Helix Nebula

NGC 7293
NGC 7293

• Object Name: NGC 7293 – Helix Nebula

• Object Type: Planetary nebula (PN)

• Location: Pelayos de la Presa – Spain

• Date: nov/06/2013

• Media: Graphite Pencil HB 2, torchon 1 and 130g drawing sheet

• inverted colors with GIMP 2.8

Observation notes:

Pelayos is relatively close to Madrid , tonight stellar magnitude is 5.1 , not being the best conditions for observing deep sky objects , but incredibly the NP in this place have a brightness nearly comparable to the best skies I have seen.

The nebula is easy to locate as it is easily distinguished in the 30mm eyepiece that gives a real field 2 and 40x magnification .

With 40x appears bright , big and round. The less dense central region being surrounded by a thick contour brighter , especially in the low part, and cutting at two opposite ends , one very clearly , sounding the form of a ” horseshoe” .

With 80x lost denser areas , disappearing horseshoe shape , but gives an incredible feeling of great size, and clearly distinguish at least two starlets inside.

The design and perform observation with 40x decide better appreciation for density variations .

Indispensable observation filter and side view to appreciate the details.

New 10” dob telescope. Object Elevation +24º. Male 5,1. 14º C. Moisture 50 º/º.

Greetings to all visitors of this page.

Pedro Villamiel. Alcorcon, Madrid. nov/24/2013

Chasing comet ISON

C/2012 S1 (ISON) - November 16, 2013
C/2012 S1 (ISON) – November 16, 2013

Object name: C/2012 S1
Object type: Comet
Location: Bogotá, Colombia
Date: November 16, 2013
Media: Digital sketch with adobe photoshop CS2, based on a graphite pencil sketch
Equipment: Celestron skymaster 15×70 Binoculars

Hello all,

This is my first comet observation and sketch. After waiting some days for a good weather without clouds, finally i got the comet to see. It looked like a blurry smooth ball, comparable in magnitude with the stars forming the “V” in the sketch, which have an average apparent magnitude of ±5.7 and even the sun was rising, I had an impression that the comet was showing a tail.

Im just starting a blog with my observations.
If you want to see this entry and a few others, please visit my blog in:
http://pollutedskiesstargazing.blogspot.com/

Thanks to all for watching.

The Charm of ISON

C/2012 S1 (ISON) - November 16, 2013
C/2012 S1 (ISON) – November 16, 2013

Hello ! Here is a drawing Ison (only unfortunately) made ​​Friday morning between 6:15 ET 6:45 HL with my newton telescope 12″. Visible with binoculars 8×40, Ison revealed all its charm to the telescope, including its beautiful clear blue hair, as well as two fine jets in the queue that stretched over 3/4 of my ES 20mm, which provides a field of 1.36 ° and a magnification of 75x.
A real treat for the eyes! Strongly in December…

Détails :
Object : The comet C/2012 S1 Ison
Location : France (Vendée-Atlantic)
Date : 16/11/2013
Support : Canson Black and colored pencil Derwent Academy

Good reception and thank you for your interest
Best regard, Yohan Archambaud ( Vendée, France)

After the Clouds Went Away

C/2012 S1 (ISON) - November 15, 2013
C/2012 S1 (ISON) – November 15, 2013

After the clouds went away…

…comet C/2012 S1 ISON appeared glowing in the sky. Brigther after the outburst.
The tail crossed more than half of the visual field of 12×80 (4,2º), the nucleus was very bright, nearly stellar, and the coma had a strong greenish color. The part of the tail closest to the nucleus shone with different intensity, it was sharper on the left side and narrow near the coma.

Scketch made at La Hita´s Observatory in La Puebla de Almoradiel, Toledo (Spain).
5:20 UT November 15th, 2013

Sketch made with graphite on white paper, looking through 12×80 binoculars.

Today the zodiacal light also looked exceptionally bright!

