NGC147 (Caldwell 17)
The medium used: graphite pencil,
The equipment used: 8″ f/10 SCT. Date: 14-10-2006
Weather: very good conditions, clear and transparency. Very close to Molina
de Aragon (Guadalajara, Spain.)
Faint galaxy, perfectly elliptic. This galaxy in one of the Andromeda
satellites, located in the constellation of Cassiopea. Field rich in stars,
its better to observe it with adverted vision.
Leonor
M92 is near the top of the list for me when it comes to globular clusters. It takes
magnification extremely well, and many individual stars are clearly resolved around
a bright core. M92 would probably get more attention were it not for it’s
spectacular neighbor, M13.
This sketch was rendered on standard copy paper with a .5mm mechanical pencil. Post
processing was done with MGI Photosuite III.
Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL
M81 and M82 are a galactic pair that I found to be a rewarding target. Structure in
M81 was visible with averted vision, while M82 showed no detail. I always find it
nice to have more than one galaxy in my field of view.
This sketch was rendered on Strathmore Windpower Sketch paper with a .5mm mechanical
pencil. MGI Photosuite III was used for post processing.
Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL
You can see the effects of the magnetic fields through the long fingers of the
filaments holding the cooled dense gas in place. Although this observation is mainly
in the chromosphere and lower parts of the corona, the filaments are generally held
in place by regions of opposing magnetic polarity within the photosphere. Of course
this is also the case for the prominences, as prominences are filaments above the
limb where the gas is set in front of the black sky instead of the disk. Although
the filaments were very impressive on the disk itself, they were not so impressive
on the limb today. Having said that, take a look at the faint section of prominence
that appears to be floating off the limb in the WNW region.
NOAA 10969’s plage intertwined and reached out with crooked fingers.
The next observation was using a white light filter where over 99.999% of the Sun’s
light is blocked out, making it possible for me to view the photosphere. This is
called white light. You can see NOAA 10969 in the cooler layer. The chromosphere
becomes invisible to me again. The two dark sections of umbrae within the penumbra
of this action region were very prominent. I could see a darkened outline of the
penumbra and it had an almost rectangular shape with curved corners. Of particular
interest was the very faint darkened area to the right of the sunspot. This happens
to me fairly often, seeing little bonus features like this. I’m still not sure what
causes it. Normally I would think it was contrast from faculae that I was unable to
discern. Normally we can only see faculae closer to the darker limb regions. But
often I can see an outline of contrast suggesting faculae present when the active
region is toward the center of the disk.
This time it is a little different. If I didn’t know any better, it looked like a
thick triangular cooler region next to the sunspot. By this I mean cooler than the
photosphere, hotter than the umbra, and only just slightly hotter than the
penumbrae.
2007 08 26, 1700-1928 UT
PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio
Equipment used:
Internally Double stacked Maxscope 60mm, WO Binoviewers, 20mm WO EP’s, LXD75.
Meade ETX70-AT, 21-7mm Zhumell, glass white light filter.
Seeing above average with only a few moments of quivering, transparency above average.
Temps 80.1 °F / 26.7 °C to 78.1 °F / 25.6 °C over course of observation.
Winds 4.6 mph – 6.9mph NNE/ 11.1 km/h.
Clear progressing to mostly cloudy by the end of the session.
Humidity 54%
H-alpha sketch was rendered using Prang colored pencils and Black Strathmore
Artagain paper. White light sketch was created with photocopy paper and a number 2
pencil.
Erika Rix
For this sketch I decided to focus on the crater Reinhold that is dwarfed by it’s
enormous neighbor, Copernicus. I could see lot’s of detail in it’s surrounding
environment including a craterlet in it’s ghostly companion Reinhold B. The hills
and rilles to the south and west of this pair of craters made for an irresistible
sketch opportunity. I hope you all enjoy my impression of Reinhold.
This sketch was rendered on Strathmore Windpower Sketch paper, with a #2 HB
Mechanical Pencil, and a General’s Extra Black Layout Pencil. MGI Photosuite III was
used for post processing.
Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL
Large globular clusters are always rewarding targets to hunt down from less than
ideal sky locations. In a 10” telescope from urban/suburban locations only the 9th
magnitude glow of this globular is clearly visible. Upon closer inspection the
core can be seen to brighten significantly. The angular size of this cluster looks
to be about 1.5 minutes of arc in the eyepiece. It is easy to see why 18th and
19th century observers thought this globular to be a planetary and on at least one
occasion it was reported to be a comet. At almost 100,000 light years distant, it
is challenging to resolve stars in this globular without at least 13 inches of
aperture. I could not resolve any stars of the cluster with the 10” scope. The
brightest stars in this globular cluster are about magnitude 15.5. Adding to the
eyepiece view are two well spaced 8th magnitude stars to the west listed in the
Henry Draper catalog as HD151689 and HD 151651.
Sketching Date and Time: 8-12-2007, 2:30-2:50 UT
Telescope 10” f / 5.7 Dobsonian 21mm eyepiece 69x
8”x12” white sketching paper, B and 4B graphite pencils, a blending stump, scanned
and inverted
Seeing: Pickering 7/10
Transparency: average 2.5/5
NELM 4.1
Frank McCabe
It was a very clear and transparent night when I finally got my shot at drawing the
lunar crater, Aristoteles. Unfortunately, there was a steady 17-20 MPH wind that
shook my little 8″ Dob, and caused my subject to jump around in the eyepiece. I
managed to capture this magnificent crater during the brief periods of calm, so I
apologize for any inaccuracies.
This sketch was rendered on Strathmore Windpower Sketch paper with a .5mm 2HB
mechanical pencil. MGI Photosuite III was used for post processing.
Jason Aldridge
North Port, Florida
M13 – The Hercules Globular Cluster
Technique used: Graphite pencil and then inverted colors in paint.
Equipment used: Skywatcher 130/900
Date: 08.15.07
Taken from: Belgrade
Alexander Andjelic
Lunar Crater J Herschel
The sun was rising across the 165 km wide irregular floor of this walled plain
crater at the time of this observation. J Herschel is a pre-Nectarian crater and
in the observing light was showing off a low inner rim, secondary craters, and
rubbly, slightly convex floor. With the Imbrium basin formation taking place a
couple of hundred million years after J Herschel, it is easy to see why this
crater looks so old and battered. The well defined outer rim to the south (up in
the sketch) has its rampart buried under the lavas of Mare Frigoris. Also the mare
looks to be at a slightly higher elevation than the crater floor on the other side
of the wall. Along the south wall to the west crater Horrebow (26 km) can be seen
superimposed upon Horrebow A. Out into Mare Frigoris a couple of dozen kilometers
are craters La Condamine B and J Herschel F both slightly under 20 km in diameter.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: White CCP sketching paper, 2 HB graphite pencil and a black
ink pen. Contrast and brightness were adjusted after scanning.
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 6 mm eyepiece 241X
Date: 5-28-2007 1:01-1:40 UT
Temperature: 16° C (60° F)
Partly cloudy with haze, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude 45.1 °
Lunation 11 days
Illumination 85.8 %
Frank McCabe
The window of opportunity to explore the treasures of Sagittarius
is fairly brief from my 52 degree latitude observatory. This
coupled with the fact that my southern horizon looks towards the
closest town 2 miles away with the sprawl of London starting just
25miles further on make for challenging observing especially of
diffuse objects.
M17 the Swan or Check Mark nebula is one of the objects which I can get good views
of and one that visitors to my optics agree matches well with its name.
Last week I caught up with this fine and Royal bird swimming on its stellar river.
The view prompted me to dig out this sketch from a couple of seasons back to share
with others.
Scope used 14″ F5 Newtonian at 77x UHC Lumicon filter.HB pencil & blending stump
on white cartridge paper, scanned and saved as a negative with no enhancement.
From the Chippingdale Observatory, Hertfordshire, England.
Clear Skies, Dale
