Charcoal pencil
Constellation Hercules
Type: Globular Cluster
Location: Plattsburgh, NY
Date: April 14, 2012
Time: 01:30am EDT
Materials used: 2H Graphite Pencil, 6B ex. soft charcoal pencil
Celestron Omni XLT 150 (6″)
12.5 Zhumel Plossl eyepiece giving 60x magnification
Conditions: Clear, Light polluted skies (Orange on the Bortle Scale)
Aloha!
One of my favorite objects to observe on dark, excellent seeing nights is M51 & companion galaxy NGC 5195. Seeing was excellent on the night of 3/19/12 & I sketched prominent features of the galaxies from the scope using a red light to see the paper. After returning inside for the night I decided to clean up my sketch & enhance some of the features I made notes on. A few nights later I went back to check on my accuracy.
Although I could see a lot of detail with my 12.5” Portaball, I realized I had over enhanced my sketch. I then stayed at the scope to remove the enhancements that were not accurate. This was a good learning experience for me. It is sometimes difficult to observe & stay dark adapted even with red light, and my visual acuity isn’t what it once was. In the future I plan to sketch, make notes, clean up the sketch with better light but then return to the subject to verify what I have truly observed.
(Cyn)Thia Krach
Object: M51 & NGC 5195
Object Type: Galaxy
Location: Maui, Hawaii ~4,000 elevation
Date: 3/19/12 9:20pm, second sketch 3/25/12
Media: White paper, charcoal & charcoal pencils, graphite. Inverted with Photoscape
Object: Moon Halo & Jupiter – 22 degree Halo around the moon
Object type: Moon & reflected light phenomenon, Jupiter
Location: Maui Hawaii
Date December 3,2011
Media: Charcoal pencil & sketch paper, Photoscape used to invert white to black
I walked outside tonight & beheld this lovely phenomenon I have observed many times here in Hawaii. I had always assumed it was a “Moonbow” but on further research realize it is a 22 degree Halo around the moon. Rough measurements were made using my fingers & fist for the degree of bow around the moon as well as distance of Jupiter from the halo to the North East. The inner halo is very distinct as a white rim that fades outward, and the inner area is darker than the outer. The ring around the moon is caused by the refraction of ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of six sided hexagonal ice crystals results in the focusing of the light into a ring.
Hello,
I recently discovered Astronomy Sketch of the Day, and since I just started sketching I wanted to share my Orion Nebula sketch.
This is M42 and M43 in the constellation of Orion.
Diffuse nebula
Sketch was done in Plattsburgh, NY
Done on February 19, 2012
Large sketch pad, 2H pencil for the stars and Charcoal 557-6B ex. soft for the nebula itself, used a smudge stick to fan out the nebula. Scanned into computer and smoothed out with Gimp to remove the paper texture and round out the stars.
Used a Celestron Omni XLT 150 Reflector with a 25mm eyepiece giving me 30x magnification.
Very clear skies, 4/5 transparency, 2/5 seeing, 30°F.
-Mike Rector
2011 12 26 – Mars
www.pcwobservatory.com
Erika Rix, Ohio, USA
We’ve been fortunate to have a few clear nights for observing lately. Mars season is upon us and it feels great to have a chance to try out my new filter set: Mars, 82A blue and 21 orange.
This sketch is a composite of all three filters. I started off with the Mars filter for an overall view. Syrtis Major was the first area I noticed. Next were the north polar cap and the darkened area around it. Faint structure started to appear but became even more apparent when I switched to the orange filter. Lastly was the blue filter that made the NPC and Hellas pop out dramatically. The following limb was brightened. Seeing was above average with slightly poor transparency. The session had to end because of clouds, but I felt the session was pretty much completed by that time anyway.
The sketch was created using charcoal on card stock, charcoal pencils, willow charcoal, vinyl eraser pencil and kneaded rubber eraser.
Hello everyone,
This last new moon I managed to pin onto paper the fabulous Swan Nebula, M17. After my previous new Moon’s view of it, I’ve been chaffing at the bit to get back to it. It is just so detailed, expansive, and subtle in features.
Most striking is the particularly dark hollow that is surrounded by the ‘neck’ of the Swan. It is so much darker than the surrounding space. Here is a tell-tale-sign of not only a dark pillar obstructing the light from the nebula, but that there is so much background light that comes from the background, invisible stars in this section of the Milky Way, that this dark pillar is just SO BLACK.
My previous look at the Swan had me see for the first time the highly textured nature of the ‘bird’s body’. This time, with the added time spent on looking at it, I noticed so much more extensive nebulosity that radiates out from the obvious avian shape. These extensions themselves are so very detailed.
