Category: 02_Media

M15 in Pegasus

Messier 15, a globular cluster in the constellation Pegasus
Messier 15, a globular cluster in the constellation Pegasus

Hi friends,
I want to introduce you one more of my drawings in high polluted sky. This time is the turn for M15. Despite of the blurred view, from the center of Madrid you can distinguish several bright stars in the center with a shape that tends to be square.

Object Name: M15 – NGC 7078
Object Type: Globular Cluster
Constellation: Pegasus A.: 21h 29m 58.33s; Dec: 12° 10′ 01.2″
Location: Madrid (City Center)
Date: October 20th 2014 22:00 h.(CET)
Temperature: 17 ºC
Seeing: 4/5
Telescope: Celestron nexstar 5′ S/C.
Eyepiece: 25 mm celestron
Magnification: 50x
Media: Graphite pencil on white paper. Scanned and then inverted and processed image with GIMP

Clear skies!!

Lunar Crater Clavius

Lunar crater Clavius - November 1, 2014
Lunar crater Clavius – November 1, 2014

My sketch of lunar crater Clavius together with smaller craters Porter and Rutherfurd at the top of the drawing. Clavius measures 225km in diameter and is located near the southern pole of the Moon. It is named after Christophorus Clavius, a 16th century German mathematician and astronomer.

Regards,

Alexei Pace
Astronomical Society of Malta

The Crystal Ball Nebula in Taurus

NGC 1514, "The Crystal Ball Nebula", a planetary nebula in the constellation Taurus
NGC 1514, “The Crystal Ball Nebula”, a planetary nebula in the constellation Taurus

NGC1514 – Crystal Ball Mark Nebula

Object Type: Planetary Nebula

Location: Tarragona – Spain

NGC1514 is a very peculiar planetary nebula. We can see the central star, which is actually a double, shining at magnitude 9.4, while the nebula is somewhat difficult to observe. The UHC filter is helpful. Normally when we observe planetary nebulae, nebula appear much better than the central star… when the central star is seen.

For more details of my observation you can visit my blog:

http://www.laorilladelcosmos.blogspot.com.es/2014/10/ngc1514-nebulosa-planetaria-en-taurus.html

Date and Time: 2014-09-27, 00h 13m UT

Telescope: APO ED80 refractor

Eyepiece: Hyperion 8mm (70x)

White paper, HB2 graphite pencil, and scanned and inverted with Photoshop

Seeing: 4/5 (5 the best)

Transparency: Clear. Some clouds on the horizon. Rural Skies.

Location Constellation: Taurus

Position: R.A. 04h 09,6m

Dec. +30° 46,5′

Best regards.

Oscar

What Happened to the Great Red Spot?

Planet Jupiter and the Great Red Spot (GRS) - November 11, 1975
Planet Jupiter and the Great Red Spot (GRS) – November 11, 1975

Hey ASOD!

Why did the GRS get lighter and smaller after 1975?
As you see under my sketch, the GRS was brickred before a white spot became in
and passed the GRS on 9. nov. -75.
The GRS had allways a brick-red color before this happened, and since then, it
has been light red, orange or yellow!
The GRS was very easy to see on the disc of the planet before that!
Can anyone tell what happened?

I used color – pencils on black paper.
Loc.: Trondheim, Norway.

Best wishes Per-Jonny Bremseth.

M57 Ring Nebula

M57, "The Ring Nebula" located in the constellation Lyra
M57, “The Ring Nebula” located in the constellation Lyra

Date: 20/06/2014
Object name: Ring Nebula, M57
Object type: planetary nebula
Location: Ferrara, Italy
Media: HB pencil, photoshop
Description: I watched M57 using my Dobson 254 mm and 48x magnification with UHC filter. It was gleaming and brand. The sky wasn’t excellent because the lights of the city bleached it but anyway I like this object so much.
Hope you like it!
Silvia

Moneda de Plata

NGC 253, "The Silver Coin" or "Silver Dollar Galaxy"
NGC 253, “The Silver Coin” or “Silver Dollar Galaxy”

Object Name: NGC 253 (Sculptor Galaxy)
Object Type: Galaxy
Location: Iglesuela (Spain)
Date: 26/08/2014
Media: Graphite pencil, white paper, scanned and inverted with paint
Telescope: Newton 6″ f5 + Hyperion 13mm (57x)

Notes: This is a beautiful galaxy, it is big an brilliant and it looks like silver coin (also called “moneda de plata”). Although that object does not reach much above the horizon, I can discern entire galaxy (or almost) easily and the core shows more brilliant. The galaxy is elongated and thin because it is edgewise.

Best Regards

Occultation of Saturn by the Moon

The Occultation of Saturn by the Moon - October 26, 2014
The Occultation of Saturn by the Moon – October 26, 2014

Object Name (Saturn, Moon first croissant)
Object Type (Occultation)
Location (Artignosc-sur-Verdon, France )
Date (2014 Oct 26)
Media (graphite pencil, watercolour, white paper, Paint.net for inversion and crop)
Occultation of Saturn by the Moon

Here join a watercolour I made while Saturn just leaves the very young moon.
That was a very nice spectacle indeed!
The original sketch was done in B&W on white paper; the small brilliant point on the very end of the moon croissant was used to define the Saturn disk intensity.
The colours were added in my workshop and the inverted while scanning.
During the emersion (17:17 UTC) the moon was less than 4° up my horizon and the sun was only 6° behind. So the sky was still clear.
The observation was made with a 102 f/10 refractor and a 10mm Delos EP, no filters.

Clear sky to you all !

Michel Deconinck

H-alpha Solar Observation

A solar observation including prominences, a large active region with sunspots and filaments - October 26, 2014
An H-alpha solar observation including prominences, a large active region with sunspots and filaments – October 26, 2014

Aloha!

This week has been fascinating observing the giant sunspot region 2192 making its way across the solar disc. I was working today to demonstrate the details of the intricate swirls of magnetic activity around the sunspot and filament regions. I utilized the Tilting Sun graphic again for this observation though it is reversed from a standard view to demonstrate my view through the eyepiece.

Solar Observation 10-26-14
Maui, Hawaii
h-alpha Lunt PT 60mm 83X
Black paper, white charcoal, black and white oil pencils, wax pencils and watercolor pencils
Tilting Sun graphics added in Photoscape

Cindy (Thia) Krach

Globular Cluster in Sculptor

NGC 288, a globular star cluster in the constellation Sculptor
NGC 288, a globular star cluster in the constellation Sculptor

Globular Cluster in Sculptor

NGC 288 (Melotte 3) is an old, low density (class X) globular cluster not far from the south galactic pole. Less than 2° to the northwest is the famous bright galaxy NGC 253. The visual magnitude of this cluster is 9.4. Stars are visible across the front of this globular and I suspect some are foreground stars and not members of the globular. The view was pleasing and improved over the hour I spent observing and sketching this globular cluster. This target is 28,700 light years distant. At R.A. 00 hrs. 53min. and Dec. -26° 35’ this cluster is not a good one for light polluted skies back home in Chicagoland. Here in the dry night air of Arizona the transparency makes this a fine target.

Sketching:
Time: 10:35 pm – 11:35 pm local time October 16, 2014
Location: Mesa, Arizona
Telescope: 10” f/4.5 Orion Newtonian with a 13mm Hyperion eyepiece for 88 x
White sketching paper 8.5” x 12”, graphite pencils 6B, 4B, 2B, blending stumps
Sketch inverted after scanning.
Frank McCabe