Pencil – Page 188 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

The Many Faces of a Red Desert World

Mars opposition 2007/8 and composite sketch
By Marcin Marczyński

Mars opposition 2007/8

These superb sketches of the 2007-2008 Mars opposition were
submitted by Marcin Marczyński of Lezno, Poland. The beautiful
precision he used to render these sketches are a tribute to his
keen observational skills and an artist’s talent at portraying in
graphite pencil, precisely what he sees at the eyepiece. Marcin’s
notes below each sketch are wonderfully concise, yet quite
informative.

Here are Marcin’s sketch details:

Location: Leszno, Poland
Telescope: Sky-Watcher 8″ dob.
Eyepieces: S.Plossl 10mm(120x), Antares Orto.6mm(200x)
white paper, 2B pencil

The map is a handmade combination of above sketches.
Regards
Pozdrawiam!

Marcin Marczyński

Two Views of the Spider

The Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070 wide field view
By Eiji Kato

NGC 2070, The Tarantula Nebula

Eiji Kato has captured these two marvelous views of the NGC 2070, the Tarantula Nebula in the southern hemispheric constellation of Dorado, the Dolphin fish, Xiphias, or the Swordfish. This immense region contains stars forming in their nascent cacoons of gas and dust. Previous stellar death is rampant here as well, remnants of their past existence, shells of excited gas, glow amidst strong interstellar winds. Mr Kato’s beautiful sketches show two perspectives, one a wider field view and the other near center. Most of Mr Kato’s exceptional drawings were made using an 18.5″, f/4 reflector. Some later drawings were made with a 18.1″, f/4.5 reflector.

The Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070 near center view
By Eiji Kato

Eiji Kato lives in Australia and operates the TwinStar Guesthouse Observatory.
Please make a visit to his gallery of fine drawings.

Mars through the Fog

Mars through the Fog December 19th, 2007
By Frank McCabe

Initially this observing night began iffy at best. A layer of mid-level thin
clouds along with some ice fog made the view of the moon poor in contrast. Both
Mars and the moon took turns appearing and disappearing behind clouds. When I
caught a look at Mars through the fog I realized the transparency although poor,
was improving the seeing of the Martian low contrast features in a positive way. I
was able to use a 4mm orthoscopic ocular at 360x on Mars for sketching. I tried
several filters but the fog was providing the only filter I really needed.
The central meridian was 341° and the planet was nearly 100% illuminated. The
angular size of Mars on this night was 15.9” of arc. Mars was shining through the
clouds at magnitude -1.6. No stars below 3rd magnitude were visible. The most
prominent features visible included: the bright North Polar Hood; and the
following dark features: Syrtis Major about to rotate out of view; Iapygia
Viridis; Mare Serpentis; Sinus Sabaeus; and Sinus Meridiani. This was my first
Mars sketch in two years.

Sketching: White sketching paper 9”x 9”; 4H, B, HB, and 2H Graphite pencils; I
used my fingers for blending.
Date 12/19/2007 – 4:30-5:00 UT
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 4mm eyepiece 360x
Temperature: -3°C (27°F)
mostly cloudy, fog, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi II

Double Delight

Epsilon Perseus
By Wade V. Corbei

Epsilon Perseus

Here is a simple Double Star (and another I never knew about until dilly-dallying with the COL). I don’t know if this is normal for the primary star, but on the night I observed this double, there was a large halo surrounding the star in addition to the diffraction spikes.

I have noticed that there are times when some stars have a halo or diffraction spikes (although I think this is the only time I have seen both at the same time, I’ll have to check my notes); and other times they have none.

Is this a result of weather/atmospheric conditions by chance. It seems as if I notice these oddities when it is getting damp or dewey.

A Mighty Globular in a Small Scope

Messier 3 Globular Cluster
By Rony De Laet

Hello folks,

Summer is approaching, the nights have become grey. But I do not stop observing. Here is an impression of M3. I had fun teasing out as much detail as possible. Globulars are difficult to render. The mind might see patterns that aren’t there. I tried to remain objective. Lots of faint stars were present in the outer region of the halo. I noticed some dark lanes in the halo, and the core looked elongated too. I hope you like the view.

Date : June 5, 2007
Time : 22.30UT
Scope : ETX 105/1470
Meade 25mm and 15mm SP
Power : x66 to x100
FOV: 35′
Filter : none
Seeing : 2.5/5
Transp. : 2/5
Nelm : 4.9
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

M22 from Anderson Mesa

Messier 22 from Anderson Mesa on July 12, 2007
By Jeremy Perez

I was feeling pretty worn out when I made the trip to Anderson Mesa and wasn’t sure that I wanted to tackle a monster observation like M22. But I’m glad now that I did. It really called for a lot more detail than my previous observation and sketch gave it. This globular cluster really is huge. At 120X, it occupies a large portion of the view, and I would estimate its visible dimensions at roughly 11 arcminutes in diameter. It is resolved all the way across its surface. Clumpy structure can be seen in its brighter core, and ribbons of light and dark can be seen running across its grainy outer halo–most prominently on its southwest side. A bright orange star marked the northeast edge of the field. The sketch took about an hour and twenty minutes to complete at the eyepiece, and another twenty minutes refining the stippling indoors later.

