Author: richardhandy

Extragalactic thundercloud

M106 
Messier 106

That night (the 20th of April 2007) I first planned to redo a sketch of M51. When I
scanned the region, M106 came into view. I found the view so interesting that I
decided to sketch this Messier object instead. At first sight, this galaxy reminded
me of a cumulonimbus cloud drifting in the sky. I could not help it but to see
patterns and shadows in this galaxy. I found the core very confusing to look at.
According to the late Walter Scott Houston, descriptions of its visual appearance
vary considerably. Some observers have reported a needle-like shape, while ‘Scotty’
saw a very bright parallelogram shape. My little scope reveals ‘a drifting cloud’. I
hope you like the view.
Date : April 20, 2007
Time : 21.30UT
Scope : ETX 105/1470
Vixen LV Zoom eyepiece at 15mm
Power : 100
FOV: 30′
Filter : none
Seeing : 2.5/5
Transp. : 2/5
Nelm : 5.3
Sketch Orientation : N down, W left.
Digital sketch made with a digital tablet and PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Rony De Laet

http://www.geocities.com/rodelaet, my personal website.

Lovely Limb

Ingrahami

Crater Ingrahami
  
  You have got to admit, on a clear winter night from the northern hemisphere the
full moon has a way of revealing itself and moving high and bright to the
meridian. After looking at the full moon through a telescope eyepiece you can be
quite moonblind for a while. Don’t make any sudden movements until your night
vision returns. This night was my rendezvous with the crater Inghirami. Crater
Inghirami is a Nectarian period crater (3.85 billion years old) and measuring 92
km.in diameter. This crater is southwest of Schickard and southeast of Vallis
Inghirami. The crater has an interesting floor with what looks like a low ridge
mountain range running across it. Inghirami crater is near the edge of the lunar
impact basin Mare Orientale. Below is my number 2 pencil and ink sketch on copy
paper of the region of Inghirami crater near both the terminator and limb.       
                                                    
  
  Date: 1-3-2007 4:00 to 4:45 UT
  Temperature: -2.2 °C (28° F)
  Breezy, seeing was average
  Antoniadi : III
  13.1 inch f / 5.9 Dobsonian 6mm ortho ocular 327X
  Colongitude: 83°
  Lunation: 13.8 days
  Illumination: 100 %         
  
  Frank McCabe

Long haired star

Comet Linear C/2006 VZ13

I love comets and observe them whenever I can. Most are just faint
celestial smudges but you never know when things can change! When I
observe them I always make a sketch to capture that moment forever, after
all most never return in our life time so it is so nice to look back on your
records. This week I caught up with current Comet Linear C/2006 VZ13 in
Bootes andmade the attached sketch.
  
Made simply on white cartridge paper with a graphite pencil & blending
stump at the eyepiece. Scanned and turned into a white on black negative.
  
Warm regards, Dale Holt

Before the Moon Is Full

Schickard 

Crater Schickard

One of the many large and interesting craters on the visible lunar surface is 227
km. diameter walled plain crater Schickard. This Pre-Nectarian crater is somewhat
isolated from craters of equal size. It is the shallow floor of Schickard that
presents its most interesting features. After the large impactor struck the lunar
highlands to form this crater, lava passed to the surface through cracks that
served as channels. Tens of millions of years later the gargantuan impact forming
the Orientale basin occurred blanketing the crater with highland ejecta. After
some time more flooding of dark mare lava created the two notable dark patches on
the crater floor to the Northwest and Southeast. This grand crater can easily be
seen in a modest telescope with good lighting one or two days before full moon.
  
  Sketching:
  For this sketch I used: copy paper, a no. 2 graphite pencil, fingertips for
  blending.
  Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian at 233X
  Date: 11-4-2006,  Time: 2:11-3:15 UT
  Clear skies:  4.4°C (40°F)
  Seeing:  Pickering 5/10
  Colongitude 70.5 °
  Lunation 12.9 days
  Illumination 97 %
  
  Frank McCabe

Celestial Pyramid

Zodiacal Light 

Hello friends!!
I have been busy a few months but I am back again :- )
I send you a sketch that I did last year showing the Zodiacal Light. It was
the first time I saw it in so good conditions and very clear.

