Galaxy – Page 32 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

The Most Exotic and Remote

Quasar 3C273
Sketch and Details by Jef De Wit

Hello

This quasar (acronym for “QUASi-stellAR radio sources”) is probable the most exotic object that I ever observed, but it was also one of the most easy to draw (i.e. a simple dot). 3C 273 was the first object to be identified as a quasar. It is also the brightest and at least one of nearest of all quasars.

Its average apparent magnitude of 12.8 corresponds to an enormous absolute brightness of -26.7 magnitudes visually (about 2 trillion times that of our sun!). At a distance of 2.5 Giga light years (redshift of 0.158) this quasar is for most amateurs the most remote object they can view.

Finding 3C 273 is easy with a detailed chart. The quasar forms a triangle with two stars of 13.4 and 14.2 magnitues. The latter wasn’t visible in the 12″ dobson.

Hope you like it

Greetings

Jef De Wit

Object name: 3C 273

Object type: quasar

Location: Wechelderzande, Belgium (51°16 North 4°46 East), NELM 5.5

Date and time: 20 March 2009 22.00 UT

Equipment: 12 dobson 7mm Nagler T6 (magnification of 171)

Medium: graphite pencil HB/n°2, printing paper, scanned and inverted

M 82, No Cigar, a Beautiful Galaxy

M82 (NGC 3034) “The Cigar Galaxy” in Ursa Major
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

This northern hemisphere bright galaxy (magnitude 8.4) is one of the showpiece island universes of Ursa Major. At 11-12 million light years from us, M 82 which is also known as NGC 3034 clearly shows its central starburst activity with obscuring dust at the eyepiece of moderate to large telescopes. This galaxy is a member of the M81 group of galaxies and is just slightly more than one moon diameter away from this galaxy.
Both M 81 and M 82 were discovered by Johann E. Bode late in 1774 and just 6 years and 1month later Charles Messier added M 82 to his well known catalog.
In 1963 astronomers Sandage and Lynds published a paper describing M 82 as a strong radio source. In infrared this galaxy is very bright. The galaxy was once thought to be an irregular shaped galaxy but is now known to have two normal spiral arms and a central bar visible in near infrared.
I look forward to spring each year to be able to observe this galaxy at culmination on a moonless night.

Sketching:

Date and Time: 3-15-2009, 2:20-3:10 UT
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian. 24 mm eyepiece 60x
8”x12” white sketching paper, 2H, HB, 4H graphite pencils,
blending stump, scanned and inverted
Seeing: Pickering 8/10
Transparency: Average 3/5
Faintest stars visible overhead 4.2
Temperature: 0°C (32°F)

Frank McCabe

Mottled and Narrow

M108 (NGC 3556) Galaxy in Ursa Major
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe translated by Eiji Kato

M108 (NGC 3556) in Ursa Major
Sketch and text by Kiminori Ikebe translated by Eiji Kato

This is a galaxy near M97, the Owl Nebula. It is quite bright and large with a mottled surface brightness hinting at some structures. It is has a narrow elongated shape, but unlike edge-on galaxies, it does not have a central condensation or sharply defined outline. It seems to be split into three regions. There is a small isolated area at the western end of the galaxy. The center of the galaxy is elongated and the eastern part is faint and diffuse. There is a star on the western side.

Date of observation: 2001/11/24 05:22
Observing site: Kujyu Mountains, Japan
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 3/3/4 of 5
Instruments: 50cm Dobsonian with XL14 at 160x
Width of field: 0.40 ‹

Inclined Unbarred Spiral

NGC 2841 in Ursa Major
Sketch and Details by Marek Płonka

Sketch information:
My sketch shows NGC 2841 in Ursa Major.
NGC 2841 is an inclined unbarred spiral galaxy. It is approximately 46
million light years distant.
Even using averted vision I wasn’t able to see more clear view. But I am
lucky guy, because a few minutes after I had finished the draw, the clouds
came.
I am sure, I will be visiting this galaxy again. I hope, it is possible
to see the bright core in my 8-inch scope in better air condition.