Object Information:

At 10,400 light years distant, M22 is one of the nearer globular clusters. Its angular diameter is slightly larger than the full moon and works out to 97 light years in diameter. It is receding from us at about 149 km/sec. Recent Hubble Space Telescope investigations have led to the discovery of a number of planet-sized objects that appear to float through the cluster. They have masses of only 80 times that of Earth and were discovered from the gravitational lensing of light from the numerous background stars they pass in front of. M22 was most likely first discovered by Johann Abraham Ihle in 1665, and later cataloged by Charles Messier in 1764.

This cluster is also catalogued as ESO 523-SC004, GCL 99, h 2015, h 3753, GC 4424.

Subject M22 / NGC 6656
Classification Globular Cluster (7)
Position Sagittarius [RA: 18:36:24.1 / Dec: -23:54:12]*
Size* 24′
Brightness* 5.2 vMag
Date/Time July 11, 2007 – 10:00 PM MST (July 12, 2007 – 05:00 UT)
Observing Loc. Anderson Mesa, AZ
Instrument Orion SVP 6LT Reflector (150 mm dia./1200 mm F/L)
Eyepieces/Mag. 10 mm Sirius Plössl(120X)
Conditions Mostly clear, calm
Seeing 5/10 Pickering
Transparency ~ Mag 6.8 NELM
* Based on published data.

My First Mars!

Mars, 11-14-07
By Wade V. Corbei

Well I’ll be dipped….I finally had clear enough seeing conditions AND pumped up the power and actually was able to see some detail on the red planet!!! I was tickled to death!

I don’t have any filters at the moment, so through the EP the color seemed a yellowish-creamy-orange. I tried to replicated the color as close as I could. It may not be exact, but I wanted to be careful as not too add a false red/orange color that differed from what I actually observed in the EP.

The black markings (plains?) were quite distinct although a little muted.

My first Mars of any sort.

Hands to Claim Unbounded Night

The Great Orion Nebula, M42 and M43
By Serge Vieillard

This color drawing of the Great Orion Nebula was created by Serge
Vieillard during a trip to the Libyan desert to view the Solar
Eclipse of March 2006. Serge created this colored pencil drawing as a
negative on white paper and inverted it after scanning to create the
positive image seen here. In order to get the colors correct for this
inverted image, he did extensive testing beforehand so he had the
correct complimentary colors in his sketching supplies (an orange
pencil for the blue-green hues, and a green pencil for the rose
colored areas). Serge spent two hours illustrating this magnificent
nebula. He notes that two hours was not nearly enough to sufficiently
capture all of the fine detail visible.

In Search of IC 1318

The Gamma Cygni Starfield
By Rony De Laet

The Gamma Cygni Starfield, in search of IC 1318

Here is a sketch of a crowded milky way starfield. I waited for Gamma Cyngi to reach zenith, in an attempt to glimpse IC1318. I did not know what to expect and centered on Gamma Cygni. I was worried about the amount of stars that would be visible within the field of view. The UHC filter helped in reducing the number of faint stars to be drawn. I spent almost two hours behind the eyepiece. So here is my impression. I don’t know if I succeeded in observing IC 1318, I just represented the luminosity observed with the UHC filter.

Date : October 14, 2007
Time : 21.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
TV Plössl 32mm
Power : x16
FOV: 192′
Filter : Lumicon UHC
Seeing : 3.5/5
Transp. : 3/5
Nelm : 5.2
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Spiritual Sky

IC 1848, The Soul Nebula
By Rony De Laet

IC 1848 : The Soul Nebula

While sweeping the scope through the Heart & Soul region, my retina pics up lots of brightness variations of the sky background. A rather bright region is defined as IC 1848 : the combined glow of unresolved stars and patches of an emission nebula. The view is best appreciated without a filter under dark skies. Under not so dark skies, an UHC filter is of great help. The backdraw is a loss of delicate starglow. Here is my impression, made with an UHC filter under a mag 5.7 sky.

Date : December 27, 2007
Time : around 18.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Eyepiece : Meade SP 26mm
Power : x20
FOV: 150′
Filter : Lumicon UHC
Seeing : 4/5
Transp. : 4/5
Nelm : 5.7
Elevation : 800m ASL
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.