Category: 02_Media

Orion’s belt stars

Orion's Belt
Orion’s Belt

Hello ASOD, here join my last watercolor

Object Name (Orion’s belt stars and M42)
Object Type (Constellation and nebulae)
Location (Porquerolles on board of Aquarellia)
Date (02-10-2013)
Media (watercolor on white paper, paint.net for inverting the sky)

In the night of October the first, our old two masts Aquarellia was anchoring close to the harbour of Porquerolles, one of the three “Provencal golden islands”.
At one o’clock in the night I wake me up,… maybe ‘cause of some wave noise? I was surprised by seeing the Orion’s belt stars and M42 rising close to the ‘Sainte Agathe’ fort. With my 7×50 binoculars I sketch this original encounter, the mythic Orion warrior at the rear of a real castle.
The French coast, here in my nord, is full of light pollution but to my surprise, the castle illumination was the only light in the sight. The island is not so close to the polluted coast, so the Orion’s constellation was pure in the dark while rising.
This watercolour was made on board with local salt water (;

I hope you enjoy

Michel Deconinck

http://astro.aquarellia.com/

Phantom Erupts

Messier 74
Messier 74

Object Name: M74 and SN2013ej
Object Type: galaxy and supernova
Location: Cherry Springs, Pennsylvania
Date: August 5, 2013
Media: graphite pencil, white paper, digitally inverted and scaled

Notes: 16″ Newtonian, 225x. Observed UT 2013-08-05 06:30-08:20. 10 deg. C, 75% humidity. Exceptional transparency, good seeing. Most of the night the transparency was variable, but it became exceptionally good (at least for summer) one hour before astronomical twilight. As M74 was then reaching respectable altitude, it erupted with detail. The very compact HII region Hodge 627 was seen intermittently within the star cloud at the end of the southern arm. Although the exaggerates this brightness difference, supernova 2013ej was indeed brighter than the surrounding Milky Way stars.

The Whispy Veil

NGC 6960
NGC 6960

This is a sketch of NGC 6960, part of the Veil Nebula. Originally sketched on white paper, reversed and processed in Gimp 2. This is my second time doing this method, and I am pleased with the results.

Scope: Criterion RV-6
Ocular: GSO 32mm Plossl + Celestron.
UHC
Location: Prescott, AZ

Thanks for looking!

First Quarter Moon

First Quarter Moon
First Quarter Moon

Object Name: First Quarter Moon
Object Type: abstract interpretive sketch of prominent lunar features
Location: Oberlin, Ohio
Date: August-September 2013
Media: Sharpie, ball-point pen, and colored pencil on white paper

As this is the latest addition to my series of abstract astronomy-themed drawings (see more here: http://preshuss1.deviantart.com/gallery/45423007), I used a bit of artistic license in interpreting the lunar features that are shown. Still, I did my best to reference the moon’s actual geography.

The Sea of Rains is the central focus. Framing the craters Archimedes, Aristillus, Autolycus, and Cassini, this ancient volcanic plain is edged from south to north by the Appenine and Caucasus mountains, and capped by the “Alpine Valley.” The northern Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold) bleeds around the crater Aristotle and into the lakes of Death and Dreams, finally bringing the eye to rest on a Sea of Serenity at lower right. Yes…it’s easy to get carried away by such tantalizing names! Exploring the lunar surface can feel like wandering through a poem…

Little Gem Nebula – NGC 6818

NGC 6818
NGC 6818

NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula, is a small but bright planetary in Sagittarius. It is one of my favorite summer objects because of its annular structure, which is not difficult to see even with my small telescope. The best view comes at 222x with an UHC filter, that makes its ring shape easier to spot. Curiously, it seems that the central dark region is not exactly in the center but slightly off to the north, and the ring is brighter in its southern half. At low powers the nebula shows a lovely greenish-blue color, which is typical of many bright planetaries.

Sketch: 2HB graphite pencil on white paper, scanned and processed with Photoshop CS3

Object Name: NGC 6818, the Little Gem Nebula

Object Type: Planetary nebula

Location: Asturias, Spain

Date: August 31st, 2013 22:20 UT

Instrument: 120mm f/8.3 refractor + Nagler T6 9mm + barlow 2x (222x)

NELM: 5.6

Best regards,

Diego González

https://sites.google.com/site/astrodgonzalez/

H-Alpha Sun – September 15, 2013

H-Alpha Sun - September 15, 2013
H-Alpha Sun – September 15, 2013

Object: Sun
Type: Star
Media: Graphite pencil and white paper
Date: 15-Sept-2013
Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Instrument: Meade PST.
Seeing: good…

Due to Peak of solar cycle, sun has gone very active…. I could make out the burst over 2 hours….

Crater Vieta

Crater Vieta
Crater Vieta

Lunar Crater Vieta–Gerry Smerchanski

Lunar crater in lower eastern quadrant

Sketched from: Teulon, Manitoba Canada

Date: 21:00 to 22:30 CDT Sept 27th 2012.

Medium Graphite pencil ink and whiteout on white paper. Image flipped and contrast adjusted to compensate for scanning shortcomings.

This was the stunning end of a string of impressive looking craters starting back at Gassendi that night.

Late August Sun – 2013

H-Alpha Sun - August 22-31, 2013
H-Alpha Sun – August 22-31, 2013

Location : Castres, south-west France (near Toulouse)
Date : from 22 to 31 august 2013
Media : graphite pencil, white paper

Comments :
Dayly sketch of sun made through a small Coronado PST (H Alpha) + 15mm Televue eyepiece
Method :
1) dayly observing sun coronado around 12h TU
2) quick sketch with ballpen on paper notepad (2 minutes)
3) later copy out on drawing paper with graphite pencil (10 to 12 minutes)
4) picture take of each drawing with camera + Photoshop processing
– flipping horizontally and vertically in order to see the correct sun orientation
– grouping the 9 pictures + date on the same sheet
One may see the sun rotation from August 26 to 29 watching at spots.
I saw some material projections ejected into space (see August 30)
We currently have a great solar activity
To see the solar prominences evolution one should have to observe every hour !

Thank you for taking into consideration this small contribution
Best regards.

Jean-Marc SALIOU
A.P.A.M. astronomy
http://www.astrosurf.com/apam