Category: Inverted

Hat Dance

Hat Dance

NGC 4594 (M104) The Sombrero Galaxy
Sketch and Details by Scott Mellish

NGC 4594 (M-104)
Galaxy
Ilford NSW Australia
30/05/08
56cm f5 dobsonian
Field: 15′
Magnification: 314x
Constellation: Virgo
Sky Quality meter reading: 21:36

I had not long got my home made 56cm dob up and running with a Servo-Cat
drive installed, and was still ironing out a few problems.
However it was tracking sufficiently enough that I popped in to visit
the Sombrero, hence the result was this sketch.

Scott Mellish

Star Ghost in Puppis

Star Ghost in Puppis

NGC 2440 a planetary nebula in Puppis
Sketch and Details by Bertrand Laville

Hello,

Here is my contribution, concerning NGC 2440.
If you are interested, you can have much more details on my website www.deepsky-drawings.com

x102 Nagler 31mm
The planetary nebula is obvious, hazy, elongated, with a very bright and concentrated central region. Its colour is light blue, not very vivid.
x890 Nagler 3.5mm without filter
890x is the best power, since seeing is very good. PN is relatively tiny; its structure can be precisely detailed.

Regards

Bertrand Laville

Ethereal Beauty of a Barred Spiral

Ethereal Beauty of a Barred Spiral

M83, a large barred spiral Galaxy in Hydra
Sketch and Details by Laurent Ferrero

Object Name: M83
Object Type: galaxy
Location : Izaña, Tenerife, Canaries islands
Date : 20/04/2009 at 0h20

drawing realized with graphite pencil near the Teide caldeira, at the bottom of the Teide Observatory. For arrive to this detailed vision, I had need 1 hour of intensive work! The telescope I have used is a Maksutov Intes 6″ with 68x of magnification.

Best regards,

Laurent Ferrero
Marseille, France

Eagle’s Eye

Eagle’s Eye

NGC 6804 a Planetary Nebula in Aquila
Sketch and Details by Ferenc Lovró

A faint little planetary discovered by William Herschel. It has a diameter of 1′, even at 71x it does not look like a star, but rather like a large, fuzzy little spot. By increasing the magnification, you may notice a slight elongation in the WSW – ENE direction. By some more careful examination, a slightly brighter central region is visible to the ENE, with a faint star on its edge, which I thought to be the central star. However, as I went on with the sketching, I started to notice an even fainter star in the middle of the brighter core area, first only with averted vision, later on with direct vision too, which I believe is the real central star of this planetary.

Right Ascension: 19h 32m
Declination: 9° 15′
Constellation: Aquila
Date/time: 2009.08.18 21:00 UT
Equipment: 12″ f/5 Newtonian
FoV: 14′ Magnification and filter(s): 250x
Seeing: 4/10 Transparency: 5/5
Location: Nádasdladány, Hungary
Observer: Ferenc Lovró

Yellow Moon Arising

Yellow Moon Arising

Rising Moon on September 8th, 2009
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

A Lunar Oil Pastel

With the moon 4 days past full phase I knew it would be late before it was up high enough in the sky to pick a surface target for sketching. But the sight of the moon rising out of the haze, fog and clouds in the east north eastern sky caused me to change plans immediately. I returned indoors to get my oil pastel Cray-Pas crayons. I don’t especially like to use them at scope side because I get them on the telescope and eyepieces and everything else I touch but they are the only color tools I have confidence using and this occasion called for color. I have not seen the moon this color in quite some time. I never have a clear view to the horizon from my home but the moon remained this color through the first half hour of the sketch and I was able to establish the colors early on in the sketch. I first spotted the moon when it was already 10 degrees above the horizon. The orange and yellow colors were striking to see at the eyepiece. Direct view of the moon without the scope was red-orange.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: Black Canson paper 12”x 10”, assorted colors of oil pastel crayons (Cray-Pas).

