NGC 457 – The Owl Cluster

NGC 457
NGC 457

Owl cluster (NGC457) by Sasan Yekani

September 13, 2012

Object Name ( owl cluster NGC457)
Object Type (open cluster)
Location ( iran,dergajen, 35.058548°N, 51.420321°E)
Date ( September 13, 2012
Media ( white pencil, black paper, yellow pastel)
25mm, 48x , C8-SGT (XLT) Computerized Telescope

Explanation:The first step is enhancing the contrast then increasing the brightness. Making the image black & white requires going to image menu, select adjusments and clicking on the Black&White button. Finally I’m going to add a little sharpness to the image by selecting Sharpen button from the Filter menu.

Messier 42

Messier 42
Messier 42

Object Name: M42

Object Type: Orion emission nebula

Location: Iran_Sabzevar

Date: 21/9/2012

Media: Black Cardboard with white Charcoal Lead Pencil

Im Shadi from a little town of Iran and I have pretty good conditions for observing!!! I can almost Observe most of Messier Objects and NGCs with my little 80 mm refractor telescope!

Shadi Shahraini:) happy

Partial Annular Eclipse

Partial Annular Eclipse Sequence - May 20, 2012

2012 05 20 Partial Annular Eclipse
PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas, Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com
www.solarastronomy.org

H-Alpha Sun - May 20, 2012
H-Alpha Sun - May 20, 2012
H-Alpha Eclipse Diagram - May 20, 2012
H-Alpha Eclipse Diagram - May 20, 2012

Knowing that we fell within a good band to view a partial portion of the annular eclipse, Paul and I scoped out the local county roads earlier in the day for optimal horizons. The partial eclipse for our location was due to start at 1932 ST (0032 UT) which would only give about 50 minutes of eclipse viewing before sunset. The skies cleared up and we were fortunate to have perfect viewing conditions that evening.

I started off drawing the full solar disk in h-alpha. Four active regions lined up east to west with two more to the south (depicted to the top of the first sketch in the animation). I then made a quick second sketch to use for recording the times and placements of the Moon as it passed between Earth and the Sun.

First contact was at 0032 UT. The first marking was at 0035 UT. I set my iPhone’s timer to go off every five minutes until sunset, marking the Moon’s progress each increment with my oil pencil along with the times. In between, Paul and I would alternate using a pair of solar glasses from solarastronomy.org and the views from my double-stacked Coronado Maxscope 60mm h-alpha telescope.

The first image of the animation shows the original sketch in its entirety. Later, I used the second solar disk sketch as a reference to recreate the eclipse on the original sketch with a cut out circular piece of black Strathmore paper. This animation is the result.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa201/ErikaGRix/20120520-animation.gif

As the solar disk became too dim to view (represented in the last couple frames of the animation), I was forced to leave the eyepiece and enjoy the last several minutes with the solar glasses and my camera.

Two original sketches created at the eyepiece with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang color pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.

Prominence Ejection Sequence – May 17, 2012

Prominence Ejection Sequence - May 17, 2012
Prominence Ejection Sequence - May 17, 2012

2012 05 17, 1245 UT – 1845 UT
NOAAs 11476, 11477, 11478, 11479, 11482, 11484, NE Prominence

PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas – Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com
Temp: 20-30C, calm – S 5mph, clear.
Seeing: Wilson 4.8-1.2, Transparency: 5/6-4/6, 50x.
Maxscope DS 60mm H-alpha, LXD75, Baader Planetarium Hyperion 8-24mm Mark III.

Sketches created at the eyepiece with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang color pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.

Link to gallery of individual sketches within the sequence.

During the time I observed, a very large prominence off the northeast limb was enlarging and in the process of ejecting as it broke free from the magnetic fields supporting it. I’ve never visually witnessed that large of a prominence breaking away from the Sun before. What really stunned me was how bright it remained over several hours that far off the limb. I grabbed an 8-sketch sequence spanning over 6 hours of the event, not including the full disk rendering I recorded earlier in the day. The last 35 minutes of my session, the prominence became very faint and diffuse. I stopped seeing any connection from the limb after 1717 UT. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t, but was perhaps too faint for my tired eyes to see.

Antennae Galaxies

NGC 4038, 4039
NGC 4038, 4039

Object Name: NGC4038 and NGC4039
Object Type: The Antennae Galaxies (Corvus)
Location: Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma
Date: 30. June 2011, 11:50 PM
Media: Chalk pencil on black paper
Observer: Christian Rausch
Telescope: 12inch/F5 Dobson (Hofheim Instruments)

Conditions:
– SQML = 21,65 mag/arcsec*2, seeing ok, Temp. +12C
– 165x (Nagler 9mm)

The Roque de los Muchachos is one of the best places to observe the night sky and main base of the European Northern Observatory.

It was impressive experience to spend the night on the top of the 2450m high Volcano and in between observatories like Galileo Galilel, William Herschel, Isaac Newton or the GTC.

Best Regards
Christian

http://www.licht-stimmungen.de/