The Hockey Stick

The Hockey Stick NGC 4656

Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard

Winter-Spring of 2011….extraordinary adventure at the base of Mount Chiran in the hinterland of Nice, France in early March, this was an astronomy meeting with the first light of a new 1000mm telescope belonging to David and an optical instrument of extraordinary and perfect mechanics. Each object pointed at was a high quality target screaming for joy. The big stars are revealed as never before, with a wealth of detail worthy of photos. It is illusionary to want to make an accurate drawing in those moments of intense emotions. It can only be evocations. The Canes Venatici galaxy leaves no one indifferent and one could stay in the eye to the end of the night to contemplate. The most reasonable galaxies reveal an unsuspected wealth, as here with the end of the troubled hockey stick, a form that evokes a kind of giant shrimp. While waiting my turn at the eyepiece, I take David’s 600mm scope and examine other interesting really targets.

Object: NGC 4656 Galaxy in Canes Venatici – Artist: Serge Vieillard – Sketch Date: Early March 2011