Astronomy Sketch of the Day – Page 235 – Drawings and sketches of an astronomical nature

The Milky Way’s Dancing Partner

M31,The Great Nebula of Andromeda
Sketch and Sketch Information by Rajda Krzysztof

This wonderful sketch of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, was submitted by
Polish amateur astronomer Rajda Krzysztof. At a distance of nearly 2 million
light years, it is one of the few galaxies that can be seen with the naked eye.
M31 is on a collision course with the Milky Way and in several billion years
the two galaxies will undergo radical transformations as they play out the
dance of coalescence. Rajda’s sketch is exquisite, note how the
dark dust lanes are represented so subtly.

Sketch information:
Obiect name: M31 galaxy
Scope:ATM truss dobs 300/1500
Place:Poland,Brzeźno
Seeing- 4/5
Date and time:02.11.2008r,8:00PM(20:00)
Technique:Pencil,graphics GIMP2
Amateur astronomer: Rajda Krzysztof (Poland)

Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina after Sunrise

“Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina after Sunrise”
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

Back in late June I visited these three craters at about the time of sunset for the trio.

If you have not observed these craters through a telescope then you are in for a treat when you do. The trio I speak of is Catharina, Cyrillus and Theophilus. All three of these craters are between 100 and 104 kilometers in diameter. The oldest of the three is Catharina which is also the southern most of the group in this north at the bottom sketch. Catharina, a Nectarian period impact may be older than the Imbrium basin with debris from that basin scattered across this crater and the older surroundings. Cyrillus a bit younger than the former shows terraced walls and worn central peaks when illuminated. The last member of the trio is one of those lunar treats that cannot go unnoticed. Theophilus, an Eratosthenian crater, just about has it all. It is large, sharp rimmed, terraced walled, tall central peaks (2 km.), a flat floor, and much melted ejecta just beyond the crater especially to the north and east. The outer reaches of Theophilus gradually merge with the Bay of Asperity. To the east 28 km Mädler can be seen basking in the morning sun.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper 8”x 9”, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump. After scanning, Brightness was decreased (-2) and contrast increased (+1) using Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian 6mm eyepieces 241x

Date: 11-3-2008 to 11-4 2008, 11:00 – 12:15 UT

Temperature: 20° C (68° F)

clear, breezy

Seeing: Antoniadi III, II

Colongitude: 339 °

Lunation: 6 days

Illumination: 29.5 %

The Veil Revealed

The Veil Nebula, NGC 6995
Sketch and Sketch Details by Robert Twarogal (Ignisdei)

This extraordinarily beautiful sketch of NGC 6995, the Veil nebula, was one of several submitted by Polish amateur astronomer Robert Twarogal (Ignisdei). His detailed yet delicate treatment of this classic emission/reflection nebula is a tribute to his strong observational and artistic talents. We look forward to sharing with you, future postings of Robert’s exceptional entries.

Sketch details:
Object Name : NGC 6995 – Veil Nebula (Ignisdei)
Object Type: Nebulae/emission/reflection
Location: Poland/ Oborniki/suburbia
Date: 31.06.2008 y,
Equipment: Synta 305/1500

A Fall Treat: M-76

Planetary Nebula, M76
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

From my usual backyard observing location in south suburban , the sky glow prevents one from seeing any hints of the Milky Way or even M-31 (the Andromeda galaxy) at culmination without optical aid. Planetary nebula M-76 looks small (2’x1’) and concentrated enough that it is a fairly easy object to locate visually. It responds well to O III and narrow band light pollution filters because like other planetary nebulae it emits radiation at 496 and 501 nanometer wavelengths due to +2 oxygen ions. The 16.6 magnitude central star is too faint to be seen from my location. This nebula is commonly called the little dumbbell or barbell nebula because of its appearance. William Herschel catalogued the two bright end parts under separate numbers. There is a NE-SW orientation to the brightest end parts. No hint of the outer arcs projecting from the corners was visible even with filters and high powered eyepieces. This planetary nebula is located in the constellation of Perseus at R.A. 1hr. 42.4min., Dec. 51°34’. We are looking at this nebula from the side on view. If the 3000-5000 l.y. distance is correct, then M-76 is more than 1.0 l.y. in diameter.

No matter where you are in the northern hemisphere, try hunting for this object with a 4.25 inch (108mm) telescope or larger, you my be surprised at the view.

Sketching:

9”x11” white sketching paper; 2H, HB graphite pencils, black ink pen and a blending stump;
Scanned and inverted; brightness of some stars adjusted with MS Paint.
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian: 24 mm wide field eyepiece 60x and 12 mm eyepiece 121x
Date and Time: 11-1-2008, 5:15 – 6:10 UT
Seeing: 6/10
Transparency: Average 3/5
Clear, 90% humidity
Temperature 10°C
NELM: 4.2

Sketching the ISS

The International Space Station
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Ciesla

Hello!
This is my sketch of International Space Station. It is original i think.

Sketch information:
Scope: Celestron SCT 5” with Antares W70 25mm
Place: Poland, Wroclaw – near city center.
Weather: Not good. Seeing 5/10. Faint fog. Light pollution.
Date and time: 2 October 2008. 7:19 PM (19:19)
Technique: Pencil with finger blur.
Tooling: Scan and GIMP 2 working (only blur option)

Greetings!
Aleksander Ciesla

Hale-Bopp Over Kuju

Comet Hale-Bopp over Kuju Japan
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

It is well past the best time for visual observation but I was mesmerized by the comet setting in a very transparent evening sky. A very bright rather open tail was visible to the naked eye clearly.

