Watercolor Pencil on Black Paper – Page 4 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

A Serpent Among the Stars

Barnard 68 and 72 (The Snake Nebula)
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

B68 Oph dark nebula Difficulty level: 3/5
B72 Oph dark nebula Difficulty level: 4/5
The Snake Nebula
Date of Observation: 2002/08/02 22:51
Observing Site: Gokase
Transparency/Seeing/sky darkness: 5/2/5
Instruments: 50cm Dobsonian and XL40
Magnification: 60x
Width of field: 1.1 degrees

These are good photographic objects but difficult visually.
There are numerous faint stars in the field, although they are not as dense as in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Against this background a dark nebula shaped ‘S’ is visible faintly. The southern part of the winding dark nebula is wide and clear. It is conspicuous because the background is bright. It is not curved smoothly but bent sharply at two places. The northern part is bent at one place. The end of the northern part is not clear. There is a small separate dark nebula visible southwest of the Snake Nebula. This is B68. This is more clearly seen than the Snake Nebula because the background is bright. It is triangular with its corners being roundish.

Luminous Lagoon

M8 – The Lagoon Nebula
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

M8 (NGC 6523) Sgr diffuse nebula
Difficulty level 1
The Lagoon Nebula
Date of observation: 1998/05/27 03:20
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 3/3/4
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian with XL21 at 70x and OIII Filter
Width of field: 0.9 degree

Complex structures are visible. There is the open cluster NGC 6530 near the center, which can be seen clearly even with the OIII filter. The brighter part of the nebula is divided into three regions. A triangular-shaped nebulosity in the southwest is the brightest with 9 Sgr (mag 6.1) shining at the center. There is a small, somewhat fainter region south of 9 Sgr. The second brightest region extend from the center to the south, which contains the open cluster NGC 6530. Between the brightest and next brightest regions lies a clear winding dark lane like a large river. The “banks of the river” is bright and a magnificent sight. At the southern end a sharp protrusion like a horn is visible. Although it is faint, the outline is sharp. North of the brightest region lies the third brightest region. It extends from the east to the west and the eastern half is bright providing a fine sight. With a close examination you can detect a faint nebulosity east of NGC 6530. It is large and looks like a very faint mist. In 10×42 binoculars, there are two bright spots side by side in the east-west direction within a narrow triangle. There is a double involving 7 Sgr at the western end of the triangle. There is a star near the center of the western part of the bright region. This star is 9 Sgr and the bright nebulosity surrounding it is clearly seen. The eastern part is rather elongated with the same orientation with NGC 6520. The globular cluster NGC 6544 is clearly seen in the southeast.

Bejeweled Ink Spot

NGC 6520 and Barnard 86
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

A dark nebula telescopically easy and an beautiful overlapping open cluster. A photograph taken by a 200mm lens shows a small dark nebula and a compact open cluster at the southern edge in addition to M8 and M20. At 110x B86 is quite clear. The field is lit up by the Milky Way stars but a dark triangular shape region to the west of NGC 6520 is quite conspicuous. It appears as if the area is literally painted black and is called the “Ink Spot.” A line of stars along the base of this triangle. A hint of a long dark nebula to the southwest of NGC 6520. This is not as conspicuous as B86; not visible with direct vision. NGC 6520 is beautiful, compact, and “lively.” Bright stars are scattered across. Faint stars are concentrated in some areas.

Dark Nebula Nexus

M20 – The Trifid Nebula
Sketch by Kiminori Ikebe

Mr. Ikebe observed and sketched this view of M20 using a 50 cm Dobsonian at 220X.

M20, The Trifid Nebula, is a famous and beautiful target for astrophotographers and visual observers alike. The red emission nebula contains a young star cluster at its center, and is surrounded by a blue reflection nebula that is most noticeable at the northern end. It’s distance is not well agreed upon, and is listed anywhere from 2,200 light years (Mallas/Kreimer) to 9000 light years (Jeff Hester). Its magnitude estimate is also wide, and is listed from 9.0 (Kenneth Glyn Jones) to 6.8 (Machholz). Part of the magnitude difficulty comes from the very bright triple-star system at the heart of the nebula.

The dark nebula that crosses the Trifid was cataloged by Barnard and listed as B 85. The object was originally cataloged by Charles Messier in 1764, when he described it as a cluster of stars.

