That was the longest observation, in my life. I drew the Orion nebula for several days (total length of over 5 hours).
2012-03-18 Day 1. – the brightest stars are sketched (50 minutes)
2012-03-19 Day 2. – The faint stars drew a picture (up to magnitude 13) (90 minutes)
2012-03-20 Day 3. – I drew in high mist details dark and clear sky. (90 minutes)
2012-03-21 Day 4. – worked in the drawing (approximately 120 minutes)
Location: Nagyvarsány/Hungary
Observer: Viktor Cseh
Telescope: 140/880 Newtonian telescope, 35X, 88X, 176X
– M20 – The Trifid Nebula (NGC 6514)
– Emission/Reflection Nebula
– Apparent Magnitude: 6.3
– Itajobi, Brazil
– July 27th, 2011
– 01h00 (U.T.)
– 2B 0.5mm graphite pencil on white paper
– 180mm dobsonian reflecting telescope
– 20mm Super Plossl eyepiece
– Magnification: 54 x
– Seeing: Antoniadi 1 (fine)
– NELM: 5.5
As I’ve already said, July 2011 was a productive month for me. I could observe and sketch many objects as I had never done before. Conditions were exceptional: no clouds, fair wind and pleasant temperature. That night I pointed my telescope to many objects. One of them was M20. Close to the Zenith, it was clearly seen. The dark paths in the Nebula were confusing, though. Only with averted vision I was able to notice the feature thoroughly, so it was a tough job to put it down on the paper. That was my best observation of The Trifid Nebula, I hope you like it.
Here’s a nice sketch I managed to do roughly a month ago.
Objects: IC 434, Barnard 33, NGC 2023, NGC 2024
Object type: various kinds of nebulae (dark, reflection & emission)
Location: Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain
Date: 12.3.2012
Media: graphite pencil on white paper, inverted on a computer
This sketch was done under the nice La Palman NELM 7.0 sky using a Tokina 300mm f/2.8 photographic lens. With a eyepiece adapter this lens makes a nice roughly 10cm rich field telescope. I decided to take a glimpse at the Alnitak region in Orion to see if there was any chance to see IC 434. Using a H-beta filter indeed revealed the nebula, which complemented nicely the brighter NGC nebulae in the same field.
More careful observation revealed something unexpected to me. There was a round notch in the relatively sharp east edge of the IC 434 precisely at the location of the Horsehead nebula. Cross checking this feature with friends confirmed it to be real. Being able to see the Horsehead nebula with only a 10cm telescope was really stunning. After all, I had grown up always hearing that seeing it requires at least a medium large telescope. This was truly a lesson that aperture isn’t the last word when observing deep sky.
The sketch is a combination of two simultaneous views of the same field. IC 434 and Barnard 33 were drawn with a H-beta filter whereas NGC 2023 and 2024 were drawn unfiltered.
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.
Object Name (M 42 & M 43)
Object Type (Emission and reflection nebula)
Location (BOUMEHEN – TEHRAN – IRAN)
Date (24 DECEMBER 2011)
Media (graphite pencil, white paper, belending stump)
EQUIPMENT : 10” dabsonian telescope (orion – XT10 classic)
I send you here my sketch about M42 and NGC1981.
The Orion Nebula was one of the first things I have ever sketched and observed and this is still one of my favourites. When observing it in a full view NGC1981 is visible within the same FoV, a small but nicely shaping open cluster. I thought I will leave out the FoV and just sketch as it is, so the whole drawing in length is approximately 2°.
Equipment used: 130/650 SW, 26x
Media: graphite pencil on white paper (Photoshop to invert)
Observing date: 25th January 2012, UT: 22:30
Place: Hungary, Budapest
Object Type: Bright Nebula
Location: Campo Felice (Italy)
Date: 26 Novembre 2011
Media: Graphite and colored pencil on White paper, digitalized and inverted sketch
This is my first sketch presented online. I’m not experienced with drawing but this is my third sketch of Orion nebula! I needed 90 minutes for the drawing and it was really cold about -6°C. The transparency was really good that evening for my observation point with a magnitude of 5m3.
I used a Newton 150/750mm with OIII-Filter. The magnification is 100* and the field of view is 0,52°.
Object: Orion Nebula (M42 & M43)
Type: Emission nebula
Location: West-Germany (south-Ruhrgebiet)
Date: 27.12.08
Media: graphite pencil on white paper – digitally inverted
Greetings from Germany!!
PS: great site I discoverd it only some weeks ago!
