2007 August 11, 0340 UT
Erika Rix
PCW Memorial Observatory
Zanesville, Ohio USA
NCG 6503
An Orion ED80 was used on an LXD75 mount, all of which were on antivibration pads in
the observatory. The eyepiece was a Zhumell 21-7mm zoom and a WO dielectric
diagonal.
This sketch was done with Rite in the Rain paper, a number 2 and .3mm as well as
.5mm mechanical pencils
I captured M106 from my astronomy club’s dark sky location at Crowley Nature Center
in northeast Sarasota County, Florida. I was able to detect structure quite easily
under dark, transparent skies, and it made for an enjoyable sketch.
This sketch was rendered on Strathmore Windpower Sketch paper with a General’s Extra
Black Layout pencil. MGI Photosuite III was used for post processing.
Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL
NGC147 (Caldwell 17)
The medium used: graphite pencil,
The equipment used: 8″ f/10 SCT. Date: 14-10-2006
Weather: very good conditions, clear and transparency. Very close to Molina
de Aragon (Guadalajara, Spain.)
Faint galaxy, perfectly elliptic. This galaxy in one of the Andromeda
satellites, located in the constellation of Cassiopea. Field rich in stars,
its better to observe it with adverted vision.
Leonor
Arp 263 Pencil on white paper, inverted in Photoshop. I was at the 2006 Texas
Star Party and using a 30″ Dobsonian for this observation. This type of observing
really sums up an event like TSP for me – extreme deep sky observing under superb
conditions. What I really love about this observation was all the faint galaxies
also visible in the field.
Date: 28 April 2006
Instrument: 30″ Starmaster Dobsonian, driven
Magnification: Not known
Location: Texas Star Party, Prude Ranch, Ft Davis, TX, USA
Conditions: Excellent, if a bit windy. Totally cloudless
NELM: Greater than 7.0
Notes: A nice field full of galaxies. Arp 263 (NGC 3229) is the brightest and most
obvious object in this field, and there are lots of smaller, fainter galaxies as
well, all with CGCG and MCG designations. The most obvious thing about Arp 263 is
the arm of material stretching away from it. Nice, and one of my favourite views
from TSP 2006.
Faith Jordan
Isle of Wight, England
M81 and M82 are a galactic pair that I found to be a rewarding target. Structure in
M81 was visible with averted vision, while M82 showed no detail. I always find it
nice to have more than one galaxy in my field of view.
This sketch was rendered on Strathmore Windpower Sketch paper with a .5mm mechanical
pencil. MGI Photosuite III was used for post processing.
Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL
The Spiral Galaxy M51 (NGC 5194) in Canes Venatici
For the amateur M51 is easy and a showpiece if the sky is dark, but is quite
sensitive for light pollution which easily makes it fade in the background. Under
very good conditions, even suggestions of its spiral arms can be glanced with
telescopes starting from 4-inch. Low magnification is best for viewing this pair
Right Ascension:13 : 29.9 (h:m)
Declination: +47 : 12 (deg:m)
Distance: 37000 (kly)
Apparent Dimension:11×7 (arc min)
Sketch was made large on A4 black cartridge paper using white and colored pastels
and pencils after viewing an astrophotograph…
The sketch was then scanned and processed in Photoshop cs.
All the Best from Athens,
Peter
M81 Group (M81, M82, NGC 2976, NGC 3077)
Date: April 20, 2007, 10:10PM – 11:15PM
Location: Jastrzebie Zdroj, Silesia, Poland
Telescope: Dobs 114/900 with Plossles
Seeing: 3/5
NELM: 5m8
Magnification: 90x, 45x, 28x
black Pencil 2B, 3B, White paper.
Pozdrawiam,
Mucha Maciej
Messier 106
That night (the 20th of April 2007) I first planned to redo a sketch of M51. When I
scanned the region, M106 came into view. I found the view so interesting that I
decided to sketch this Messier object instead. At first sight, this galaxy reminded
me of a cumulonimbus cloud drifting in the sky. I could not help it but to see
patterns and shadows in this galaxy. I found the core very confusing to look at.
According to the late Walter Scott Houston, descriptions of its visual appearance
vary considerably. Some observers have reported a needle-like shape, while ‘Scotty’
saw a very bright parallelogram shape. My little scope reveals ‘a drifting cloud’. I
hope you like the view.
Date : April 20, 2007
Time : 21.30UT
Scope : ETX 105/1470
Vixen LV Zoom eyepiece at 15mm
Power : 100
FOV: 30′
Filter : none
Seeing : 2.5/5
Transp. : 2/5
Nelm : 5.3
Sketch Orientation : N down, W left.
Digital sketch made with a digital tablet and PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.
Rony De Laet
http://www.geocities.com/rodelaet, my personal website.
I was observing Melotte 111 with a richfield scope when I ran into this galaxy.
While being limited to a maximum power of x63, I tried to make the best of the
observation. This galaxy looked rather faint. I needed to jiggle the scope to set
this galaxy in motion. This technique helped me to determine the real shape of this
beautiful but elusive edge-on galaxy. I would like to repeat this observation in the
future with higher powers of x80 and x120, to see if more details are visible in a
four inch scope. I hope you like the view
Date : May 5, 2007
Time : 22.30UT
Scope : SkyWatcher 102/500
Vixen LV Zoom at 8mm
Power : 62.8
FOV: 47′
Filter : none
Seeing : 2.5/5
Nelm : 5.1
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with a digital tablet and PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.
Rony De Laet
http://www.geocities.com/rodelaet, my personal website.
M51
May 29, 2006
Raw pencil sketch (HB lead), negative view lightly processed with
Photoshop Elements
Raw sketch was drawn at the eyepiece
28 inch f4 Newtonian at 710x
Seeing 8/10
Transparency 8/10
Limiting magnitude 6.4
Once upon a time, or last May 29th to be exact, I was lucky enough to
experience one of those amazing nights that we all hope for every time
the sky clears. The sky was dark, transparent and steady and the
temperature was surprisingly comfortable. In short, just about perfect.
But the best part was seeing something new and surprising in an object
I’ve looked at many, many times through all sizes of telescopes.
M51 was near the zenith and looked great at first glance, which wasn’t
unexpected since I was looking at it through a 28″ Newtonian after all –
it should look great! But it looked even better than normal because of
the excellent sky conditions which to me means piling on the
magnification. One of the features I enjoy trying to see within M51 is
the beginning of one of the main spiral arms coming out of the core.
They look like two faint prongs projecting out from the northern side of
the core and quickly blend into that spiral arm. These prongs are
visible in almost every M51 photo which inspired me to try to see them
visually in the first place. I’ve seen them well in a 16 inch scope and
suspect a 12 inch would be able to pull them in too.
At 710x I started seeing small glimmerings of light shimmer in and out
of view within the prongs, like they were studded with tiny, barely seen
stars. But at 31 million light years distant M51 I must have been seeing
something else. Looking at the latest HST image of M51 these objects are
probably HII star forming regions and huge star clusters and probably a
Milky Way foreground star or two.
A brief aside on my sketch – I concentrated on the core area and the
star-like points that glimmered in and out of view and that the farther
from the core I got the less detail I put in the sketch. Also, the fine
textures around the core and prongs are probably an artifact originally
caused by the texture of my notebook paper. The original pencil sketch
was scanned and enlarged about 300%, and then lightly processed in
Photoshop.
Howard Banich
Portland, Oregon
