NGC 5189
By Eiji Kato
NGC 5189 is an unusual planetary nebula located an estimated 3000 light years away in star-rich region of the constellation Musca. It is sometimes referred to as the “Spiral Planetary” and gets its unusual shape from our edge-on perspective.
An in-depth discussion of this fascinating celestial object can be found in this article by Andrew James.
More of Eiji Kato’s deep sky and comet sketches can be found in his gallery.
Comet 17P/Holmes
By Erika Rix
The comet was created with charcoal loaded onto a thick blending stump. I added some fine touches with a number 2 pencil for accuracy on the brightest areas. The stars were done with a number 2, .5mm and .3mm mechanical pencils.
Observation made with an Orion ED80 on an LXD75 mount, 21-7mm Zhumell eyepeice with diagonal.
Jupiter
Gas Giant Planet
By Eric Graff
Parks Astrolight EQ6 • 6″ f/6 Newtonian Reflector
7.5mm Parks Gold Series Plössl + 2x Barlow • 240x, 13′ FoV
1 October 2007 • 02:30-03:00 UT
By the 1st of October, Jupiter is slipping quickly into the evening twilight, so I was pleased to make this final observation of Jupiter for the 2007 opposition. The four Galilean satellites are arrayed as follows (preceding to following): Europa (forming a close pair with a 10th magnitude field star), and Io on the west side of the planet; to the east, bright Ganymede forms another close pair with slightly fainter Callisto. Another faint field star lies just beyond these two, masquerading as yet another Jovian satellite.
The cloud belts of Jupiter displayed a pleasing amount of detail. The north equatorial belt is considerably darker than the south equatorial belt, which is split in two by a bright lane. Conversely, the south polar region was more prominent than its southern counterpart. The equatorial region itself was quite bright with subtle indications of the festoon activity which has lately characterized the region.
Capuanus at the Marsh of Epidemics
By Frank McCabe
At my geographic location during the fall, it is not uncommon to have a sequence of days with fog and mist under heavy cloud cover. At sunset the fog lifted and the sky cleared. It was time to take advantage of this break to observe and sketch.
The sketching target I chose near the terminator is Pre-Imbrian era crater Capuanus. This ancient crater rests on the shore of Palus Epidemiarum. At 58 kilometers in diameter, this is a large crater with extensive rim damage from multiple crater impacts. A narrow gap in the low north wall nearly connects the crater floor to the marsh. Brightly illuminated in the rising sun is the high western wall which towers at 2.5 kilometers above the crater floor. The basaltic lava on the floor of the crater appeared mostly dark. Two of the domes or dome-like rises could be detected on the southern crater floor. These volcanoes were active during the age of prokaryotic life here on earth 3.5 billion years ago. Ridges extending from the west of the crater, line up nicely with the margins of both mare Nubium and mare Humorum. Perhaps these are remains of a basin rim which was part of one of these seas.Across the floor of Palus Epidemiarum a wide segment of western Rima Hesiodus could be seen approaching the northern most of these ridge reminants. Two hours after I began sketching clouds moved in and closed my window on the moon.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 9”x12”, white and black Conte’pastel pencils and a blending stump. Brightness was slightly decreased after scanning.
Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 4mm eyepiece 362x
Date: 11-20-2007 0:05-1:40 UT
Temperature: 14°C (58°F)
fog, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Co longitude: 33°
Lunation: 10 days
Illumination: 72.2 %
Frank McCabe
Delta Geminorum
By Wade V. Corbei
This is an interesting double star (in all actuallity a Binary star) found in the constellation Gemini (as noted by the name). The Primary star is much larger than the companion star, and appears as a yellowish-white, while the companion appears as a nice contasting purple. Delta Geminorum also holds a historic significance as well, as in 1930 Clyde Tombaugh discovered the planet Pluto 1/2° east of this star.
A unique star with an equally interesting history.
The Straight Wall, Birt, and Thebit on the floor of ‘Ancient Thebit’
By Richard Handy
What struck me immediately was the scimitar shaped shadow of the Straight Wall. I had observed the Wall on many past ocassions and I guess I had never seen it so close to the terminator. The long shadow cast by the fault (the “absolute best example of a lunar fault” according to Chuck Wood) amply displayed the fact that Ancient Thebit must have subsided on it’s western half into the Nubium basin. Ancient Thebit is the large circular partial rim flooded with mare lavas which dominates the center of the sketch. It is not to be confused by the snowman shaped 57 km Upper Imbrium crater Thebit, which lies within it along with Birt
and the Straight Wall. I’m not totally sure about my interpretation, but I believe that Rima Birt is demarcated by the shadow line just immediately above Birt, the small double crater on the left of the Straight Wall. The crater at the lower right is Purbach with its scattering of low peaks and small craters on an otherwise lava flooded floor.
Here are the sketch details:
Subject: Rupes Recta, Birt, Thebit on the floor of “Ancient Thebit”.
Date: 8-31-06 Start time- 3:40 UT Ending time- 4:27 UT
Lunation: 8.31 days Phase 88.1 deg Colongitude: 8.6 deg
Libration in Latitude: +6 deg 48 min Libration in Longitude: -6 deg 43 min
Telescope: 12″ Meade SCT f/10
Binoviewer: W.O. Bino-P with 1.6X Nosepiece
Eyepieces: 20mm W.O. Plossls
Magnification: 244X
Sketch medium: White and black Conte’ Crayon on black Strathmore Artagain paper.
Sketch size: 9″ x 12″
Eastern Veil Nebula – NGC 6992 and NGC 6995
By Kiminori Ikebe
Lying some 1400 light years away in the constellation Cygnus is the beautiful supernova remnant known as the Veil Nebula or Cygnus Loop. When the supernova first lit up the sky thousands of years ago, it likely shone with the brilliance of a crescent moon (magnitude -8). The eastern portion of this broken circle of nebulosity is catalogued as NGC 6992 and NGC 6995. The full area of the Veil Nebula spans more than 3 degrees of the sky. In order to capture much of the eastern arm, Mr. Ikebe broke it down into the two sketches shown above.
