Object Name: NGC 5560 / 5566 in Virgo
Object Type: Interacting galaxies
Location: Sourbrodt, Belgium
Date: 16th May 2012, 23h UT
Media: graphite pencil on white paper, digital scan & interverted
Optics: SCT C11 f/10, CGEM mount, Hyperion 10mm (280x), FOV 15 arcm , SQM-L 21.2
Comments:
This sketch was made at one of the few remaining dark locations in Belgium under almost perfect atmospheric conditions. This nice galaxy duo was quite striking with NGC 5566 the most brightest, moderate nucleus and a slightly elongated halo oriented NNE. With averted vision the halo is slightly more bright on southwest side with hint of curve southside. Nearby NGC 5560 is clearly visible as bright and elongated patch of light without obvious core or halo.
This galaxy duo is known as Arp 286 and actually consists of three members, the third faint one being NGC 5569 but not noticed during the observation. Observing this kind of objects allows you to challenge the limits of your optics and are highly rewarding for averted vision observations!
Object Name Andromeda galaxy M31 including M32 and M110
Object Type Galaxies
Location Different locations in Arizona, USA
Date 7 nights between September 28th and October 31st, 2010
Media graphite pencil, white paper, digitally inverted
Equipment 16” f/4.5 Newtonian reflector (Meade Lightbridge), magnification of sketch is 70x
Observing conditions good to excellent, fst 7m0 on Mt Graham used for sketching the galaxy bodies with all structures
I sketched all 110 Messier objects when I was a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona in Tucson back in 2010. Sketching M31 with a 16” under dark skies means just a whole lot of work… However, despite the fact that this sketch required some 10 or so hours at the telescope spread over seven nights and some more hours to get in a vivid form, it is not the M-object that took me longest (this actually was M24).
Most interesting to me is the observable asymmetry of M31 and the tilted core. Pretty often, M31 is said to be disappointing. Well, when sky conditions are good, it is not!
Best regards,
Christian Weis
Scheidegg, Bavaria, Germany
NGC 4631, also known as The Whale Galaxy, is located in Canes Venatici. It is a 9.5 magnitude edge on spiral galaxy whose low surface brightness makes it very difficult to see from my urban Ottawa backyard. Under the darker skies out of town The Whale is very bright and very large. The mottled nature of the galaxy is very apparent. The Pup, NGC 4627, is the smaller galaxy, at magnitude 13. I made this graphite sketch using my 12″ Dob at 88x at a site near Almonte, Ontario, Canada on May 20, at 0040EDT.
I observed many galaxies in the spring sky these days, and I made a small compilation of the most beautiful objects. I hope you’ll like it 🙂
Galaxies: M51 in Canes Venatici, M83 in Hydra, NGC4565 in Coma Berenices and NGC5018 in Virgo.
The galaxy is a barred spiral Ngc253 found in the constellation Sculptor at 12.9 billion light years. It has a magnitude +7.1 making it easy to observe. It belongs to the Local Group and is also known as the Silver Coin Galaxy in form and color when you disclose your photography. The drawing of the galaxy is made easier when there is a O-III filter.
a greeting
Victoriano Canales (Elche (Alicante (Spain)))
Object Name The Siamese Twins; NGC 4567 & NGC 4568 with NGC 4564
Object Type: Spiral Galaxies in Virgo (Colliding)
Location: West Desert, Utah
Date: May 12th, 2012
Media: Gray and White Pastels on Black Paper with brush
Equipment: 14 inch Dob, 27mm Panoptic, 14mm Pentax, 10mm Pentax (all with Type I Paracorr).
Sky Conditions: Clear, cold, Antoniadi I
Time: 01:20am MDT or 0720 UT
NGC 4567 is mag. 11.3 with a size of 3.0’x2.0′. NGC 4568 has a mag. of 10.8 and is 4.6’x2.0′ in size; NGC 4564 is mag. 11.1 with a size of 3.5’x1.5.
Notes: This was my last sketch of the night as we felt the moon was going to rise about 1:40 a.m. or so but in reality, it did not come up until after 2:10a.m. NGC 4567 is the northern most galaxy of the two that are colliding. It is rather bright, and fairly small in size. It is more roundish in nature than its colliding companion. NGC 4567 has a higher surface brightness than NGC 4568.
NGC 4568 is the southern member of the colliding galaxies here. It is pretty bright and rather large and is elongated SSW to NNE. The core is very bright.
NGC 4564 actually should be just a little more off, but I ran out of paper and wanted it included in the sketch. It is smaller in size than the other two, and is bright. Like NGC 4568 it is elongated but SW to NE. There is outer diffusion and then a brighter core region with a stellar nucleus.
A bitterly cold night that saw the mercury drop to the lowest level I have ever known or recorded -16?C. I wanted to get an early observation in before Moon rise; my primary objective was to add another Hickson group to my list. This I did successfully with very appropriately HCG 28, I say appropriate as this was the 28th that I have observed and sketched. Located in Eridanus there are 4 faint members in the group although my sketch actually includes a 5th galaxy which isn’t a member and is depicted as a faint star. All members have PGC listing the faintest & smallest (d) member is Mag 18, so serious stuff! The commanding member is a nice edge on PGC 15136 running N-S, see my sketch here
Quite how I came to observe the next object I’m not quite sure? I may have noticed it close by on my planetarium software, not that it matters, it was an interesting and valuable observation. Again in Eridanus, NGC 1535 is a lovely planetary nebula, named ‘Cleopatra’s eye’ by Greg Crinklaw aka ‘The Skyhound’ a name that appears to have stuck and grown in popularity. I had observed this planetary back in 2010 with the old 350mm F5 and older first generation Watec camera, but this was my first visit with the 505mm mirror. It did show an improvement, despite the lower focal length employed on this occasion, I used a barlow lens previously to increase image scale and try and pull out more detail, I had failed to resolve a faint star on the very northern edge of the nebula, the central star was easy and steady as were internal annular ring structures rather like those in the ‘Eskimo’ nebula.
Here is my old sketch with the 350mm and here is the latest with the 505mm. At the time of writing I have asked Sue French if she would be so kind as to help assist me on finding the outer stars mag.
Happy days, Dale
