…comet C/2012 S1 ISON appeared glowing in the sky. Brigther after the outburst.
The tail crossed more than half of the visual field of 12×80 (4,2º), the nucleus was very bright, nearly stellar, and the coma had a strong greenish color. The part of the tail closest to the nucleus shone with different intensity, it was sharper on the left side and narrow near the coma.
Scketch made at La Hita´s Observatory in La Puebla de Almoradiel, Toledo (Spain).
5:20 UT November 15th, 2013
Sketch made with graphite on white paper, looking through 12×80 binoculars.
Today the zodiacal light also looked exceptionally bright!
Object Name Sun
Object Type Sunspot 1575 and crown
Location Néoules Provence France
Date 22 sept. 2012 – 13h TU
Media (graphite pencil for the spot, red pastel for the crown, two different white papers, Paint.net)
I made two separate sketches, one in H alpha via a classic PST for the crown, the second one through a 1000/102 refractor with solar continuum filter for the spot.
I used several eyepeaces.
The compilation was done with the freeware software : Paint.Net
Conditions were perfect, the sun was hot here… !
2012 05 04, 1830 UT – 1940 UT
Active Region NOAA 11471
PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas – Erika Rix (www.pcwobservatory.com)
Temp: 34.4°C, winds S 9 mph, lightly scattered
Seeing: Wilson 2-3, Transparency: 4/6, 125-250x
Celestron 102 XLT, LXD75, Baader Planetarium Hyperion 8-24mm Mark III
2x Barlow, Thousand Oaks glass white light filter.
Sketch created scope-side with white card stock, felt-tipped black artist pen, #2 graphite pencil.
Faculae were present in several areas around the limb, particularly around ARs 1473, 1469, 1474, 1475 and north of 1473 ~45 degrees. Sunspots were observed in all five active regions with 1474 ad 1475 only showing one per region. Seeing was poor and it was windy. I had to wait several moments to catch sharp views so may have missed out on pores in those areas. There were a few sunspots in the two active regions near the western limb, 1473 and 1469.
Active region 1471 was the area I concentrated for today’s sketch. The larger sunspot grouping was in the eastern region of that AR with very defined edges to the penumbrae and radial structure reaching to the umbrae. It was painstaking to wait for the winds to drop and seeing to settle to grab as much detail as I could. I dropped magnification and then increased when sky conditions permitted. That group appeared to have a chain of smaller sunspots, all sporting both umbrae and penumbrae leading east from the larger cluster of sunspots. A very faint speckled area was a further few degrees beyond the chain. I couldn’t make out if they were pores or simply penumbral blotches.
Moving to the western area of the AR ~10-20 degrees showed three more small groupings in that active region. The middle two of the AR had both umbra and penumbra and faint areas that looked penumbral to the south of them. The furthest grouping to the west was too soft and faint to be sure of its structure.
Carbon Star U Cyg
I have been watching the well-known carbon star U cyg all this summer and fall as it has risen in magnitude. At the time of my observation it was glowing like a red hot ember at magnitude 9.0. This particular star ranges in visual magnitude from 12.1 to 5.9 over a period of 463 days. The red color deepens as it fades and becomes more yellow-orange as it brightens.
The star is located at RA 20 hrs. 20 min and Dec.; + 47° 34’. The red orange color is quite striking visually.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used white sketching paper, a mechanical drawing pencil, assorted color pencils, several plastic erasers. The sketch was inverted and then scanned.
Telescope used: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian with a 24 mm eyepiece for a magnification of 60x.
Date: 11-10-2013, 11:25-11:55 UT
Frank McCabe : )
Object Name M7
Object Type Open Cluster
Location Brasília-DF, Brazil
Date: October 11th, 2013 23:20 ZL
Media 2HB graphite pencil on white paper, scanned and processed with GIMP
Instrument: 120mm f/4 refractor + 32mm (19x)
M76 is a planetary nebula really awesome observed from a dark skies and with a good telescope aperture. Two distinct sections, one brilliant and compact, the other more extensive and diffuse. A very attractive nebula to be seen on a dark night and away from any light pollution.
For more details of my observation you can visit my blog:
Object name: M 45, Pleiades Cluster
Object type: Open cluster
Location: Bangalore, India
Date: November 2nd 2013
Media: Black ink, graphite pencil, MS Paint.
Hi! Asod, few days ago I saw the nebula California, was very curious to know if I could capture something visual light as they claim is faint. With my little scope locate ξ (xi) menkib, but looking even more side vision was getting nowhere, I knew I needed to filter, but had to try. By putting the filter magically appears, still not something brilliant, but do not strain your eyes because it is obvious that this is no, there is a dark area that crosses na nebula, but with side vision greatly improves contrast. The truth that I could not resist doing a sketch but as always with a very dim light, if you can not have problems adjusting to the darkness.
You only need a dark sky, wide field and nebular filter.
Regards.
Object name: NGC 1499 California
Object type: Emission nebula
Location: Bonilla Cuenca ( spain )
Date: 1 November 2013
Hour: 00:00 < 00:40
Media: graphite pencil, processed and inverted gimp 2.8
Optical equipment: Refractor Tele Vue 101 F / 5,4 Genesis SDF Eye piece ES 30mm
Magnification 18x True field 4,5°
Sky conditions: Stable sky, clouds on the horizon. Nelm 6,2 Temperature -0,6°C Relative humidity 67%
Borthle scale 3/9