(Source: APOD}
Mr. Ikebe’s notes about this nebula:
A magnificent view. The nebulosity in the shape of an arch in which bright and dark areas entwine in a complex manner. It is not possible to describe in words. It is difficult to draw it accurately and this sketch only shows how this nebula is perceived. The Veil Nebula is one of the most complex but clearest objects in the northern sky. The nebulosity from NGC 6992 to NGC 6995 is the brightest part of the Veil Nebula and even 10×42 binoculars reveal an arch-shaped nebulosity clearly.
(Re: NGC 6995) The complex area on the southern end of the arch in the east. The tip of the nebulosity divides into several branches looking like a human hand trying to grasp something. Off the tips of the fingers there are two faint areas, which may be IC 1340.
Equipment used: 32 cm Dobsonian at 70X
Sketch Media: Black paper, white paint (for stars), white watercolor pencil, and tissue paper. A Japanese language discussion of Mr. Ikebe’s sketching technique with photos can be found here: How to Make a Sketch. Translating the page using Google Language Tools can help with some of the text.
Archimedes Crater
By Barry Chase
This drawing of Archimedes Crater is Barry Chase’s second Lunar sketch. The Lunar terminator’s close proximity provides strong, shadowed relief to the crater’s rim and surrounding terrain. Archimedes is 83 km in diameter, 2.1 km deep, and is the largest crater in Mare Imbrium. It does not possess a central peak, but does sport a 30 km long triangular promontory extending from its southeast rim.
Source: Wikipedia
Comet 8P/Tuttle
By Martin McKenna
Comet 8P/Tuttle will be making a noteworthy apparition over the next couple months, passing .25 AU from Earth on January 2nd. Although it could become visible to the naked eye for observers with dark skies, it is still rather faint. Martin McKenna made an early visual observation and sketch of the comet on the evening of November 14/15. Note that since the comet is sketched at an appropriately faint level, any incidental glare on your monitor may make it difficult to see.
Notes from Martin’s observation:
Last night (Nov 14/15th 2007) I made my first visual observation of 8P/Tuttle at 03.58 UT in an incredible sky between banks of thick fog. Tuttle was located in the high northern circumpolar sky below Polaris and not far to the SW of 4th magnitude Delta Ursae Minoris. Using the 8.5″ F/7 reflector with 32mm 1.25″ eyepiece I conducted a systematic search through this area without success as on previous nights. However I managed to catch the comet which surprised me after 45 minutes of fruitless searching. The comet was extremely faint and looked like a circular patch of green haze in a field of faint stars. Tuttle was extremely diffuse – difficult to tell where the coma ended and the sky began. At centre I could see a faint pin prick condensation. No tail observed. It was observed faintly with direct vision however averted vision was needed to see its full extent. I was delighted to finally catch Tuttle at such a faint magnitude and look forward to watching its rapid development. 17P/ Holmes and 8P/Tuttle where a real treat at this silent hour of the night. This is my 42nd observed comet.
Mag: + 10.9 – 11.0, Dia: 3′, D.C: 2
M17 – The Swan Nebula
By Jeremy Perez
Observation Notes:
From Anderson Mesa, this nebula appears much larger than the typical swan shape that I see from home. The back of the swan is the brightest portion with the neck second brightest. The head appears to have a crest, and fainter wings appear above the body. The tail flows out to the southeast and then in multiple flowing arcs to the northeast and back around to the northwest.
I chose the 25 mm Plössl eyepiece to capture the full extent of nebulosity in its 66 arc minute true field of view. There was a bright yellow-orange star to the northwest of the nebula as shown in the image. This sketch took 2 hours to complete, but the sky was clear and the experience was enjoyable. My only concern was that it would sink too far into the murk in the southwest before I finished. 172 stars are plotted in the sketch.
I used 2H and HB graphite leads to plot the stars, and a blending stump loaded with graphite to shade in the nebula. After scanning and inverting the sketch I used a soft, mostly transparent brush to add a bit of glare around the brighter stars and added color to the yellow-orange star on the northwest side of the view.
Object Information*:
M17 is a region of star formation that shines by excited emission of light from radiant young stars within. The stars that heat and illuminate this nebula aren’t readily visible, but are hidden within. It is estimated that a small cluster of about 35 of these stars are imbedded in the nebulosity.
Photographically, the color of the Swan Nebula is reddish. This color comes from the hot hydrogen gas excited to shine by the hottest stars which have just formed within the nebula. However, the brightest region is actually a white color. This white color isn’t just a photographic overexposure as I had thought, but is apparently a result of a mixture of red emission light, together with reflections of the bright star light from the dust in that region. The nebula also contains a large amount of dark obscuring dust, which is responsible for giving it its distinctive shape. However, even this dark dust is glowing brightly in the infrared spectrum, heated by hidden young stars.
The bright portion of the nebula extends roughly 15 light years, but the total cloud seems to extend at least 40 light years. The amount of matter in the cloud is estimated at about 800 times that of the Sun, which makes it more massive than the fantastic Orion Nebula (M42). It’s estimated that M17 is 5,000 to 6,000 light years away. It was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745-46, but wasn’t widely known, and so rediscovered by Charles Messier in 1764. Under very favorable conditions, M17 is just visible to the naked eye.
This object is known by a number of common names: Swan, Checkmark, Horseshoe, Omega. It is also catalogued as: Cr 377, Lund 827, LBN 60, Sh2-45, h 2008, GC 4403, OCL 44.
