Messier 66
Sketch and Details by Dale Holt
Hover cursor over image to view the original negative sketch.
On the evening of Monday 15th I had meant to go after more elusive prey but as my telescope GOTO isn’t very accurate and I therefore I need to star hop from the park position to my quarry I couldn’t help but stop off at M66 (as I was passing that way 🙂 to see how it looked with the 20″ & Watec 120N camera.
The view was stunning so there I stopped & sketched, the sky deteriorated quickly dropping to around mag 2 by the time I had completed my sketch. I took a look at nearby NGC2628, impressive & huge it stretched the full width of my b&w monitor plus a little more and resembled an old ‘British Rail’ sandwich with the upper slice curling up and exposing the filling at each end 🙂 no sketch I knew the poor sky outside was hiding much detail so I will need to return on a clearer evening.
Warm regards, Dale
Telescope: 505mm F3.7 Newtonian
Watec 120N video camera + 0.5x focal reducer giving real time image on 14″ b&w TV monitor.
Sketch made with graphite pencil & charcoal onto white paper, blending stumps used. Drawing scanned & Inverted
Location Chippingdale Observatory, NE Hertfordshire, UK
Observer Dale Holt
Dale,
An exquisite capture of a bright galaxy showing great detail. You have a combination there that will bring in many unseen dramatic treasures of the deep sky. Thankfully you are a talented sketcher so we await many jewels here.
Frank 🙂
Very interesting piece of art that Dale.
Scott.