Flocking to Scutum

M11
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

M11(NGC 6705) Sct open cluster
Difficulty level 1

Date of observation: 1999/10/06 20:23
Observing site: Makinoto
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 3/5/3
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian with XL14 at 110x
Width of field: 0.6 degree
This is a fine and bright cluster containing many stars. At 110x it is highly concentrated but almost completely resolved. There is a 7.8-magnitude star near the center. It is very conspicuous. There are two faint stars nearby. It is a fine sight with an equal double on the south side, which is as bright as the star near the center. The distribution of the resolved stars is quite uneven. The general shape of the cluster is that of a diamond and a beautiful chain of stars is seen in the southeast outlying area. Dark areas and dense patches of stars are intermingled. There are scattered outliers northeast of the cluster. They seem to be members of the cluster.

A Splinter in Virgo

NGC 5170
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

NGC 5170 Vir galaxy
2000.04.09 01:35
32cm at 150x

A good contrast with the face-one galaxy NGC 5247 located 1.7 degrees to the east. Not very bright but a fine sight with a very long and narrow shape. No bulging at the center. A long and narrow central condensation with a gradual fading towards the ends.

The Sun, Pencils or Camera?

H-Alpha Sun
Sketch and Details by Les Cowley
Comparison Photos by Pete Lawrence

The Sun is an ever-changing target. In H-alpha light, prominences light and
dim, shift and change literally by the minute. Fascinating to watch and
sketch but just how accurate are drawings grabbed in a few minutes during
variable seeing and under a black hood?

May 7th was an opportunity to find out when Cloudy Nights held an
“International Day of the Sun”. Expert UK photographers Peter Lawrence and
Nick Howes suggested imaging or sketching a prominence every 30 minutes on
the hour and half hour!

The day dawned clear and after breakfast the selected prominence was viewed.
It was the ugliest assortment of filaments, clouds and loops that you could
imagine with parts changing and dancing about even as you watched. The
‘scope was a Coronado Solarmax60 mounted on a manual altazimuth. Seeing
started fairly good so I used an 8mm Radian, I need eyeglasses to sketch and
the Radian gives enough eye relief. The drawings were on A4 black Canford
paper filling half the sheet per sketch with Derwent Watercolour pencils
used sharp and dry.

Serious observing started about 8 minutes before each time mark with the
main proportions starting to be put in 5 minutes before the mark. Then finer
and finer details were quickly added, not in any order just wherever good
seeing happened to show them. This quickly brought the time to the mark and
then the whole view was assessed for accuracy. It was changing so fast!
Finally 3-5 minutes after the mark were spent getting the relative
intensities right and generally tidying up.

By 09:45 there were frequent periods of superlative seeing and I changed to
a 5mm Radian and clutched the dark hood around close to shield the daylight.
For long periods (but never, ever during the allocated 10 minute slots!) the
visible structures were exquisitely resolved into delicate stacked filaments
with even those sometimes doubling and breaking into knots – you would need
an hour or hours to capture all that! After 10:30 the seeing deteriorated
and that combined with not a little fatigue ended the sketching run.

Pete Lawrence was imaging some 150 miles to the south with about the same
seeing conditions. He used a Solarscope SF-70, a Rolls-Royce of H-alpha
filters. His images for the same times are on a reduced scale at the base
but you need to see the originals (http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/ and Cloudy
Nights) to really appreciate their superlative quality.

So can sketching such ephemeral objects ever be accurate? I’m still
deciding. There is maybe a tremendous amount to be leaned from a careful
comparison of sketch fragments with simultaneous photographs about how the
eye-brain interprets fine details and tends to join others into spurious
larger structures. If some of that can be understood then hopefully it might
improve the sketching accuracy.

Les Cowley, England

Hickson 44

Hickson 44
Sketch and Commentary by Kiminori Ikebe

NGC 3185 Leo galaxy
NGC 3187 Leo galaxy
NGC 3190 Leo galaxy
NGC 3193 Leo galaxy
HCG44

1997.01.12 01:27
32cm at 110x

A fine group of four different-type galaxies.
NGC 3185: The largest of the group, but faint and diffuse. Elongated. A fainter halo appears to envelop the galaxy, but not confirmed.
NGC 3187: Barely detectable. A long, narrow shape is barely discerned.
NGC 3190: A sharp, long, spindle-shape. The brightest of the group. A stellar nucleus and a small central condensation.
NGC 3193: Small and round. A dull glow of a stellar nucleus and very weak central condensation.

