Object Name: Messier 5
Object Type: Globular cluster
Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
Date: June 2, 2014
Media: White pastel and white gel pen on black paper
This time of year the sun never drops low enough under the horizon for
true astronomical darkness. Only after midnight we get a few hours of
relatively dark skies, but a faint blue glow always remains visible
above the northern horizon. However, bright objects can still be very
impressive in the eyepiece. Messier 5 is a fine example: a very bright
ball of stars, loosely scattered amidst a few dozen foreground stars.
When I made this sketch, the sun was only 12 degrees below the horizon.
What is very striking visually is the off-center core of M5. The
brightest part seems to be slightly to the west of the cluster.
I made the sketch using a white gel pen for the stars and a white soft
pastel pencil for the glow of unresolved stars. It was the first time I
made a positive deepsky sketch, normally I use graphite on white paper.
The image is the original field sketch.
Clear skies!
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl
