Returning home from an all day 50th birthday party at 10.30pm under a clear sky gave me an opportunity to get a little observation in that resulted in a little sketching, it had been a scorcher of a day hitting around 30 deg Feraheiht . I ended up viewing and sketching a couple of low targets down in Sagittarius which was well placed, if not well presented being very hazy and rather bright sky wise at SQM 19.5. My first sketch is of Messier 21 an open cluster that was missing from my Messier folder. I was running both the un cooled 120N+ Watec camera, and the new cooled one, the former on the 6” refractor and the later on the 20”. The 6” gave a larger fov so I sketched that view of this open cluster which lies very close to the Triffid nebula M20 as this image from friend David Davis shows
What I liked most about M21 is the lovely circular asterism of stars above the knot of brighter central gems, very pleasing.
Object Name: Stephan’s Quintet (NGC7317, NGC7318A, NGC7318B, NGC7319, NGC7320)
Object Type: galaxies in Pegasus
Location: Jodłów – small village in southern Poland (picture made during StarParty Jodłów 2011)
Date: 29.09.2011
Media: graphite pencil, white paper, color invert
Telescope: Columbus 320UL (320/1384 Newtonian) + Meade 5000UWA 8,8mm
Seeing: 2/5 (good)
Transparency: 2/5 (good)
NELM: 6,4 mag
One of the most popular “challenge objects”. If you want to observe this objects, one thing is very necessary – clear dark sky. Why? This objects are vey faint so good contrast between galaxies and sky is the most important thing. After few minutes of eye adaptation you can observe four very faint galaxies on the longest side of triangle of three bright stars (it is quite easy to find because it is near very bright galaxy NGC 7331). Very interesting objects – you must have it on your observation list under really dark sky.
The real difficulty with this sketch was not to see the object in the eyepiece, but mostly the cold temperature (below -20C with humidity and wind). Unfortunately I couldn’t see the nebula, probably mostly due to its large apparent dimension
Object Name: NGC 2244
Object Type: Open Cluster
Location: St-Elzéar, Québec
Date: December 30th, 2011
Media: white chalk on dark blue paper, scanned black and white
Instrument: Meade 16″ + 50mm Eyepiece
Weather: uncovered and cold !
NGC 1325 Spiral Galaxy in Eridanus
Spiral Galaxy
Location: Rush Valley, Utah
December 26th, 2011
Pastel on Black Paper, white pencil for the stars
Conditions on December 26th, 2011 made it so that my friend Mat and I went observing for the night in the West Desert of Utah. Conditions were clear, cold, about 15 degrees F at the time. While we were setting up there was a wonderful Sun Dog in the Western Sky which we took as a good omen and sure enough, we had a wonderful evening. I would rate the sky at an Antoniadi II this night when I sketched this object. I used my Orion XX14i, a 14 inch truss dob, a 27mm Panoptic as a finder and a 10mm Pentax XW to sketch the object. This galaxy has a very stellar nucleus with a bright inner core that is surrounded by diffusion. Nice star to the west of the galaxy and the southwest end of the galaxy tappers and thus had more detail located there. Not a particularly well known or observed galaxy, but one in the Eridanus cluster and worthy of a look if one is there. Who says winter isn’t galaxy season?
PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas – Erika Rix www.pcwobservatory.com
Temp: 17.2°-27.8C, calm-N 5mph, clear.
Seeing: Wilson 4.8-4.6, Transparency: 5/6, 50x.
Maxscope DS 60mm H-alpha, LXD75, Baader Planetarium Hyperion 8-24mm Mark III.
Sketches created at the eyepiece with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang color pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.
As of this morning, there were 8 active regions on the Sun. Plage and filaments scattered over three quarters of the solar disk with sunspots popping in and out of view crisply as it moved in and out of the scope’s sweet spot. A large diffuse quiet region filament, similar to the one observed on May 6, 2012, was to the SE quadrant reaching out over the limb. Two large bright prominences were located at PA 70 and 115 with several smaller ones scattered around the limb. The prom at 70 degrees had very faint wisps of structure reaching between the three brightest regions.
