Object Name: Gassendi Crater
Object Type: Lunar crater
Location: Lombard, IL, USA
Date: 27 Aug 2012
Media: Graphite / charcoal on vellum bristol.
Comments:
My first Lunar sketch – Gassendi crater on 27 Aug 2012, 22-23 CDT, observed through my 8″ ATM Dobsonian at 240x mag (Baader Hyperion 5mm).
object Name – Great Andromeda Galaxy M31,32,110
object Type – Great Andromeda Galaxy M31,32,110
Location – But-gogae Gosong-ri Yangdong-myeon Yangpyeong-gun Gyeonggi-do S.KOREA
Media – pencil, charcoal , 54.5 X 39.4 cm Paper
10′ Dob / Explore 20mm 100′
This sketch is of the 220km diameter crater Clavius, which is near the lunar South Pole. The orientation of this sketch is is with North to the bottom, so the crater Rutherford is at the top left, and Porter is at the bottom left.
The sketch was done from a photo taken in Adelaide, South Australia, on 2012-05-30, when the moon was 67% illuminated. The telescope was a 150mm SCT.
Medium is charcoal on white paper.
-Ivan
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.
Aloha!
One of my favorite objects to observe on dark, excellent seeing nights is M51 & companion galaxy NGC 5195. Seeing was excellent on the night of 3/19/12 & I sketched prominent features of the galaxies from the scope using a red light to see the paper. After returning inside for the night I decided to clean up my sketch & enhance some of the features I made notes on. A few nights later I went back to check on my accuracy.
Although I could see a lot of detail with my 12.5” Portaball, I realized I had over enhanced my sketch. I then stayed at the scope to remove the enhancements that were not accurate. This was a good learning experience for me. It is sometimes difficult to observe & stay dark adapted even with red light, and my visual acuity isn’t what it once was. In the future I plan to sketch, make notes, clean up the sketch with better light but then return to the subject to verify what I have truly observed.
(Cyn)Thia Krach
Object: M51 & NGC 5195
Object Type: Galaxy
Location: Maui, Hawaii ~4,000 elevation
Date: 3/19/12 9:20pm, second sketch 3/25/12
Media: White paper, charcoal & charcoal pencils, graphite. Inverted with Photoscape
Hello all,
The atmosphere appears to be finally drying out here on the east coast of Australia. Viewing from near home on the 24th of April, DSO’s were noticeably easier to see and make out detail in. The clearest for a very long time.
Thought I’d tackle a Monster too. This one’s been taunting me for some time. Teasing through the mushy viewing during the last year. It’s “Eye” staring back in defiance.
Here is my shot at Omega Centauri using my 17.5″. So mind numbingly complex in structure. It’s core shows it’s “eye” looking back, which is washed out in long exposure photos. This is Omega’s most outstanding signature feature.
Alex M.
Object: Omega Centauri, NGC 5139
Scope: 17.5″ push-pull dob
Gear: 16mm Unitron Konig, 125X
Date: 24th March 2012
Location: Sydney, Australia
Media: Pastels, charcoal and white ink on A4 size black paper.
Time: 2.5hrs
object Name – M47 – NGC 2422
Location – International Observatory(Yard) Yongcheon-ri Yangpyeong-gun Gyeonggi-do S.KOREA
Media – pencil, charcoal , white paper(Invert)
XQ 10′ Dob / Explore 14mm 100′
Object: Moon Halo & Jupiter – 22 degree Halo around the moon
Object type: Moon & reflected light phenomenon, Jupiter
Location: Maui Hawaii
Date December 3,2011
Media: Charcoal pencil & sketch paper, Photoscape used to invert white to black
I walked outside tonight & beheld this lovely phenomenon I have observed many times here in Hawaii. I had always assumed it was a “Moonbow” but on further research realize it is a 22 degree Halo around the moon. Rough measurements were made using my fingers & fist for the degree of bow around the moon as well as distance of Jupiter from the halo to the North East. The inner halo is very distinct as a white rim that fades outward, and the inner area is darker than the outer. The ring around the moon is caused by the refraction of ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of six sided hexagonal ice crystals results in the focusing of the light into a ring.
Hello,
I recently discovered Astronomy Sketch of the Day, and since I just started sketching I wanted to share my Orion Nebula sketch.
This is M42 and M43 in the constellation of Orion.
Diffuse nebula
Sketch was done in Plattsburgh, NY
Done on February 19, 2012
Large sketch pad, 2H pencil for the stars and Charcoal 557-6B ex. soft for the nebula itself, used a smudge stick to fan out the nebula. Scanned into computer and smoothed out with Gimp to remove the paper texture and round out the stars.
Used a Celestron Omni XLT 150 Reflector with a 25mm eyepiece giving me 30x magnification.
Very clear skies, 4/5 transparency, 2/5 seeing, 30°F.
-Mike Rector
My 9 year old daughter Maia was out exploring the moon last night through our 8” Dobsonian. She used 14mm & 27mm eyepieces to observe the January 1st, 2012 moon. She recorded details using an Astro Sketch form I had on hand.
The night was clear & seeing was good, and in her words “The craters were huge”
Object – Moon
Date – 1/1/2012
Place – Maui, Hawaii
Telescope – 8” Orion SkyQuest
Media – Graphite pencil & charcoal on white paper