A Ring in the Bouquet

M46 (NGC 2437) and NGC 2438
By Kiminori Ikebe

From Mr. Ikebe’s observing notes:

M46 (NGC 2437) Pup open cluster Difficulty level 1

NGC 2438 Pup planetary nebula Difficulty level 3

Date of observation: 1998/11/21 03:29
Observing site: Hoshinomura
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 1/4/3
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian with Er32 at 50x
Width of field: 1 degree

This is a large and bright open cluster. Even at 50x it is almost completely resolved. This fine cluster is filled with numerous pin-points of faint stars and very difficult to draw. This sketch shows it as nebulosity. There are also many bright stars embedded in this cluster. The neighboring M47 makes a good contrast with M46. M47 has fewer stars with unequal brightness. M46 presents itself as a dainty cluster while M47 shows its coarseness. Another similarly contrasting pair is NGC 2451 and NGC 2477 in Puppis. They are more contrasting than the M46 and M47 pair.

At this magnification the planetary nebula NGC 2438 is clearly seen. Its image overlapping with the open cluster is mysterious and unreal. It is rather large as planetary nebulae go. Switching to high powers a ring structure becomes clearer. This nebula is interesting by itself but it is usually viewed in association with M46 playing second fiddle to it.

(Mr. Ikebe’s sketch gallery can be found here: Visual Observation of Deep Sky Objects)

NOTE TO OUR VISITORS: Please accept my apologies for the lapse in updates for the last three days. I returned from a trip out of town to hear that Rich Handy has come down with pneumonia. He is getting some much needed rest and antibiotics and sounds like he is slowly getting better. I’ll work on keeping the posts going until he is feeling well again. Your submissions are always appreciated!

Jeremy Perez

Dances on the Limb

Solar H-alpha sketch collage 2008 02 11, 1214ST -1304ST (1714UT – 1804UT)
By Erika Rix

2008 02 11, 1214ST -1304ST (1714UT – 1804UT)

Solar H-alpha

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio, USA, Lat: 40.01 / Long: -81.56

Erika Rix

Temp: 14.0 °F / -10.0 °C

Winds: WNW at 8.1 mph, light scattered and later completely overcast

Humidity: 49%

Seeing: 2/6-5/6

Transparency: 2/6

Alt: 35.9 Az: 176.9

Equipment:

Internally double stacked Maxscope 60mm, LXD75, 40mm ProOptic Plossl, 21-7mm Zhumell,

Sketch Media:

Black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ and Prang pencils, white vinyl eraser.

Added -25 brightness, +5 contrast after scanning in color at 300 dpi. I then turned
the image into monochrome. I scanned initially in color to eliminate cross hashes
that the scanner creates in grayscale. Tilting Sun program used for digital Sun
insert.

At first glance in h-alpha around 10x magnification, only two prominences, SSE and
West, popped out at me. I didn’t waste much time with the 40mm eyepiece since I
usually use it for initially getting the Sun in the FOV. At 19x the eastern
prominence looked like two fingers curling towards each other with the southern most
of the two a little brighter. Taking the magnifications to 57x I could make out a
very faint thin line connecting the two and also noted the strands of contrasted
prominence within the two fingers at 33x. Seeing was much worse at the higher
magnifications but I had moments where it settled for a detailed view.

Moving South at low magnification, the prominence appeared to be two separate
entities with the westerly portion of it looking like a hook or letter C opening up
to the East. Increasing magnification with the zoom eyepiece, I was amazed to see
with slight averted vision at first several connections between the two. After
discovering them, I could actually look at them straight on to make out the delicate
network of strands. It was truly beautiful and very delicate.

A similar thing happened to me with the western set of prominences. The most
northerly of the four on the western limb grew almost twice in size with a
magnification of around 33x. The prom itself didn’t grow, but rather my ability to
see the actual size of it with a modest magnification. The additional length of it
disappeared at 57x.

The little set of prominences at the NNE limb became brighter as the session went
and also became better defined with the lower one (more northerly) turning from a
fuzzy little thumbprint into a thin branch reaching to the one that was more to the
East.

I noticed a dark round dot around 40 degrees on the disk from the East and pretty
much on the equatorial line. It was very small and tweaking the Etalon did not show
any signs of plage. Other than that, there were no significant surface details such
as plage or filaments to me visually. The disk was alive with hairlike structures
and a mottled appearance, very pretty.