Category: Pencil

Oddly Fascinating

M56 

Now here is a Globular that struck me as fascinating and odd at the same time. Although the stars resolved quite well, it also appeared very dim for as well as it resolved…strange.

The digital sketch based on my original pencil drawing took a little time to depict accurately. I was either getting it too bright or too dim, and getting to the point of making the digital sketch appear as it looked to me through the EP was a task. I believe I had 5 or 6 dufferent layers with differing opacities and Guassian Blurs applied before I got it to resemble the actual EP view.

This Globular is framed nicely by background stars of varying brightness, and set off this Globular quite nicely. Here is how it appeared to me through the EP, I hope you enjoy it.

Wade V. Corbei

Hiding In the Open

M33 

I found M33 a hard to find object in the past. I used to observe with long focal scopes. M33 never showed up in the eyepiece. Last year, I could finally detect the central part of this galaxy with my ETX105. This night, I was studying the milkyway in the Cygnus region with the Skywatcher for an hour or so. I wanted to end the observing session with a different type of object. I made a quick peek at M15 and M2 and then I turned my head to Andromeda and Triangulum. I aimed the scope to that spot where I could never find M33, just for fun. And there it was, in the middle of the low power eyepiece! I discovered the soft oval glow of M33. That was not so hard with this scope. I could not resist the urge to make a sketch of the scene. The Baader Contrast Booster filter joined in as well.

Date : October 13, 2007
Time : 22.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Meade SP 26mm
Power : x20
FOV: 150′
Filter : Baader Contrast Booster
Seeing : 3.5/5
Transp. : 3/5
Nelm : 5.4
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Rony De Laet
Belgium

Second Take

394 ARI 

394 ARI – Struve 394

394 ARI is a nice sight and contians a primary and secondary of almost equal size and magnitude with a primary with an obvious yellow tint and a secondary with an equally noticeable blue tint. This double stands fairly alone in the FOV at this magnification, but it is a very nice and easily observed double residing in Aries.

A New Dawn across the Bay of Rainbows

Bay of Rainbows 

  Northwest of the Sea of Rains is the 260 km. crater known as the Bay of Rainbows.
At the time of this evening observation the shadow of the terminator was crossing
the bay beyond 4 km. Heraclides E. A good one third of the bay floor was in
darkness but already Promontorium Heraclides and much taller Promontorium Laplace
across the bay were basking in the morning sunlight. A long triangular shadow from
the latter was seen extending westward. The sunlight was also descending the walls
of what remains of the crater rim known as the Jura mountains. My drawing does not
begin to capture the beauty of this view. East of the bay in the brightly
illuminated Imbrium basin are craters LeVerrier and Helicon both about 20 km. in
diameter. South of this pair are the much smaller craters Carlini and Carlini A.
  
  Sketching
  
  For this sketch I used:  White copy paper, 6”x 9”, 2H graphite pencil and an ink
  pen. Brightness was slightly increased after scanning.
  
  Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian 12mm eyepiece 121x
  Date: 9-3-2006 0:30-1:15 UT
  Temperature: 20°C (68°F)
  Clear, calm
  Seeing:  Pickering 5/10
  Colongitude: 32.4°
  Lunation:  10.2 days
  Illumination: 71 %
  
  Frank McCabe

ET Phone Home

NGC 457

Here is my impression of NGC 457, a little funny guy that seems to swing through space with his arms stretched to get hold on some stars. The night was not very dark. The milkyway was only visible in the cygnus region. While centering the cluster, there appeared a small glowing patch to the north west. I did not know what it was, probably an anonimous grouping of stars. It turned out that the patch was NGC436, at about 40′ ! It came as a nice surprise.

Date : October 16, 2007
Time : 21.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Meade SP 26mm
Power : x20
FOV: 150′
Filter : none
Seeing : 3.5/5
Transp. : 3/5
Nelm : 5.1
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Rony De Laet
Belgium

http://www.geocities.com/rodelaet

An Extragalactic Pass in the Night

M51 

M51

I have been going through my sketchbook and finding those objects that I have yet to convert over to digital images. M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy) is one of many that were in need of such treatment.

A fairly faint object due in part to the LP in this part of the sky from my location, it is nonetheless an impressive object when viewed through the EP. With averted vision, I was able to clearly see the overall shape and structure, but not a whole lot of finer detail(s).

Wade V. Corbei
Lodi, California

Deep Southern Sea

Mare Humorum

Southwestern Mare Humorum
  
  Mare Humorum is a small circular sea on the southwestern side of the visible lunar
surface. The thick floor is intermediate in age between the Nectarian and Imbrian
basins. This sketch is focused on the southern perimeter of Humorum and includes
from west to east craters: Doppelmayer (66 km.); Lee (43 km.); Vitello (43 km.)
the youngest and only one of the three with a complete rim. The ghost-like nearly
lava buried crater Puiseux (25 km.) can be seen north of Lee on the floor of Mare
Humorum. Rupes Kelvin and Promontorium Kelvin are both visible east and north of
crater Vitello. I made this sketch while evaluating the performance of a 6” f /7.9
Newtonian telescope.
  
  Sketching:
  
  Date and Time November 2, 2006 1:30-2:30 UT
  8.5” x11” copy paper, 2 HB graphite pencil, black ink marker pen
  10.8 day old waxing gibbous moon
  Colongitude: 45.7°
  Illumination: 84 %
  Seeing: Pickering 4/10
  6” f 7.9 Dob. 6mm ocular 200x
  
  Frank McCabe

Starry Nursery

M42 

M42 and it’s close neighbor M43 are a delight to observe through any size telescope.
I captured these beauties on a clear August morning in 2006. This sketch was
rendered on Strathmore Windpower Sketch paper with a General’s Extra Black Layout
Pencil. Post processing and color added with MGI Photosuite III.

Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL

A Dance before the Laughing Giant

Jupiter Io transit 

Europa Transit of Jupiter
  
  The moon Europa, denoted by the tick marks as a bright spot against the North
Temperate Band was just beginning its transit across the disk of the planet
Jupiter. At about this same time the great red spot had just crossed Jupiter’s
meridian as the planet crossed my observing site meridian. I deemed this worth an
attempted sketch.

Sketching:
7/7/2007 2:50-3:15 UT
Scope 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian 9 mm UO eyepiece at 161x
4”x 6” white sketching paper, B, 2B, 4B graphite pencils,
Jupiter Sketch cut out and scanned with Europa added electronically using Microsoft
Paint
Seeing 7/10
Transparency average 2.5/ 5

Frank McCabe