The Most Exotic and Remote

Quasar 3C273

Quasar 3C273
Sketch and Details by Jef De Wit

Hello

This quasar (acronym for “QUASi-stellAR radio sources”) is probable the most exotic object that I ever observed, but it was also one of the most easy to draw (i.e. a simple dot). 3C 273 was the first object to be identified as a quasar. It is also the brightest and at least one of nearest of all quasars.

Its average apparent magnitude of 12.8 corresponds to an enormous absolute brightness of -26.7 magnitudes visually (about 2 trillion times that of our sun!). At a distance of 2.5 Giga light years (redshift of 0.158) this quasar is for most amateurs the most remote object they can view.

Finding 3C 273 is easy with a detailed chart. The quasar forms a triangle with two stars of 13.4 and 14.2 magnitues. The latter wasn’t visible in the 12″ dobson.

Hope you like it

Greetings

Jef De Wit

Object name: 3C 273

Object type: quasar

Location: Wechelderzande, Belgium (51°16’ North 4°46’ East), NELM 5.5

Date and time: 20 March 2009 22.00 UT

Equipment: 12” dobson 7mm Nagler T6 (magnification of 171)

Medium: graphite pencil HB/n°2, printing paper, scanned and inverted

Dreamt for Observation of the Lulin Comet

Comet Lulin

Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3)
Sketch and Details by Krzysztof Pieszczoch

Hi,
Evening 28 Feb. 2009 was dreamt for observation of the Lulin comet, therefore I decided to sketch her. However in spite of using binoculars I couldn’t see the tail of a comet, because I had big light pollution from the side of the nearby city.

Object name: C/2007 N3 Lulin
Object type: Comet
Location: Łęg Tarnowski , Poland
Date: 28 February 2009
Time: 21:00 UT
Artist: Krzysztof Pieszczoch (Astrokrzychu)

Equipment used: Binocular 16X50 (2″) FOV 4,25 deg.
weather conditions:
-low temperature
-little wind

Yours sincerely,
Krzysztof Pieszczoch

Saturn Times Two

Saturn 1

Two Views of Saturn
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla

Saturn 2

Two sketches of the Saturnus with different techniques.

Object: Saturn
Scope: Schmidt-Cassegrain 5″ with Antares SW 7,4mm
Filter: Moon & SkyGlow
Date: 17th March 2009
Place: Poland, Wrocław – near city center
Weather: Good. Light wind
-Light pollution
-seeing: 6/10
-transparency: 6/10
Technique: Graphite pencil
Tooling: scan and GIMP2 working (blur option)

M 82, No Cigar, a Beautiful Galaxy

M82

M82 (NGC 3034) “The Cigar Galaxy” in Ursa Major
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

This northern hemisphere bright galaxy (magnitude 8.4) is one of the showpiece island universes of Ursa Major. At 11-12 million light years from us, M 82 which is also known as NGC 3034 clearly shows its central starburst activity with obscuring dust at the eyepiece of moderate to large telescopes. This galaxy is a member of the M81 group of galaxies and is just slightly more than one moon diameter away from this galaxy.
Both M 81 and M 82 were discovered by Johann E. Bode late in 1774 and just 6 years and 1month later Charles Messier added M 82 to his well known catalog.
In 1963 astronomers Sandage and Lynds published a paper describing M 82 as a strong radio source. In infrared this galaxy is very bright. The galaxy was once thought to be an irregular shaped galaxy but is now known to have two normal spiral arms and a central bar visible in near infrared.
I look forward to spring each year to be able to observe this galaxy at culmination on a moonless night.

Sketching:

Date and Time: 3-15-2009, 2:20-3:10 UT
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian. 24 mm eyepiece 60x
8”x12” white sketching paper, 2H, HB, 4H graphite pencils,
blending stump, scanned and inverted
Seeing: Pickering 8/10
Transparency: Average 3/5
Faintest stars visible overhead 4.2
Temperature: 0°C (32°F)

Frank McCabe

An Excellent Piece: Kies Pi Dome

Kies Pi Dome

Kies Pi Lunar Dome
Sketch and Details by Balázs Benei

Object name: Kies craters, dome Kies
Object type: Lunar crater, Lunar dome
Location: Gyöngyös, Hungary
Date: 2009. 03. 06. 18:20 – 18:40 UT

Hello,

this is one of my first sketches from a Lunar object. I liked to observe the domes of the Moon and I decided to make sketches. The Dome Kies Pi was hard to observ, seeing was not very good (s=5). I made the sketch with graphite pencil. It was very exciting to make this sketch, I hope, my technique will grow up in time.
My equipment: 110/800 (4′) Newtonian reflector, 2x barlow, 10mm eyepiece, 160x magnification.

Yours sincerely
Balázs Benei

Here Comes the Sun

Solar proms 030509

Solar Prominences on March 5th, 2009
Sketch and Details by Jeff Young

The sun has finally risen out of the murk here at 54°N, and I was very happy to get the white pencils and black paper out again. I did one sketch on the first of March, but, well… we’ll just chalk that one up to getting back into shape. The weather was somewhat brisk for this one, and my sketchpad even blew off my knee and into the wet grass at one point, but I was still much happier with the final result. 😉

Solar prominence in h-alpha, March 5, 2009 (seeing 2/5)

Solarscope SF70 on Tele Vue Pronto @f/23, with 19mm Panoptics in Baader MkV binoviewer (85X)

White Derwent Graphitint pencil on black Strathmore Artagain paper.

— Jeff.

Big Moon Illusion

Big Moon

Moon Illusion
Sketch and Details Mark Seibold

Technical info:

After observing the moon rising in September 2008 from Downtown Portland between high buildings, I returned home to observe the surface features through my 10.1″ Newtonian reflector telescope. I rendered the details in pastel chalk on 19″ X 25″ Black Canson pastel paper for a two hour period. Then from memory, I returned inside to add the perspective of downtown buildings and pedestrian silhouettes on the sidewalk.

-Mark Seibold