C/199501 Comet Difficulty level: 0/5
Hale-Bopp
Date of observation: 1997.05.04 20:19
Observing site: Kuju
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 2/2/1
Instruments:Naked eye

Comet Hale-Bopp nucleus
Sketch and Details by Kiminori Ikebe

A dual shell structure is clearly visible at high magnifications. The nucleus is very bright, probably at magnitude -0.5. The nucleus is almost stellar but appears rather misshapen and elongated with a close look. A spiral structure in front of the nucleus extends counter-clock-wise. Another arc-like structure is clearly seen in front of the spiral structure. There is no further detail visible, but it is rather dark right behind the nucleus with bright areas lying on both sides of the nucleus.

C/1995O1 Comet difficulty level: 0/5
Hale-Bopp
Date of observation: 1997/03/30 20:20
Observing site: Hoshinomura
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 3/3/2
Instruments: Muron 210, TPL10.5, and star diagonal
Magnification: 230x
Width of field: 0.2 degree

Sunset Over Four Big Craters

“Sunset Over Four Big Craters”
Sketch and Details by Giorgio Bonacorsi

Hi astronomy sketchers,

I sent this Moon sketch, made behind my home with a Kenko 80/1000 refractor.The night was partially clear, only some clouds cover the sky .The Moon was splendid, the phase is two days after Full. I see in my telescope and i am surprised:Turbulence and wind compromised a perfect image.I made only that portion of Moon, a very difficult drawing. The vision is splendid:Petavius and other big craters,Langrenus,Vendelinus and Furnerius going in the shadow.

Thank you for all,
at next sketches.
Clear sky,
Giorgio Bonacorsi from Italy.

Site:Pergola,Marche,Center Italy , 16 october 2008
Moon phase:16,4 days(two days after full)
instrument:Refractor Kenko 80mm(3,2″) f 1000,
Eyepiece:15mm and barlow 2x
Magnification:132x
The craters are:Petavius(at center,illuminated),Furnerius(down Petavius in shadow),Vendelinus and Langrenus(up Petavius,in shadow)
Seeing:No good,turbulence and wind.

Shallow Sky Meets Deep Sky

Asteroid 7 Iris and the Sombrero Galaxy, M104
Sketch and Details by Eric Graff

After taking a look at Boattini’s Comet, I decided to chase down another bit of solar system debris, Asteroid 7 Iris, bearing down on the Sombrero Galaxy (M104) in Virgo; the asteroid was half a degree away from the galaxy and two days from closest approach on May 6, 2008. I had hoped to make additional observations on subsequent nights, but the weather has not been cooperative, so here is my lone observation of this event.
NELM ~6.4; Pickering ~5-6.

My Favorite Mars

A Mars Map, representing a complilation of Mars sketches Opposition 2007,2008
Sketches and Details by Kris Smet

In January I posted the sketches I managed to make up to then, later I added 7 more sketches and tried to make a marsmap based on my them. Just when I felt I was getting familiar with the various martian features on the disk, the opposition was rapidly coming to an end. I can’t choose any one sketch as my ‘favourite’ but it would have to be the last one then. It was my first, and ironically also last, view of the sinus sabaeus region of that opposition. Luckily the seeing was good and I was able to make a decent observation. The later sketches are also less crude but have a more soft finish, which i’ve been struggling to do from the beginning.

Mars sketches Opposition 2007,2008
by Kris Smet

My earlier report from January:

I started observing Mars early in July to make the most of the opposition in December when the planet’s disk reached almost 16“. However the first few sketches may not look like much, I believe making the sketches helped me gain more experience
over the months. Putting the colour of mars on paper was much harder than I thought it would be, I’ve tried a few different colours but kept changing them because I wasn’t completely happy with it. The last sketch in my opinion looks most as how
Mars appears to my eye in the scope. (All sketches were done with my 8” f/5 reflector on equatorial mount btw, I didn’t took the tube from the dobson base until October though.)

All sketches are made outside sitting at the scope, with plain A4 printer-paper on a clipboard on my lap. After the scope is brought back inside I work the sketch out with colours and scan them in on my computer. The only ‘processing’ I (sometimes) do
is adjusting the brightness and sharpness levels a bit to look a bit more eyepiece-like.

If you look very closely you can see the small disappearing south polar cap on the first 5 sketches, after that I couldn’t detect it anymore. During September and the first part of October the north polar hood appeared bluish to me, but it seemed to disappeared and on the 14 October sketch the hood doesn’t show any blue. While Mars was showing me it’s so called ‘boring side’ during September and October (accept 5/10 & 31/10) I had the impression that the area south of mare Sirenum, Cimmerium and Mare Tyrrherium was brighter and more yellow than the desert plains laying south of them. In December I had some very good views of the Syrtis Major region in which I could see some detail. I had to wait until early 2008 to get my first view of the Solis
Lacus region, because whenever this side was facing earth I was clouded out :p

I hope to get more viewing time during January, February and perhaps March to make another ‘collage’ of Mars sketches.)

Nice Easy Double

29 Aquarii, An Easy Double
Sketch and Details by Wade V. Corbei

29 Aquarii (DX Aqr, 29 Aqr, HR 8396) is a nice equal magnitude double star located in the constellation Aquarius. This is an easy split at around 150x, but at higher magnifications there is an apparent color contrast between the two. The primary displays as a whitish/blue and the secondary shows an obvious orange (the secondary is actually classified as an Orange Supergiant).

A nice easy double for those interested in double stars that can be cleanly split without excessive magnifications, and this double pretty much sits alone in the sky with very few background stars in the same field of view.