Regards!
Leonor

AR1575

H-Alpha / White Light Sun - September 22, 2012
H-Alpha / White Light Sun – September 22, 2012

Object Name Sun
Object Type Sunspot 1575 and crown
Location Néoules Provence France
Date 22 sept. 2012 – 13h TU
Media (graphite pencil for the spot, red pastel for the crown, two different white papers, Paint.net)

I made two separate sketches, one in H alpha via a classic PST for the crown, the second one through a 1000/102 refractor with solar continuum filter for the spot.
I used several eyepeaces.
The compilation was done with the freeware software : Paint.Net
Conditions were perfect, the sun was hot here… !

Clear sky to you all

Michel Deconinck
http://astro.aquarellia.com

White Light Sun - September 22, 2012
White Light Sun – September 22, 2012
H-Alpha Sun - September 22, 2012
H-Alpha Sun – September 22, 2012

Solar NOAA 11471 White Light

NOAA 11471
NOAA 11471

2012 05 04, 1830 UT – 1940 UT
Active Region NOAA 11471

PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas – Erika Rix (www.pcwobservatory.com)
Temp: 34.4°C, winds S 9 mph, lightly scattered
Seeing: Wilson 2-3, Transparency: 4/6, 125-250x
Celestron 102 XLT, LXD75, Baader Planetarium Hyperion 8-24mm Mark III
2x Barlow, Thousand Oaks glass white light filter.

Sketch created scope-side with white card stock, felt-tipped black artist pen, #2 graphite pencil.

Faculae were present in several areas around the limb, particularly around ARs 1473, 1469, 1474, 1475 and north of 1473 ~45 degrees. Sunspots were observed in all five active regions with 1474 ad 1475 only showing one per region. Seeing was poor and it was windy. I had to wait several moments to catch sharp views so may have missed out on pores in those areas. There were a few sunspots in the two active regions near the western limb, 1473 and 1469.

Active region 1471 was the area I concentrated for today’s sketch. The larger sunspot grouping was in the eastern region of that AR with very defined edges to the penumbrae and radial structure reaching to the umbrae. It was painstaking to wait for the winds to drop and seeing to settle to grab as much detail as I could. I dropped magnification and then increased when sky conditions permitted. That group appeared to have a chain of smaller sunspots, all sporting both umbrae and penumbrae leading east from the larger cluster of sunspots. A very faint speckled area was a further few degrees beyond the chain. I couldn’t make out if they were pores or simply penumbral blotches.

Moving to the western area of the AR ~10-20 degrees showed three more small groupings in that active region. The middle two of the AR had both umbra and penumbra and faint areas that looked penumbral to the south of them. The furthest grouping to the west was too soft and faint to be sure of its structure.

ISON at the gates of dawn

C/2012 S1 (ISON)
C/2012 S1 (ISON)

Comet C/2012 S1 ISON in the morning before the sunrise.

Scketch made at La Hita´s Observatory in La Puebla de Almoradiel, Toledo (Spain).
5:04 UT November 13th, 2013

Sketch made with graphite on white paper, looking through 12×80 binoculars (field 4,2º)
The sky was really clear and pristine, relative humidity 70%.

Altought beautiful Zodiacal light shines over the east horizon, the comet was easily highlighted in the background of stars.

Regards.
Leonor

Carbon Star U Cyg

U Cygni
U Cygni

Carbon Star U Cyg
I have been watching the well-known carbon star U cyg all this summer and fall as it has risen in magnitude. At the time of my observation it was glowing like a red hot ember at magnitude 9.0. This particular star ranges in visual magnitude from 12.1 to 5.9 over a period of 463 days. The red color deepens as it fades and becomes more yellow-orange as it brightens.
The star is located at RA 20 hrs. 20 min and Dec.; + 47° 34’. The red orange color is quite striking visually.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used white sketching paper, a mechanical drawing pencil, assorted color pencils, several plastic erasers. The sketch was inverted and then scanned.
Telescope used: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian with a 24 mm eyepiece for a magnification of 60x.
Date: 11-10-2013, 11:25-11:55 UT
Frank McCabe : )