Object name: NGC 2841
Scope: Skywather dobs 1200/200 + 24mm Panoptic + 32mm SWA
Place: Poland, Silesia, Skrzyszów
Seeing: 6/10 Transparency: 3/5
Date and time: 2009-01-25 19.30
Technique: Pencil + GIMP
Author: Marek Płonka (Poland, Silesia)

Linx with a Bear’s Claw

NGC 2537, the Bear’s Claw Galaxy
Sketch and Details by Jeff Young

I spent quite a bit of time viewing this one, trying as I might to eek out the bear-paw shape. In the end, I managed the 4 bright knots, but the dark lane which defines the paw eluded me. The rather poor seeing might have been in play here, although my transparency for the night wasn’t great either.

The Bear Paw’s unusual shape also contributed to its interesting history. William Herschel compared it to a planetary in his original (1787) observation: “… almost of an even light throughout, approaching to planetary, but ill defined and a little fainter on the edges…”. His son John, evidently having resolved some of the knots, thought it a globular cluster: “…very nearly uniformly B[right], but hazy at the edges. It is a resolved globular cluster. Being a remarkably fine night, I see the stars; they are 20th mag….” In the end, it took Lord Rosse’s 72” Leviathan and several observations during the late 1840’s and 1850’s to identifiy it as a “spiral nebula” (i.e.: galaxy).

Bear Paw Galaxy / Arp6 / NGC2537
Dwarf galaxy in Lynx
Sketched Jan 23, 2009 from County Louth, Ireland,
as viewed through 16” Mak-Cass @235X; Pickering 3, NELM 5, SQM 20.4
Daler-Rown ey HB Graphic pencil on white cartridge paper. Scanned and inverted in Photoshop.

Cheers,

— Jeff.

A Great Galaxy

The Great Galaxy of Andromeda
Sketch and Details by Robert Gudański, text by Rich Handy

This beautiful sketch of the Great Galaxy of Andromeda, M31 was created by Robert Gudański. Hints of the dust bands of this huge spiral can clearly be seen in Robert’s excellent rendition. M31 is close to two million light years away, yet despite this distance, it can be readily seen by the naked eye.

Sketch Details:

Galaxy M31
Synta 8″ dob
LVW 22
Stepnica, Poland
23.12.2008
Robert Gudański

No Friend of Man Made Light Sources

Galaxy NGC 891
Sketch and Details by Jeremy Perez

Observation Notes:

This large, edge-on galaxy is no friend of man-made light sources. It was not difficult to find, but was still rather subtle from my back yard. It appeared as a slender, soft brightening of the sky and shared space with one rather distracting star. This star was located on the west side of the north spine of the galaxy. The glow from the star overpowered the galaxy on the north side enough to make it look lopsided at a glance–like the south spine was bulkier. Perhaps when observing from a darker site, the galaxy’s luminosity would be able to hold its own against the background sky glow and that star would not seem to interfere as much. Another faint star marked the southwest tip of the galaxy’s profile.

I analyzed the field for some time, to see if I could detect the central dust lane, but only got a couple fleeting hints of it. I wasn’t confident enough in those glimpses to record it in the sketch. Once again, a darker sky would probably help in that effort. The galaxy appeared to be about 15 x 2 arc minutes in size and aligned at a PA of about 40 degrees. That doesn’t match well with the published value of 22 degrees–it looks like I marked my west point a bit further clockwise than it actually was.

Object Information:

NGC 891was discovered by Karoline Lucretia Herschel in 1783 and is a member of the NGC 1023 group. It is also cataloged as: UGC 1831, MCG+07-05-046, H V-19, h 218, GC 527, CGCG 538.052, PGC 9031

Subject NGC 891
Classification* Galaxy (Sb)
Position* Andromeda [RA: 02:22:33.5 / Dec: +42:21:03]
Size* 13.5′ x 2.5′ (PA 22°)
Brightness* 10.0 vMag (10.6 bMag)
Date/Time NOV 30, 2008 – 10:30 PM MST (DEC 1, 2008 – 05:30 UT)
Observing Loc. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA – Home
Instrument Orion SkyQuest XT8 (203 mm dia./1200 mm F/L)
Eyepieces/Mag. Pentax XW 10 (120X)
Conditions Clear, cool, breezy
Seeing 5/10 Pickering
Transparency ~ Mag 6.0 NELM
*References NGCIC.org

