Inverted – Page 88 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Riding the Back of the Scorpion

M4 (NGC 6121) A large Globular cluster in Scorpius
Sketch and Details by Jeff Young

This is another sketch from our summer trip to Colorado. This one was quite late in the evening, and the temperature had dropped to only a few degrees above freezing (this in the middle of July, mind you). My hands had gotten cold enough that I was wearing fingerless gloves, which made twirling the pencil for the pinpoint stars a bit more difficult.

M4, globular cluster in Scorpius.

Sketched from high altitude (11,000’) on Hoosier Pass in Colorado.

HB and 3H pencil on white cardstock; scanned and inverted in Photoshop.

10” Dall-Kirkham (Mewlon) on AP600EGTO mount; UO 32Mk-80; 100X.

Cheers,

— Jeff.

It’s Alive, It’s Alive!

Solar promoinences on August 22, 2009, northwest quadrant
Sketch and Details by Stephen Ames

Very complex and wide spanning proms break a length of duldroms…

Crayola Cerulean for plage
Conti White pencil for filament
Crayola Aqua Green pencil for proms
white 20# paper with Aqua Green disk
I scan into photoshop and invert.

Blue skies,

Stephen Ames

Ghostly Crescent

NGC 6888, The Crescent Nebula
Sketch and Details by Robert Twarogal (Ignisdei)

Yesterday I have seen the perfect sky- almost ideal
A small village( eastern Poland) , Molodycz complete isolated from the
LP and surrounded by dense forests, hole dark as coal :),
unfortunately there was a damp meadow (“Newtons” soon became wet )

Range was about 7 magnitude

What happened that moment in the sky was a spectacular experience.
Incredible depth of stars of the Milky Way. I made my first
approach to sketch the Crescent Nebula. Is was visible even in finder Soligor 8*50.
I spent over 45 minutes in enucleateing subtle details of the fibers.
Many of them was such an alchemy of looking, Next day I compared it
with a photograph, I was surprised – some of them I added and a lot of
them left – the result of the seeing fluctuations and my perception.
I have used the LB 12 “, ultrablock 2″ and SWAN 25mm. Believe me I’ve
seen everything in the image ,recording step bay step.
If You have got a dark skies I encourage You to observe Crescent – it
is really worth doing.

Edition in Gimp: improving the centers of stars (only the white dot),
turning the color in negative,and the compensation levels for curves.

Great regards Robert (Ignisdei)

Sketch details:
Object Name : NGC 6888, The Crescent Nebula
Object Type: Nebulae/emission/reflection
Location: Poland/ eastern Poland , Molodycz
Date: 18.08.2009 y,
Equipment: Meade Light Bridge 12″, Ultrablock 2” and SWAN 25mm.
Object: – Artist: Robert Twarogal (Ignisdei)

Eye for the Iris

NGC 7023, The Iris Nebula
Sketch and Details by Milosz Guzowsk

Hi,

Today I’d like to present beautiful nebula from Cepheus.

– Object Name (NGC 7023)

– Object Type (Reflection nebula)

– Location (Poland/Białuty)

– Date (16.08.2009)

– Scope (10″ newtonian + ploosl 10 mm)

– Medium (Graphite/blending stump on white paper + GIMP processing)

Milosz Guzowski

A Whale of a Galaxy

M77 (NGC 1068) a Galaxy in Cetus
Sketch and Details by Przemysław Horoszkiewicz

Sketch information:
Obiect name: Messier 77 (NGC 1068).
Scope: Sky Watcher 10″.
Eyepieces: Vixen LVW 13mm.
Place: Poland, Zielona Góra (A few kilometers for city).
Seeing: 8/10
Date: 25.12.2008r.

Technique:Pencil,graphics GIMP2.
Amateur astronomer: Przemysław Horoszkiewicz (Poland)

ISS Times Two

The International Space Station
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla

Cześć!
At night of 13th July I have captured two of the International Space Station flights secondly, one.

