Nebulae – Page 38 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

A Ghost Yelling in the Sideral Silence

Tarantula Nebula 30 Doradus of the LMC
Sketch and Details by Serge Viellard, translation by Frank McCabe

Tarantula Nebula 30 Doradus of the LMC
Sketch by Serge Viellard ,translation by Frank McCabe

This beautiful nebula was sketched in March of this year using a homebuilt 16 inch travel scope created just for such a vacation trip to the dark skies of Namibia. Below is a rough translation of what Serge Vieillard said about viewing and sketching the Tarantula nebula.

The nebula was so easily seen in the dark sky that pointing the telescope was simple. The view was shocking. The strangely greenish vision nailed me to the eyepiece; I was stunned, frozen. … A ghost yelling in the sidereal silence arises and jumps into the eye. The view is extremely strong with maximum contrast. Infinite details were visible in the filaments of this unbelievable hair net. An OIII filters aids in making this sketch. This is definitively my favorite nebula.

Space Duo

M97 “The Owl Nebula” and Galaxy M108
Sketch and Details by Janusz Krysiak

Hi,

These are the planetary nebula M97 and the galaxy M108. Together are beautifully visible.

Object Name: M 97, M 108
Object Type: Planetary nebula, Galaxy
Location: Pyrnik(Poland)
Date: 14.04.2009

medium: pencil, white paper
equipment: Newton 305/1500
magnification: 68 x

Treasures of Uru-anna

Ancient Sumerian Constellation Uru-anna
Sketch and Details by Rony De Laet

Some 5000 to 6000 years ago, one of the most ancient civilisations, Sumer, was based in southern Iraq. The Sumerians invented their own written language. Many Sumerian texts have been found on clay tablets. The Sumerians also practiced astronomy and gave names to the constellations.
The constellation of the Hunter, Orion, was known to the Sumerians as Uru-anna or The Light of Heaven. It has been suggested that Orion is named from Uru-anna.

Uru-anna or Orion is indeed a bright constellation. Most of its stars belong to the Orion OB1 association. Such is the case with the ‘Sword’ of Orion, a part of the sky which can be seen with the naked eye as a line of four fuzzy stars hanging under the Belt of Orion.

This region of the Orion OB1 association is filled with very bright stars. Many of these stars are very young giants or supergiants. The brightest star of the scene is Iota. Just a few minutes S of Iota is the double star Struve 747. Its components are only 36” apart, but clearly split at 7x. Struve 747 may look a little elongated in the sketch, due to the lower resolution of the rendering. It appears to me that Iota could be the lucida of a little poor open cluster, of which Struve 747 is also a member. The showpiece of the scene is M42, the Orion nebula. My 8×56 binoculars reveal two stars in the middle of M42 : Theta 1 and Theta 2. The latter is accompanied by two fainter stars to the E. The heart of the Orion Nebula is extremely bright. It can be seen with direct vision, also from an urban location. With patience and averted vision, a larger part of the nebula can be witnessed. Several faint stars can be discovered in the fading glow too. The western part of the nebula is the largest and the most obvious ‘wing’ of M42. Its northern border seems to be sharply cut away. As if a dark nebula separates M42 from the fainter M43 a few minutes to the N. M43 looks like a faint star embedded in a misty glow. The dark nebula also curves S as if it wants to separate the Theta stars as well. The southern ‘wing’ is a very diffuse feature. It is the thick and long filament know from the photos, that point towards Iota. With averted vision, this filament can be seen with 8×56 binoculars.
At 30’ N of M42, the faint glow of the reflection nebula NGC 1977 shows up around 42 and 45 Orionis. A total of 3 stars can be seen within the nebula.
The final object is the loose open cluster NGC 1981, N of NGC 1977. My 8×56 binoculars show a total of about 10 medium to faint cluster members.
The above mentioned objects are all members of the OB1 association, at a distance of about 1600 l-y.

A second observation of this region with the 15×70 binoculars will be posted later.

Site : Bekkevoort, Belgium ( 51° N )
Date : January 18, 2008
Time : around 20.30UT
Binoculars : Bresser Spezial-Jagd 8×56
FOV: 5.9°
Filter : none
Mount : Trico Machine Sky Window
Seeing : 2/5
Transp. : 3/5
Sky brightness : 19.86 magnitudes per square arc second near zenith (SQM reading).
Nelm: 5.4
Sketch Orientation: N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with Corel Paint Shop Pro X2, based on a raw pencil sketch.

(Note: if the sketch does look too dark on your monitor, try to darken the room.)

