Orion Nebula and Its Companion

M42 and M43, Orion Nebula and its companion
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

M42/ M43 Orion Nebula and Its Companion

Everyone that has taken a telescope or pair of binoculars outdoors to view the heavens on a clear winter night in the northern hemisphere has seen the Orion nebula. It is that fuzzy star in the middle of the hunter’s sword. M42 the “Great nebula” is a stellar nursery and emission nebula that shines as bright as a 4th magnitude star while its smaller companion on the other side of the intervening obscuring dust is M43 shining at 9th magnitude. Soon the nebula will be past the south meridian point before it is fully dark. So now is the time to take your last good looks before it’s too late; spring will be here soon.
On this night I decided it was time to try and make a sketch of this winter gem. I have made a few crude sketches in the past and know this is a tough target to capture as it appears in the eyepiece. I started by sketching the stars and lightly outlining the bright parts of the nebula with a 2H pencil. After much erasing and repositioning of stars I shaded in the bright to faint nebula gradually until it looked to be a reasonable match to the eyepiece view. After two and a half hours I consider the sketch finished. Averted vision helped with the outer faint regions.
It was a slow process but a fun challenge at the same time.

Sketching

Date and Time: 2-15-2009, 1:10-3:20 UT
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian. 21mm Hyperion eyepiece 69x
8”x12” white CCP sketching paper, 2H B, 2B graphite pencils, blending stump, erasers, scanned and inverted, contrast and brightness were slightly adjusted at the scanner
Temperature: -3 °C (26 °F), calm
Seeing: very good Pickering 8/10
Transparency: good 3/5

Frank McCabe