As my big dob is of the good old push-pull type, the constant manual moving of the scope had my eye picking up this faint network of faint smokiness, that a ‘static’ image from a driven scope may not have allowed to be viewed so easily. Such as the heightened darkness immediately above and below the bird’s back and body, only to have more nebulosity sit above and below it, and even behind it. The effect was akin to a swan emerging from out of a soft bank of fog, and the bird’s movement through it causing a delicate disruption to the fog. Just beautiful.
This was a real challenge to sketch. So much of the object is so faint, needing averted vision to make it out. The mottled texture of the bird’s plumage was extraordinarily difficult to make out and lay down faithfully. So much of this is all averted vision work.
By far my most satisfying sketch to date. I hope you enjoy it too.
Object: M17, the Swan Nebula
Scope: 17.5”, f/4.5, push-pull dob.
Gear: 13mm Ethos (thanks Jim!), + OIII filter, 154X
Date: 30th July, 2011
Location: Mount Blackheath Lookout, NSW, Australia
Materials: White soft pastels & charcoal pencil on A4 size black paper, done over 3hrs.
Alex.
2011 06 30, 1435 UT
Solar h-alpha, SW prominence
PCW Memorial Observatory, Ohio USA – Erika Rix (www.pcwobservatory.com)
Temp: 24.2°C, Humidity 62%, cirrus
S: Wilson 4.5, T: 1/6-3/6, Alt: 38.3 deg, Az: 090.4 deg
DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell, 57.14x
Sketches created scope-side with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil
At first glance, this SW prominence only showed a clear view of its northern leading edge and part of its upper arch. To the south, there was a very bright, segmented area of prominence. Transparency was very poor, but on moments of clearing up, I was able to bump up the magnification to show the very light detailed structure of plasma holding it all together. Then yet further to the south, a tall slender area of prominence forked at the tip and its filament reached into the solar disk in three areas, with the northern one being the longest. Again, I could see faint structures of prominence reaching southward from the segmented prominence.
Hi all,
My original intension when I selected the crater Copernicus was to have the terminator line very close to it. I didn’t get my timing right by a long shot! Instead, it was closer to a Lunar mid-day, making the shadows very short.
I was hesitant to sketch it, having my expectations dashed, and took an hour before I decided “What the heck! Just do it”.
Conditions were quite good for Sydney. At the best of times, using 222X is barely useable, giving only fleeting moments of clarity. This night was more good than poor! And an added bonus, NO DEW!
This is the first time I’ve used charcoal and soft pastels to do such a finely detailed sketch. It took a little getting used to, but what I really like about this materials is you can build up the layers to achieve the result you want. I found them very forgiving, unlike the cold.
Two hours, a pot of tea to keep the cold at bay, and a gorgeous orange tube C8, and this is the result.
Object: crater Copernicus
Scope: Orange tube C8
Gear: 9mm TMB Planetary Type II, 222X, + two polarizing filters
Date: 14’th May, 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Conditions: Fair
Media: Black & white charcoal pencils, grey soft pastel pencil, and white ink on black paper, A5 size.
Cheers,
Alex M.
Hi all,
We’ve had some poor conditions in Eastern Australia for most of this year. I still haven’t had a single productive dark sky night yet! Last night it did clear, but for home, and on a Sunday evening! J LOL!
NGC 6397 is a real treasure of the Southern Sky. This globular cluster is just visible to the naked eye from a dark site. It has many mottled concentrations of stars within its confines, even some extending way beyond its core. Some of these, however, may just be incidental line of site features of other open clusters within our Milky Way as 6397 lies quite close to the centre of the Milky Way in the constellation Ara.
6397 also shares a feature with its more famous brother M4 of a “belt” of stars that cuts through its middle. The component stars of this belt in 6397 are much fainter though, making for a ghostly feature. It is a truly beautiful cluster, and a joy to sketch.
One thing I am not a fan of in my sketches is the blaster “Circle of Confine”, that all to dominant circle that describes the field of view. I rarely use it, but I do have to admit that it has a place. Here I’ve gone for a variation/compromise, laying down a very, very faint arc, rather than a full circle. I really want the sketch to be the feature, not a circle.
Object: NGC 6397
Scope: 17.5” dob, push-pull
Gear: 15mm GSO Superview, 133X
Date: June 5, 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Media: White soft pastel, white & black charcoal & white ink on A4 size black paper.
Cheers,
Alex M.
2011 06 01, 1500 UT – 1630 UT
Solar h-alpha, prominences
PCW Memorial Observatory, Ohio USA – Erika Rix, www.pcwobservatory.com
Temp: 32.3°C, Humidity 42%, SE winds 5mph
Seeing: Wilson 4, Transparency: 2/6
DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell
Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil
There were six active regions on the Sun, but a western prominence region caught my eye as a possible CME that took place during my observation. If it was simply an erupting prominence, it was the brightest I’ve witnessed as such. I’ve created an animation of my sketch sequence that I recorded during the observation at 5-minute intervals.