Region of Eta Carinae NGC 3372

NGC 3372 Emission Nebulae in Eta Carinae
Sketch by Serge Viellard, commentary by Frank McCabe

Last month (March 2009) Serge Vieillard packed up his new 16″ telescope and flew off to the African country of Namibia in the southern hemisphere. One of the remarkable objects he sketched is NGC 3372 which is the bright gas cloud and stellar region of Eta Carinae. Using an OIII filter and a 22 mm Nagler eyepiece this object took up several eyepiece fields of view. Serge described the view as a “fine rug of stars and gas”. During the course of the night of observing and sketching he returned again and again to the region for more looks. You may agree this is a remarkable sketch of a beautiful sight.

Saturn Nebula with Large Aperture

NGC 7009, the “Saturn Nebula”
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard, translation by Frank McCabe

This was an unforgettable astronomy stay in the collar of Restefond high in the French Alps. I had the opportunity to notice in the T600 F/D 3.3 (24”) of David Vernet, a perfect scope that was thriftily handled by his owner.
On August 29th, 2008, the sky was particularly stable, which allowed the use of extreme magnifications of 2000x on nice planetary nebulas. These conditions allowed for the rediscovery of these objects, their reading and their understanding becoming obvious from the first glance. NGC 7009 “Saturn Nebula” appeared smooth, as if drawn in the brush. It also introduces numerous details both in the central zone and in the external shell. It is amazing to determine how much the 2 external blips are fine.

The Ghost of Jupiter

NGC 3242, “The Ghost of Jupiter” in Hydra
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

NGC 3242

I made an observation of the Ghost of Jupiter (NGC 3242) in Hydra on February 19, 2009 (05:15 U.T.) using my 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain at 78x (inset image at 352x) under average to good seeing conditions (5-7/10). The Ghost of Jupiter lies approximately 1,400 light years from the Sun. This planetary nebula has a shape that reminds an observer of the planet Jupiter where it gets it’s nickname from. The Ghost of Jupiter exhibits a bluish color as noted. At higher magnification (352x) the inner shell of the nebula has an elliptical shape with a central “eye” and an outer diffuse shell. This is one of my favorite planetary nebulas to observe.

Carlos E. Hernandez

Object: Ghost of Jupiter NGC 3242 – Artist: Carlos E. Hernandez – Sketch Date: 2-18-2009 – Sketch Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida USA

Celestial Jester

NGC 2392, The Clown Face Nebula in Gemini
Sketch and Details by Marek Płonka

Sketch information:
My sketch shows NGC 2392 in Gemini.
The object is easily found.
The nebula didn’t show much more contrast with UHC-S filter.
I didn’t notice the blue colour of nebula. I didn’t see the central star,
which is of visual magnitude 10.5.

Object name: NGC 2392
Scope: Skywather dobs 1200/200 + 15mm SWA
Place: Poland, Silesia, Skrzyszów
Seeing: 8/10 Transparency: 2/5
Date and time: 2009-02-28 23.15
Technique: Pencil + GIMP
Author: Marek Płonka (Poland, Silesia)

Orion Nebula and Its Companion

M42 and M43, Orion Nebula and its companion
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

M42/ M43 Orion Nebula and Its Companion

Everyone that has taken a telescope or pair of binoculars outdoors to view the heavens on a clear winter night in the northern hemisphere has seen the Orion nebula. It is that fuzzy star in the middle of the hunter’s sword. M42 the “Great nebula” is a stellar nursery and emission nebula that shines as bright as a 4th magnitude star while its smaller companion on the other side of the intervening obscuring dust is M43 shining at 9th magnitude. Soon the nebula will be past the south meridian point before it is fully dark. So now is the time to take your last good looks before it’s too late; spring will be here soon.
On this night I decided it was time to try and make a sketch of this winter gem. I have made a few crude sketches in the past and know this is a tough target to capture as it appears in the eyepiece. I started by sketching the stars and lightly outlining the bright parts of the nebula with a 2H pencil. After much erasing and repositioning of stars I shaded in the bright to faint nebula gradually until it looked to be a reasonable match to the eyepiece view. After two and a half hours I consider the sketch finished. Averted vision helped with the outer faint regions.
It was a slow process but a fun challenge at the same time.

Sketching

Date and Time: 2-15-2009, 1:10-3:20 UT
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian. 21mm Hyperion eyepiece 69x
8”x12” white CCP sketching paper, 2H B, 2B graphite pencils, blending stump, erasers, scanned and inverted, contrast and brightness were slightly adjusted at the scanner
Temperature: -3 °C (26 °F), calm
Seeing: very good Pickering 8/10
Transparency: good 3/5

Frank McCabe

When NGC 6826 Doesn’t Blink

NGC 6826, The Blinking Planetary Nebula
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard, translation by Frank McCabe

Our club organized a trip for visual telescope use at the observatory to Astroqueyras of St Véran. Six members of the group for 9 days (from the 18 to 26 of October, 2008) observed during the pre-winter period, with a program focused mainly on planetary nebulae. These were our preferred targets using the 9 m focal length Cassegrain telescope of 62 cm aperture.
Weather conditions were not optimal, but each period of good seeing was used to the maximum.
We familiarized ourselves with the instrument the first night and pointed it at obvious targets…. We spent a considerable length of time on NGC 6826, the blinking planetary with a blue in color at magnifications up to 1900x. With this instrument at these high magnifications, the central star does not blink and the central shell shows a very special form with an edge almost straight. The external hull shows zones that are nearly symmetrical and alternating between bright and dark but aspect slightly different…. Some details of contours and nuances ideally complement this observation.