An Ursa Major Pair

M81 and M82 in Ursa Major
Sketch and Details by Rony De Laet

M81 and M82 an Ursa Major Pair

The famous M81 and M82 form a nice duo in a pair of binoculars. First try to locate the star 24 Ursae Majoris. With that star in the center of the fov, M81 should be visible near the western edge of the field. M82 can be glimpsed at about 40′ to the north of M81. M81 is the brighter one of the two. It looks like a small glowing patch of light. Its center appears to be a tad brighter. M82 is rather weak, but the cigar shape is clearly present! I find it amazing that at a distance of 13 million light years, this duo is recognizable in a simple pair of binoculars.

Observing data:
Date : March 31, 2008
Time : around 21.30UT
Binoculars : Bresser 8×56
FOV: 5,9°
Filter : none
Mount : Trico Machine Sky Window
Seeing : 2,5/5
Transp. : 2,5/5
Nelm : 5,0
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Target data:
NGC 3031(M81) in Ursa Major
Spiral Galaxy
13 million l.y.
Mag: 6.9
SB: 13
Dim 26′.9 x 14′.1

NGC 3034 (M82) in Ursa Major
Irregular Galaxy
13 million l.y.
Mag: 8.4
SB: 12.8
Dim 11′.2 x 4′.3

Similar Size But Different Look

NGC 7332 and NGC 7339
Sketch and Details by Ferenc Lovró

NGC 7332 and NGC 7339

These two spectacular galaxies of similar size but different look, in a nice pattern, are about perpendicular to each other. NGC 7332 is a bit larger and much brighter, however visually I’ve seen it slightly smaller than its fainter companion. A reason for this might be its star-like, bright core, that is washing away the dimmer areas, and to which I estimate a brightness of about 12.7m. The galaxy is losing brightness smoothly toward its outer boundaries. NGC 7339 however does not have a star-like core, its surface looks perfectly homogeneous, it has a shape of a cigar: faint and highly elongated. It has sharp edges. I estimate a surface brightness of 13.2m. Their sizes are: 0.5′ x 1.5′ for NGC 7332, which is much smaller than what is stated in the catalogue (1.1′ x 4.1′!), and 0.5′ x 2.3′ for NGC 7339. The photos I’ve seen make me certain that I’m right in the size estimation, because with these the galaxy pair looks quite the same by size.

Location: R.A. 22h 37m; Dec. 23° 48′ in the constellation Pegasus
Date and Time: 2008.10.01 23:45 UT
Equipment: 12″ f/5 Newtonian; Magnification: 250x
FoV: 18′
Seeing: 6/10; Transparency 4/5
Viewing Location: Nádasdladány, Hungary
Ferenc Lovró

Full of Knots

M33, the Pinwheel Galaxy
Sketch and Details by Jeff Young

William Parsons, the Third Earl of Rosse remarked that M33 was “full of knots. Spiral arrangement. Two similar curves like an “S” cross in the centre.” I seem to have captured many of his knots and the primary “S” shape, but was less successful with the secondary “S”.

M33 has the distinction of being one of the first galaxies identified as a “spiral nebulae” by Lord Rosse in the 19th C, as well as being one of the first “nebulae” identified as galaxies by Edwin Hubble in the early 20th C. Among visual amateurs its distinction is less complimentary: while bright enough to be visible naked-eye from pristine skies, its low surface brightness and large size make it notoriously difficult to discern much of the detail readily visible in photographs.

Sketched 11/30/2008 from County Louth, Ireland,
as viewed through 16” Mak-Cass @105X; Pickering 5, NELM 5.5, SQM 20.4
Daler-Rowney HB Graphic pencil on white cartridge paper. Scanned and inverted in Photoshop.

Cheers,

— Jeff.