The weather was perfect, transparency, very very clear skies. The Moon was
next to the plain horizon, thin as a sickle, the pyramid of light was
inclining towards the left side, becoming closer as it was climbing up to
the constellation of Geminis and Cancer. Incredibly luminous it was
contrasting against the black sky.

It is a naked eye sketch showing some trees on the horizon and the moon.

Date: April 29 (2006)
After the sunset looking to the west.

I hope you like it.
Leonor

Prominent Trio

Prominent Trio

Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catherina
 
This sketch of the trio Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catherina was done in about 15
minutes due to clouds coming in. to make the best of the limited time I tried to
focus only on the big shapes, shadows & lines. Then I worked the sketch out inside.
Below is the quick sketch done outside, and above the finished version.

Prominent Trio quick
 
Sketched on the 22th May 2007 from my home in Bornem, Belgium. I used my 8” f/5 dob
at 200x through a 5mm Baader Hyperion eyepiece.
 
The sketch was done on standard A4 printerpaper with pencils. I then scanned it and
adjusted the brightness/contrast levels a bit to make it stand out better.
 
Kris Smet

Twins Gems

M35 

Hi folks,

Here’s my first observation with the SkyWatcher. This rich field scope gives a whole
new perspective on deep-sky objects. With a SP 26mm EP, I get a whopping 2.7 degrees
field of view at a power of x19. I hope you like the view.

Date : March 8, 2007
Time : 20.30 UT
Seeing :2.5/5
Transp. 3/5

Digital sketch made with Photopaint, based on a raw pencil sketch made behind the EP.
N down, W left orientation.
Rony De Laet

http://www.geocities.com/rodelaet, my personal website.

Standing On The Shoulders of Giants

Mu Cephei 

µ Cephei: Red Supergiant

µ Cephei, was first discovered by William Herschel and called Garnet
Star, because it appears to shine in garnet red due to its spectral
class of M2Ia. It is the reddest star visible with the naked eye and may
be one of the brightest and largest stars in our whole Galaxy.
It is a Red Supergiant in the last phase of its life, fusing helium into
carbon. Its radius is 1425 times the radius of the sun and it is 38000
times brighter – only thinking about those numbers can do your head in.
Sketching it was easy, however, more than once interrupted by passing
clouds.

Date: November 18, 2006
Location: Erbendorf, Bavaria, Germany
Instrument: Dobsonian 8″ f/6
Constellation: Cepheus
Seeing: II-III of VI
Transparency: III-IV of VI
NELM: 5m0
Magnification: 80x
Technique: pencil on white paper, digitally enhanced in Photoshop

Sebastian Lehner

Three near the seashore

Archimedes et al 

Archimedes et. al.

Finally, I was blessed with a clear sky. It has been 26 days since the beginning of the year and this is my fourth clear or mostly clear night. With the moon well into lunation 1040, it was bright and high in the sky at nightfall. After observing the lunar surface for about forty-five minutes, I selected a favorite region in eastern Mare Imbrium for sketching.

As an eighth grader with a new 4.25 inch f/10 Newtonian telescope, Archimedes was the first crater I remember identifying with this scope. I selected my 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece to make my sketch of this region. In the sketch below the three craters in counterclockwise direction from smallest to largest are: Autolycus, Aristillus and Archimedes. About half way between Autolycus and Archimedes is the impact site of the first spacecraft to reach the moon September 14, 1959. It was Luna 2 and after crossing through the Van Allen belt it detected and confirmed the solar ions known as the solar wind particles just prior to its lunar rendezvous.

The two smaller craters are from the Copernican period and the larger crater Archimedes is an ancient crater that dates back beyond 3 billion years ago. The terraced walls of Archimedes stand 2000 meters above the flat lava flooded floor of this crater. I was unable to detect at this observation any of the craterlets on the floor. This crater is 85 km. across. Autolycus is less than half the diameter of Archimedes has a higher rim (3000 meters) and an irregular floor. Aristillus which is intermediate in size (56 km diameter) has the tallest rim at 3500 meters and 3 mountains on its floor up to 900 meters tall.

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils and a soft piece of leather for  blending. Image was slightly darkened using Imageenhance software.
Date 1-27-2007 1:10-2:40 UT
Temperature: 3.8° C (39° F)
Windy with strong gusting
Seeing average Antoniadi: III
Colongitude: 10.5 °
Lunation: 7.9 days
Illumination: 62.3 %

Frank McCabe