Celestial Continent

NGC 7000, The North American Nebula
Sketch and Details by Jeremy Perez

Observation Notes

From a dark location with a good pair of binoculars, this rich, starry field is filled with a tapestry of nebulosity. While staying at Flying W Guest Ranch in Oklahoma, I found myself sitting under the stars one clear, dark evening. I had just finished a sketch of The False Comet, and turned my binoculars to the North America Nebula. I spent enough time putting a crick in my neck to appreciate the enjoyable shape from which it gets its name. To work on my sketch however, I needed a more comfortable position. So I attached my Mirror Mount and relaxed for a nice long observation. The mirrored image took some of the spice out of the view, since the North America shape was flipped, but if you’ve seen images of it a million times, that little twist can be a nice way to help keep the observation honest!

After drawing the star field, I got down to the business of finding the contours of the nebula. The Gulf of Mexico appeared to have both a strong, shallow boundary, and a softer, deeper boundary. The Central America leg had the most pronounced edge to it. To the north, within the Canadian section, there appeared to be three very subtle dark fingers, reaching down like glacial valleys. Across the abyss of LDN 935, the Pelican Nebula made a very faint appearance. When added to the glow of NGC 7000, these two nebulae give a saguaro cactus shaped appearance to the dark nebula that divides them. Finally, I noted the orange and yellow-orange embers of four stars burning across the beautiful field. Don’t pass this majestic sight up if you are under a dark sky with binoculars this time of year.

Rather than shade the nebula ‘in the field’, I drew contour lines to note progressively brighter regions of the nebula. I traced and re-mirrored the sketch when I got home and took my time shading it under well-lit conditions, using the contour sketch as a template. I prepared the sketch on a 9″ x 12″ sheet of vellum bristol using a chamois to apply charcoal shading. I used my kneaded eraser to mold the boundaries and keep them true to the contour drawing.

I should also note that I attempted a naked-eye sketch of the Cygnus Milky Way, including the North America Nebula, but was unable to come close to completing it. The complex structure of the Milky Way and this nebula were difficult to tease apart, but I hope to try again and document how this object appears to the naked eye.

Object Information

Situated three degrees west of the brilliant star Deneb, the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) is a visual test of dark skies. Readily photographed, it can be a challenging visual target unless conditions are dark and clear. It is also quite large, and best seen in whole with wide field instruments, especially binoculars. NGC 7000 is part of a larger nebula complex that includes IC 5067 and IC 5070 which is known as the Pelican Nebula. This emission nebula is bisected by a large dark nebula catalogued as LDN 935. A finger of this dark nebula is responsible for the well-defined ‘Gulf of Mexico’ region. If the star illuminating the emission nebula is Deneb, then the complex would reside about 1800 light years away and span a width of 100 light years.

NGC 7000 (The North America Nebula) was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1786 and is also known as Sh2-117, LBN 373, H V-37?, h 2096, GC 4621. IC 5067 is also catalogued as LBN 353 and IC 5070 is also catalogued as LBN 350.

Subject North America Nebula (NGC 7000), Pelican Nebula (IC 5067, IC 5070), and LDN 935
Classification NGC 7000, IC 5067 and IC 5070: Emission Nebula
LDN 935: Dark Nebula
Position* Cygnus:
NGC 7000: [RA: 21:01:48.0 / Dec: +44:12:00]
IC 5067: [RA: 20:47:48.0 / Dec: +44:22:00]
IC 5070: [RA: 20:50:48.0 / Dec: +44:21:00]
LDN 935: [RA: 20:56:54.5 / Dec: +43:52:00]
Size* NGC 7000: 100′ x 60′
IC 5067: 25′ x 10′
IC 5070: 60′ x 50′
LDN 935: 150′ x 40′
Brightness* Unspecified
Date/Time AUG 05, 2008 – 01:00 AM CST
(AUG 05, 2008 – 06:00 UT)
Observing Loc. Flying W Guest Ranch, Sayre, Oklahoma, USA
Instrument 15 x 70 Oberwerk Binoculars
Eyepieces/Mag. –
Seeing 4/10
Transparency ~6.5 NELM
*Sources NGCIC Project; Wikipedia