I had started to draw the full solar disk when a faint pair of prominences to the NW caught my eye. I had accidentally kicked the adaptor that was plugged into my power pack and the mount turned off, allowing the disk to drift across my field of view. When this happened, a huge billow of plasma floated above the limb. It was attached by very slender lines of plasma to the thick fainter prom at the 315 degrees position angle. It had the appearance of a large balloon being blown to the south while tethered to the ground. Tossing my larger sketchpad to the side, I grabbed the smaller pad and quickly sketched this prom. As the course this morning’s observation went on, the billowed top of the prominence changed quite dramatically. I almost expected it to either break free or collapse on itself before my session ended but by the time I completed the full disk sketch, it was still there.
The prominences near 1476 were dense and compact. The plage was very brightly formed as several slender lines within that active region. The main sunspot in 1476 was very easy to spot in h-alpha although the ARFs were very thin and few.
1479 is reminiscent of 1476 several days ago, although the preceding spot standing alone is on the opposite end. Of course, another difference that the sunspots in 1479 are smaller. They may develop more as the days go on. Here’s hoping for beautiful weather so we can keep an eye on it.
Solar Prominence – May 16, 2012, 1345 UT – 70° PAH-Alpha Sun – May 16, 2012, 1550 UT
after only a few good nights since November, I could say that this winter is really terrible for hobby astronomers in Germany. Yesterday it was my sixth night under clear sky. The temperatures and the cold wind do not just stop. The forecast say, that the sky should be covered by the end of next week and so, this Jupiter is probably the last for me in this season.
In a few weeks he is already too low on the horizon. Then Saturn is the object of the night.
I used my 115/805 TMB Apo (No. 83) and enlarged from 130x to 200x. Towards the end I could even observe the gas-giant with the 3.5 mm eyepiece (230x).
The air was very quiet and many fine details were visible. I hope you enjoy the sketch of our biggest neighbour in solar-system.
It was a great feeling, to catch all these particulars.
Best wishes and clear sky
Uwe
Location: near Tauberbischofsheim (Germany) 335m above sea level.
Telescope: TMB 115/805 Apo Refractor
Eyepieces: 3,5mm Nagler, 4mm Williams UWAN, 6mm Baader Genuine Ortho
Air: very quite / best observing conditions
Temperature: – 8°C, strong Wind
Persistent cloudy, rainy weather here in the Appalachian Mountains has prevented me from seeing most of the best part of this Saturn apparition, but the clouds finally parted briefly earlier this month and allowed this view of the ringed world.
Because Saturn is now well past opposition it is lower in the sky at twilight and well down in altitude after dark, making good seeing imperative for a decent view. I was fortunate this evening because the air was fairly turbulent at sundown when Saturn was still above 30 degrees altitude but got steadier after dark, even though the planet was much lower.
Saturn’s rings are currently tilted at about 17 degrees which gives the observer a good view of the different rings and their features as well as the Cassini Division all the way around.
I got a good look at the North Polar Cap (NPC) but was unable to detect visually the distinct hexagonal shape visible in images.
Four moons were attending Saturn that I could see–Titan, Rhea, Dione, and Tethys. The fifth moon, Enceladus, was there too but hiding in the glare of the rings.
Saturn, among the most beautiful of celestial objects, was a pleasure to observe. There is still time to take in its beauty before the end of this apparition so good luck with the weather where you are!
I made this observational field sketch in my observatory using a template on white copy paper. Pencils used were 2B and HB graphite, charcoal (for the shadows), and a white Derwent Graphtint pencil (for the Crepe Ring).
Name: Saturn
Type: Planet
Location: Twin Sugars Observatory Friars Hill, WV USA
Date: July 19th, 2013
