Category: Star

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.

Nova Del 2013

Nova Del 2013
Nova Del 2013

Object Name (Nova Del 2013)
Object Type (Variable Star)
Location (Provence France)
Date (sept 5th, 2013)
Media (graphite pencil, water colour, white paper, paint.net to invert and compil)

Hi sketchers

I like things moving in the sky, and the Nova Del 2013 was the kind of progression that I like to chase.
A little bit less artistic, you can find the curve made of 30 magnitude estimations I did during 20 successive nights, no one single cloudy night!
The original sketch was done during the first night (Aug. 15th) the Dolphin constellation is easily visible.
The observation was made via 10×50 binoculars and then with a 80/400 refractor, received from my friend Yvan, to follow this observation . The sketch of the nova story, on the upper let corner, was made with inverted watercolour.
Hope you like, it’s difficult to make an artistic curve, isn’t it?
Michel Deconinck (from Polaris83 Forcalqueiret)

Michel Deconinck
http://astro.aquarellia.com/

Occultation of Beta Scorpii by the Moon

Occultation of Beta Scorpii by the Moon
Occultation of Beta Scorpii by the Moon

Object Name: The Moon and Beta Scorpius
Object Type: The Moon and a double star
Location: Haleakala Summit on Maui, HI
Date: August 14, 2013
Media: Pencil on a white sketch notebook page, reworked in GIMP and color inverted.
Because this event occurred over a short period of time, I was not able to make a detailed sketch of the moon. I’ve added details to one crater that lies near the double star which I’m guessing is Moretus. If anyone knows differently, please make a note of it in the comments.
The information about the equipment and the objects are included in the sketch submitted.
I give permission to display this sketch anywhere as long as I’m credited.
Thank you.

Steve McGaughey

Messier 74 and NS 2013ej

Messier 74 and NS 2013ej
Messier 74 and NS 2013ej

• Object Name: M 74 and NS 2013ej

• Object Type: Face-on spiral galaxy with a supernova

• Location: Bonilla-Cuenca Spain

• Date: August, 11th, 2013

• Media: Graphite Pencil HB 2, torchon 1 and 130g drawing sheet

• inverted colors with GIMP 2.8

Observation notes:

The supernova is shown as a little star in the middle of the southern disk of the galaxy. Of the five stars, I meet in front of M 74, the supernova is closest to its center.

Its brightness is very similar to the nearest star to the west and also to the middle star of the three that are on the eastern edge of the disc (picture below).

Greetings to all visitors of this page.

Antares and Messier 4

Antares and Messier 4
Antares and Messier 4

Here, I send you one of my first astronomical drawings; Ive started only a few months ago and I think it’s a new way to enjoy the wonders of the sky.

Best regards

______________________________

ASOD: ” Antares and M4 in the fog”

Object Name: Antares and M4

Object Type: Star field and globular cluster

Date: 31/07/2012

Location: A Coruña, Galicia. Spain.

Media: pencil, white paper, color invert and enhance with Gimp.

Miyauchi binoculars Bj-100 (26x)

Seein: 2/5 (good)

At this time of year, Antares and Scorpio are low on the southern horizon. This is a drawing done before the beautiful red star disappeared into the fog.

Nova in the Dolphin

Nova Del 2013
Nova Del 2013

Hello,

Amateur and professional astronomers around the world were galvanized by the recent news of the discovery by Koichi Itagaki of a nova in the constellation Delphinus. The star (actually a binary system) went from about 17th magnitude to a magnitude of 4.5 over a three day period, putting it in the ranks of the 30 brightest known novae.

I had to wait patiently for the clouds to thin enough for me to get this view of the “new star” with my 108mm reflector. A small planetary nebula, NGC 6905 (also known as the Blue Flash) was in the field of view winking in and out as the clouds thinned and thickened.

This observation was made as the nova was still increasing in brightness. By comparing the nova to two nearby stars, eta Sge (mag 5.0) and 29 Vul (mag 4.8), I was able to estimate its magnitude at about 4.9.

A nova occurs when a white dwarf draws enough fuel from its companion star to start an explosive runaway hydrogen-fusion reaction. The resulting cataclysm can be 50,000 times brighter than our Sun (or more)..

I made this drawing at the eyepiece on Canson Pure White drawing paper with 2B and HB pencils and a loaded blending stump.

Name: Nova Del 2013
Type: Nova
Location: Friars Hill, WV USA
Date: 16 August 2013

Clear skies!

Michael Rosolina
Twin Sugars Observatory

Epsilon Lyrae

epsilon Lyrae
epsilon Lyrae

Hello astro-sketchers, here my last contribution…

Object Name (Epsilon1/2 Lyrae the Double double)
Object Type (Multiple Star)
Location (Château de Berne – Provence – France)
Date (May 8th)
Media (watercolor and ink, inverted while scanning)

Epsilon Lyrae, the “double-double” star, seen in the 450mm Dobson of my friend Philippe.

During this 4th yearly animation made in the “Château de Berne”, a nice vineyard domain in Provence, I had the opportunity to sketch this difficult multiple star.

The northern star is called ε1 and the southern one is called ε2; they both lie around 160 light years from Earth and orbit each other. In this big 450mm eye, both stars of the binary can be further split into binaries; that is, the system contains two binary stars orbiting each other. The component stars of ε1 have magnitudes of 4.7 and 6.2 separated by 2.6″ and have an orbital period that can only be crudely estimated at 1200 years, which places them at roughly 140 AU apart. The component stars of ε2 have magnitudes 5.1 and 5.5 separated by 2.3″, orbit perhaps half that period. ε1 and ε2 themselves are not closer than 0.16 light years apart, and would take hundreds of thousands of years to complete an orbit.

I made the watercolor taking into account the further inversion needed, that means black for white and orange for blue, for example.

Astro sketch website : http://astro.aquarellia.com

Clear sky to you all !
Michel Deconinck

HR 7169-70 and a Nebula Trio

Double Star HR 7169 & 7170 in Corona Australis with NGC 6726, 6727 & 6729
Double Star HR 7169 & 7170 in Corona Australis with NGC 6726, 6727 & 6729

Object Name: Double Star HR 7169 & 7170 in Corona Australis with NGC 6726, 6727 & 6729.
Object Type: Double Star with three Bright Nebulae
Location: The Summit of Haleakala on Maui at 10,000 ft. elevation
Date: July 24, 2012
Media: Light pencil on white paper, scanned to GIMP, and color inverted, Labelled in Mac Preview.
Notes: This sketch was executed with a Celestron C925 on a CGEM with a Swan 40mm EP and a Williams Optics 45º erecting prism diagonal at 58X. The wind was 10mph, Temp: 47ºF, Humidity 24% under a first quarter moon at 2130. The Lit. Rho is 12.8″, Theta is 280º. I measured the pair with a Meade 12mm Astrometric EP and obtained an average Rho of 14.8″, and average Theta of 218º.
I am interested in the nebulosity of the three NGC objects that are included in the field of view. I plotted 25 field stars including one outside the F.O.V. to the west and two outside the F.O.V. to the WSW.

Steve McGaughey
Haleakala Amateur Astronomers