04.10.2013
Media graphite pencil, white paper, color invert
Telescope Sky Watcher refractor 120/600 + GSO 30mm + TS H-Beta
Seeing 3/5 (medium)
Transparency 3/5 (medium)
NELM 5,5 mag

I heard that this object is extremely hard to observe (in visual, of course). That’s why i decided to try 🙂 I bought TS H-Beta filter which is essential during observations of this faint object.

And I can say, with this filter, nebula is quite easy and obvious to observe. It looks like delicate fog.
But you need rich-field telescope to catch it fully in one FOV – to be precise, minimum 3,5 degree of FOV is necessary. And of course H-beta filter, because without it you will see nothing.

Clear Sky
Łukasz