Object: International Space Station
Scope: Celestron SCT 5″ on SLT computerized mount.
Place: Poland, Wrocław – near city center
Technique: Graphite pencil
Tooling: GIMP 2

Sketches details:
sketch #1: July 13th 2009 at 22:19 (10:19PM)
with Antares W70 25mm, magnification 50x
seeing 2/5, transparency 2/5

The International Space Station later that same evening
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla

sketch #2: July 13th 2009 at 23:58 (11:58PM)
with LVW 13mm, magnification 96x
seeing 2/5, transparency 1/5
light clouds

Aleksander Cieśla

Lagoon from high altitude

M8 (NGC 6523), The Lagoon Nebula
Sketch and Details by Jeff Young

Our summer holidays again found us in Colorado (I hail from there, even though I now live in Ireland), where I was able to do some high-altitude observing. This sketch of M8, the Lagoon Nebula (and the associated cluster NGC6530, to the left of center) was done at the Blue Lakes Drive turnout, about ¾ of the way up Hoosier Pass. The pass itself is some 11,500’; I’d guess the turnout is at about 11,000. Conditions were pretty good for this site (I’ve recorded up to a 21.8 on the SQM in the past).

HB pencil on white cardstock; scanned and inverted in Photoshop.

10” Dall-Kirkham (Mewlon) on AP600EGTO mount; UO 32Mk-80 with UHC filter; 100X.

Cheers,

— Jeff

Barnard’s Runaway Star

Barnard’s Runaway Star
Sketch and Details by Jef De Wit

Barnard’s Star is the closest star to our Sun observable from northern latitudes. The “Runaway” Star is a very low-mass red dwarf star 5.9 light-years away. Despite its proximity, the magnitude is a dim 9.5. At 7 to 12 billion years of age, Barnard’s Star is considerably older than the Sun and may be among the oldest stars in the universe.
In 1916, American astronomer E. E. Barnard measured its proper motion as 10.3 arcseconds per year (1° every 350 years) which remains the largest known proper motion of any star relative to the Sun. Barnard’s Star will make its closest approach to the Sun around 11,700, when it approaches within some 3.8 light-years. But it will still be too dim to be seen with the naked eye (magnitude will be about 8.5). (Information from Wikipedia)
For the moment Barnards Star (in the middle of the sketch) is situated in a line with four other stars. The bright star just outside the field of view is 66 Ophiuchi. Hopefully you and I will live long enough to see it move!

Clear skies
Jef De Wit

Object Name: Barnard’s Star
Object Type: star
Location: Hove, Belgium (51°09 north lat. 4°28 east long.)
Date and time: 30 July 2009 around 21.45 UT
Equipment: 12″ dobson
Eyepiece: 35mm Ultima Celestron (FOV 1,3° and magnification 34x)
NELM: 4,5
Medium: graphite pencils HB/n°2, printing paper, scanned and inverted

A Faint Globular in the Serpent Bearer

NGC 6517, a faint globular cluster in Ophiuchus
Sketch and Details by Ferenc Lovró

Globular Cluster NGC 6517 in Ophiuchus

This is a very faint globular cluster that seems to be elongated in the N-S direction. Its core brightens softly, but it refuses to split up into stars even with HYPERLINK “http://www.graphitegalaxy.com/index.cgi?tutpage=AVERTED” averted vision and it also fails to respond to increasing magnifications. The object sits in the middle of some brighter stars that form a giant V-letter, pointing to the West.

Right Ascension: 18h 02m
Declination: -8° 58′
Constellation: Ophiuchus
Date/time: 2009.06.18 22:00 UT
Equipment: 12″ f/5 Newtonian
FoV: 16′ Magnification and filter(s): 250x
Seeing: 7/10 Transparency: 4/5
Location: Nádasdladány, Hungary
Observer: Ferenc Lovró

The “S” in Hercules

An “S” Asterism in Hercules
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla

Hi!
I have sketched another interesting asterism. It’s name is “S”. This is nice loose cluster of couple of stars that really have the shape of the letter “S”.

Object: The “S” cluster – asterism.
RA 16h37m00s, DEC +30°59’53”
Constallation: Hercules
Scope: SCT 5″ with W70 25mm
Date: July 14th 2009
Weather: Good. Seeing 2/5, transparency 2/5. Light pollution
Technique: Graphite pencil

Aleksander Cieśla