Telescope: 4.25 inch f/ 5.0 Dobsonian and 26mm eyepiece – 21x
Date: 9-8-2009 3:28-4:35 UT
Temperature: 20°C (68°F)
Partly cloudy, hazy, foggy, 84% humidity
Seeing: 4/5
Transparency: 1/5 – 2/5
Co longitude: 148°
Lunation: 19.7 days
Illumination: 80%

Frank McCabe

Shadow of Ganymede

Shadow of Ganymede

Jupiter with Ganymedes’ shadow and moons Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto
Sketch and Details by Peter Mayhew

* Object Name: Jupiter with Ganymede’s shadow: moons left to right
are Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto
* Object Type: Planet, moons
* Location: York, UK
* Date: 24th September 2009, 20:00 UT

I made a graphite pencil sketch on a white paper template at the
eyepiece, and also noted colours then. Later I scanned this and used
editing software to make the image a negative and then added colour.
The view was as seen through my Skywatcher Skyliner-150mm Dobsonian (f8)
with a 10mm eyepiece, giving x120 magnification and 26′ field of view.

The seeing was pretty wobbly at first but settled. Over about an hour
the shadow of Ganymede traversed from right of centre to left of centre.
I felt very lucky to see this as there was 100% cloud at 19:00 UT and
cloud obscured the view again at 22:00 UT, meaning that clear skies were
only present during the shadow transit. I was surprised at how visible
the shadow was, even at low power with a 25mm eyepiece.

Peter Mayhew

From Star to Ring

From Star to Ring

M 57 (NGC 6720), The Ring Nebula in Lyra
Sketch and Details by Constantin Psenitchi

Hi!

M 57 (NGC 6720) is one of the most remarkable planetary nebula. M 57 is called the “Ring Nebula” because of its donut shaped appearance. The sketch was made with a graphite pencil on white paper. After this, the sketch was scanned, inverted, and edited with Photoshop CS4.

– Object : M 57(NGC 6720) – Ring Nebula.

– Object type: planetary nebulae.

– Object location: Constellation Lyra.
– Date and Time: 09-16-2009, 00h 11m ( GMT + 3:00).

– Location: near Suceava, Romania.
– Scope: Newtonian f/9.3 , SC 6″ (150mm). Eyepiece: 25mm +2xBarlow.

– Mediums: Graphite pencil on white paper + Photoshop processing.
– Transparency: Clear sky. Low light pollution.

Best regards,

Constantin Psenitchi.

Blinking Swan

Blinking Swan

NGC 6826, “The Blinking Planetary”
Sketch and Details by Tomás Ruiz Lara

Object Name: NGC 6826
Object Type Planetary Nebula
Location Úbeda, Jaén, Spain.
Date 27 – August – 2009

Easy to locate, the reference was the double star 16 Cyg, this nebula is brilliant, pretty and compact. The nucleus is very powerful. An UHC filter enhances the nebula. I perceived the central star. This Sketch was done with a common pencil and with cotton to sketch the nebula and the stars was created with the program Gimp 2.6.7
Equipment used, 260 mm newtonian reflector f/6 with a 21 mm eyepiece and a 2x Barlow (Barlow 2x Vixen Deluxe) (149x).
Seeing: 4/5
Phase of the Moon: Crescent but not visible.

Wild About the Bird

Wild About the Bird

M11, The Wild Duck Cluster
Sketch and Details by Paul Mettam

TYPE: Open Cluster
CONSTELLATION: Scutum
MAGNITUDE: 6.3
DISTANCE: ~6000 light years
AGE: ~ 250 million years
OBSERVER: Paul Mettam
LOCATION: Derbyshire, England
DATE: 14th September 2009
TIME: 21:00 UT
TELESCOPE: 12″ Newtonian f5 x120
MEDIUM: Graphite pencil, inverted

NOTES.

Despite the advances in astro-imaging I have yet to see an image of this cluster that can surpass the view through the eyepiece.
Sketching such a rich and dense cluster is a real challenge so in my drawing I have only located the brighter stars. The cluster stars are randomly placed to try and indicate the main star groupings. The main body of the cluster is (about 10′ x 10′ in area) lies around and to the west of a magnitude 8 (foreground?) star and consists of magnitude 11 to12 stars in distinct groups. Curiously, when viewed with a low power, wide field eyepiece I seemed to suspect a haze of unresolved stars around the main group about 30′ in diameter; is this just my imagination?