I submit a favorite observation, NGC 7293 the Helix Nebula located in the constellation Aquarius. My first impression even without a filter was “Wow, that is really big!”. And it is, measuring 16’ in diameter or about half the size of the full Moon. It is also the nearest planetary nebula to our solar system at a distance of ~650 light years.
Though I could see the object without aid of filters, OIII & NPB filters brought out far more detail. Some fainter stars could be seen with averted vision within the nebula as well as a multi-layered mottled shell like appearance. I have gone back to this object many times trying to “see” more with longer observations.
Haleakala Maui, Hawaii
12.5” Portaball 14mm EP 108X
OIII & NPB filters
9/17/12
graphite pencil / white paper, inverted with Photoscape software
Thia (Cindy) Krach
I set up to sketch Rupes Recta on the floor of Mare Nubium. From the eastern edge of Mare Nubium you can see the triplet craters, Thebit (57 km), A and L. Next moving westward is the Imbrian escarpment Rupes Recta , not a true wall in the usual sense but on one side standing more than 300 meters high at some locations and 114 km in length. The scarp face would be visible from the rim of young crater Birt’s (17 km) to the west of “straight wall” if you could get there. Touching the rim of Birt to the east is Birt A.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Canson paper (8” x 10”), white and black pastel pencils, assorted erasers, and blending stumps
Telescope: 13.1” f/6 Dobsonian working at 222X (9mm ocular)
Date: 11-22-2012 01:00-02:45 UT Temperature: 12°C (54°F)
Hazy, slightly breezy
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude 10.1 °
Lunation 8.1 days
Illumination 64.9%
Alt. 45°
2012 has seen the loss of another legend and inspiration. We mourn the loss of Sir Patrick Moore, who passed away on December 9th.
Moore’s friends and staff released the following statement: “After a short spell in hospital last week, it was determined that no further treatment would benefit him, and it was his wish to spend his last days in his own home, Farthings, where he today passed on, in the company of close friends and carers and his cat Ptolemy….Over the past few years, Patrick, an inspiration to generations of astronomers, fought his way back from many serious spells of illness and continued to work and write at a great rate, but this time his body was too weak to overcome the infection which set in, a few weeks ago. He was able to perform on his world record-holding TV Programme The Sky at Night right up until the most recent episode.”
Queen guitarist Brian May, further said: “Patrick will be mourned by the many to whom he was a caring uncle, and by all who loved the delightful wit and clarity of his writings, or enjoyed his fearlessly eccentric persona in public life. Patrick is irreplaceable. There will never be another Patrick Moore. But we were lucky enough to get one.”
British space scientist, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, echoed the sentiments of many amateur astronomers. She was first inspired to “look at the night sky” through Moore, saying,“He was broadcasting before we actually went into space and he saw a change in our understanding of the universe, and he took us all the way through that, right up until today. What he did was something very straightforward. He would tell us what to look for and where to look for it and for budding astronomers everywhere that is what we need, that information. But he would tell us more, he would go into depth, he would take us on a journey through space and we can’t ask for better than that really.”
Today’s tribute includes a selection of Lunar, solar system, and deep sky sketches featuring objects from Moore’s Caldwell Catalog.
Object Name Moon
Object Type Planet
Location Valencia (Spain)
Date 27th november 2012
Media: graphite pencil and white paper
Dear reader,
Finally the clouds have gone so I tried to get a nice view of the moon. It was also a photo session so after finishing the previous sketch I took a picture that it was useful to catch many details from the moon. This is my first drawing objetct and it was a pleasure to work with this amazing object day after day.
Hello!
I would like to show you my latest sketch made with binoculars 10×50. On the right side are Hyades, and in the left-top part shines the Jupiter.
I used the graphite pencil on white paper. Then sketch was inverted. There are some little corrections in GIMP.
The seeing was better than usual on November 18th, so I decided to use a high magnification on my C6, and see what would catch my eye.
Near the edge of Mare Fecunditatis, craters Gutenberg and Goclenius stood out, with two rimae running in from the north west.
I zeroed in on the crater Goclenius itself. The Rimae run right into it. The shadows were quite stark, revealing the broken down crater walls, and the fractures on the floor were very apparent.
A pencil sketch was done at the eyepice, and a photo taken. The final sketch was then completed at leisure a couple of weeks later.
Details:
Crater Goclenius, C6 (150mm SCT, 3 x Barlow)
Adelaide, South Australia, November 18th 2012.
Medium is charcoal on white paper.
Objekt Name: Jupiter
Object Type: Planet
Location: Koroška, Austria
Date: 24.11.2012
Media: Graphite pencil on white paper. Colours added with Gimp2
On this observation evening, seeing was average (Antoniadi: II-III). After a while it was obvious, that 180x will be the highest practical power.
Inside the SEB I could observe the disturbances behind the GRS. They were clearly brighter and in some moments they even showed some structures. The bright bay around the GRS was also a feast for the eyes. The NEB showed its irregular edge. Connected to the NEB, there were a bump and a small Festoon inside the EZ.
When I switched to 150x, the subtle colours became noticable clearer. The planets surface showed its well known cream-colour. SEB an NEB were a little bit on the brown side. The GRS showed a hue of salmon pink. I even managed to see a blue touch at the little bump of the NEB. I´ve never seen Jupiter so colourful!
I recently spent a 3 weeks holiday in Mid Sweden (Bergslagens Kanal area). October/November really isn’t the holiday season over there, but it is if you want to enjoy some dark skies. It ‘s very bright during the night in summer.
I had a few crisp clear nights the first week, so was the temperature at night (freezing -6.5°C to -8°C). The other 2 weeks were either too cloudy or too humid for decent observation.
Until the last night, which showed the milky way 180° from SE to NW. Never saw that before. Of course all the gear was packed already for leaving the next morning, so typical .. So I had to use my old 7×50 that night.
All in all, I was able to make 10 good sketches in 3 nights only, a poor result unfortunately.
Hi
This is a sketch of M1 the crab nebula with my 10 inch F4.5 reflector viewed with a Watec 120N+ astro camera, the resulting live view was sketched from the monitor.
The Watec literally doubles the size of your scope so my 10 inch behaves like a 20 inch or slightly larger depending on the conditions.
The view was incredibly detailed and took about an hour to draw.
Cheers
Objekt Name: M45
Object Type: Open Cluster
Location: Stegersbach Austria
Date: 09. Nov. 2012 from 19:20 to 20:10 CET
Media: graphite pencil, white paper
Equipment: 105/500 APO, EQ 6
Observer: Markus Vertesich
