Category: Nebulae

The Ghost of Jupiter

The Ghost of Jupiter (NGC 3242) Near the Zenith

Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard

This was an extraordinary adventure with the club. We spent three weeks in May 2010 in Chile, a journey of 5,500 km from Santiago to San Pedro, making many raids on the slopes of the Andean to altitude…. For my part, the use of T400-c (16 inch) is a real pleasure, gear fully adapted to this kind of situation…. The last (night) seems the most faithful to reality, the big globe including the central star was superimposed on the weak part of the expanding debris. The opportunity of the “Ghost of Jupiter” at the zenith was irresistible. The equipment was pushed to the maximum with 575x.

Object: NGC 3242 Planetary Nebula “Ghost of Jupiter” – Artist: Serge Vieillard – Sketch Date: May 2010

Messier 27 – The Dumbell Nebula

Messier 27
Messier 27 – The Dumbell Nebula
By Mariano Gibaja

Object Name: M 27 – NGC 6853
Object Type: Planetary nebula. Constellation Vulpecula. Position 20h 00m
+22º 43′
Location: Bonilla (Cuenca) SPAIN
Date: 15-May-2010
Medium used: Graphite pencil, white paper. Photoshop:inverted
Equipment used: SCT 8″ 36mm (Hyperion Aspheric) 56X

It is the first planetary nebula observed by Messier. It lies about 1050
light years away in the constellation Vulpecula and is the most easy and
affordable to all telescopes.

Barnard’s Loop, IC 434, M 42

Barnards Loop
Barnard’s Loop, IC 434, M 42 (on GUIDE paper)
Sketch by János Gábor Kernya

Object: Barnard’s Loop, IC 434, M 42 (on GUIDE paper)
Date: 2010.03.18/19
UT.: 19h49m – 20h44m
Equipment: 50/200 Stellarvue achromat + amici p. + Thousand Oaks H-Beta filter
Mag.: 6x
S = 5-6 / 10
T = 4 / 5
Observer: János Gábor Kernya
Location: Sükösd, Hungary

The Vela Supernova Remnant

Vela Supernova Remnant
Vela Supernova Remnant
Sketch and Details by Gábor Sánta

Dear ASOD,

I want to post my newest drawing about a very interesting deepsky object.

Nearby Supernova Remnant

Object: Vela Supernova Remnant
Constellation: Vela
Date: 06. 04. 2010.
Time: 18:20-19:15 UTC
Location: 27 m above sea level next to Kalo Nero, SE Crete, Greece, EU
Instrument: 130/650 (5″ f/5) Newtonian, 32 mm Plossl (20x magn.)
Filter: O III
Limiting magnitude: better than 6.5
Printed background used
Composite (multiple-field) observation

From 2 to 10 April we three – all Hungarian amateur astronomers – were at Crete to enjoy near-south deepsky wonders in Puppis, Vela, Centaurus and Scorpius because these constellations or southern parts of them are never seen from our home. Observed Omega Cen, Cen A, NGC 2451, NGC 2477, NGC 6231 and more in the very clear sky. Light pollution was minimal.

Cause of its 800 light year distance, the Vela SNR is the nearest known and observable remnant of an exploding star (connecting to Vela Pulsar). Cause of its location in northern Vela, culminate at 10-12 deg. above the sea level (our fantastic southern horizon). So I tried to hunt its mystic filaments spread in an 8 deg diameter circle. And finally I was sucesful, I could see – by the help of a detailed map – most of dim filaments of this really interesting supernova remnant. North to this, you can see Gum 14 and Gum 17, between them the cloudy Collinder 197. These HII regions were brighter than the remnant. To save time, I used a background printed before.

I would like to suggest observing Vela SNR if you can see it at least 10-15 deg. above your horizon, southern the 35th parallel.

Best regards,

Gabor Santa
Szeged, Hungary
Leader of Deep-Sky Section in the Hungarian Astronomical Association

Childrens Hubble Drawings

St Peters National School Hubble drawings
Children’s Hubble Drawings
Sketches by Students of St Peters National School Walkinstown Dublin
Photo by Bernard Kelleghan • Details by Deirdre Kelleghan

Gallery of the Individual Drawings

The 20th Anniversary of the launch of The Hubble Space Telescope was celebrated in St Peters National School Walkinstown Dublin 12 on April 23rd. ESA sent me an enormous print of the Carina nebula, the celebration image for public outreach. A drawing workshop to inspire and educate was the way to go. That morning the boys of 5th class at St Peters listened very carefully to my simple explanation of this visually powerful image. The boys used soft pastels on black paper and lovely blending and feathering drawing methods to capture the swirling clouds of gas and dust 7,500 light years from this planet. Great energy and use of color produced some beautiful drawings, it was a very special event. One child said ‘Its amazing to draw this huge thing on my small page’

Deirdre

NGC 7293 – The Helix Nebula

NGC 7293
NGC 7293 – The Helix Nebula
Sketch by John Eaccarino

Object Name: NGC7293, Helix Nebula
Object Type: Planetary Nebula
Location: Bandera, Texas, USA
Date: 11/17/09
Time: 19:34 CST
Conditions: Clear; Seeing 3/5; Transparency 5/5
Equipment: 280mm SCT, 40mm EP, DGM-NPB (UHC type nebula filter)
Medium: 0.7mm Graphite pencil on white paper. Scanned and color inverted.

Eskimo or Clown

NGC 2392

NGC 2392
Sketch and Details by Stefano Delmonte

NGC 2392 planetary nebula in Gemini
Location:  Priorato , one of the most prestigious wine zone of Spain!
13-march.2010

Graphite pencil one white paper, then with photoshop: inverted and rounded stars.

I use sketching in order to show and record in one image all the information the retina can catch in a large observing session.

The night that the association I’m part of organized the Messier marathon, I decided to be a bad boy and move to NGC.
The reason were a good seeing, a brief look at Mars confirm an Antoniadi III , the best part of sky is always zenith and there were NGC2392  waiting to be explored at good conditions.
At first either the central star and the double shell were easily seen, but only after more than 30 minutes observing, the “face” orientation did appear.
I didn’t care too much about what resemble because at the end of all an exploded star is really a fantastic sight anyway!

Ciao, Stefano.

The Flame and the Horsehead

IC 434 and Vicinity
IC 434, B 33, NGC 2023 and NGC 2024
Sketch and Details by János Gábor Kernya

Object: B 33 + IC 434 + NGC 2023 + NGC 2024 diffuse nebula (Ori)
Date: 2009. 11. 12/13.
UT.: 22h32m – 02h07m
Equipment: 305/1525 Dobsonian reflector
Mag.: 48x
FOV: 52’ + 52’
S = 2-3 / 10
T = 4 / 5
Observer: János Gábor Kernya
Location: Sükösd, Hungary

Sketch of IC 434.: Thousand Oaks H-Beta filter
Sketch of NGC 2024: without filter