Pastels – Page 11 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Partial Annular Eclipse

2012 05 20 Partial Annular Eclipse
PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas, Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com
www.solarastronomy.org

Knowing that we fell within a good band to view a partial portion of the annular eclipse, Paul and I scoped out the local county roads earlier in the day for optimal horizons. The partial eclipse for our location was due to start at 1932 ST (0032 UT) which would only give about 50 minutes of eclipse viewing before sunset. The skies cleared up and we were fortunate to have perfect viewing conditions that evening.

I started off drawing the full solar disk in h-alpha. Four active regions lined up east to west with two more to the south (depicted to the top of the first sketch in the animation). I then made a quick second sketch to use for recording the times and placements of the Moon as it passed between Earth and the Sun.

First contact was at 0032 UT. The first marking was at 0035 UT. I set my iPhone’s timer to go off every five minutes until sunset, marking the Moon’s progress each increment with my oil pencil along with the times. In between, Paul and I would alternate using a pair of solar glasses from solarastronomy.org and the views from my double-stacked Coronado Maxscope 60mm h-alpha telescope.

The first image of the animation shows the original sketch in its entirety. Later, I used the second solar disk sketch as a reference to recreate the eclipse on the original sketch with a cut out circular piece of black Strathmore paper. This animation is the result.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa201/ErikaGRix/20120520-animation.gif

As the solar disk became too dim to view (represented in the last couple frames of the animation), I was forced to leave the eyepiece and enjoy the last several minutes with the solar glasses and my camera.

Two original 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.

Siamese Twins and a Friend

Object Name The Siamese Twins; NGC 4567 & NGC 4568 with NGC 4564
Object Type: Spiral Galaxies in Virgo (Colliding)
Location: West Desert, Utah
Date: May 12th, 2012
Media: Gray and White Pastels on Black Paper with brush
Equipment: 14 inch Dob, 27mm Panoptic, 14mm Pentax, 10mm Pentax (all with Type I Paracorr).
Sky Conditions: Clear, cold, Antoniadi I
Time: 01:20am MDT or 0720 UT
NGC 4567 is mag. 11.3 with a size of 3.0’x2.0′. NGC 4568 has a mag. of 10.8 and is 4.6’x2.0′ in size; NGC 4564 is mag. 11.1 with a size of 3.5’x1.5.
Notes: This was my last sketch of the night as we felt the moon was going to rise about 1:40 a.m. or so but in reality, it did not come up until after 2:10a.m. NGC 4567 is the northern most galaxy of the two that are colliding. It is rather bright, and fairly small in size. It is more roundish in nature than its colliding companion. NGC 4567 has a higher surface brightness than NGC 4568.
NGC 4568 is the southern member of the colliding galaxies here. It is pretty bright and rather large and is elongated SSW to NNE. The core is very bright.
NGC 4564 actually should be just a little more off, but I ran out of paper and wanted it included in the sketch. It is smaller in size than the other two, and is bright. Like NGC 4568 it is elongated but SW to NE. There is outer diffusion and then a brighter core region with a stellar nucleus.

Prominence Ejection Sequence – May 17, 2012

2012 05 17, 1245 UT – 1845 UT
NOAAs 11476, 11477, 11478, 11479, 11482, 11484, NE Prominence

PCW Memorial Observatory, Texas – Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com
Temp: 20-30C, calm – S 5mph, clear.
Seeing: Wilson 4.8-1.2, Transparency: 5/6-4/6, 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.

Link to gallery of individual sketches within the sequence.

During the time I observed, a very large prominence off the northeast limb was enlarging and in the process of ejecting as it broke free from the magnetic fields supporting it. I’ve never visually witnessed that large of a prominence breaking away from the Sun before. What really stunned me was how bright it remained over several hours that far off the limb. I grabbed an 8-sketch sequence spanning over 6 hours of the event, not including the full disk rendering I recorded earlier in the day. The last 35 minutes of my session, the prominence became very faint and diffuse. I stopped seeing any connection from the limb after 1717 UT. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t, but was perhaps too faint for my tired eyes to see.

Vallis Schröteri

Object name: vallisschröteri
Object type: Lunar Crater
Location: Amsterdam
Date: 8-5-2012
Media: Pastel on black paper

During a very gray period the last weeks, and with no chance to use the telescope, I decided to enhance my sketching skills by sketching some moon craters based on pictures made by others. This one is a sketch of the vallisschröteri area. Made with pastel pencil on black paper.

Clear skies and kind regards

Matthijs Broggel

Saturn, Titan and Raindrops

Object Name: Saturn
Object Type: Planet
Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
Date: May 13, 2012
Media: Pastel pencils on black paper

Last night I wanted to make a sketch of Saturn, mostly to capture as much moons as possible through my old 75mm f/15 Polarex/Unitron refractor. After 45 minutes of sketching at 200x with pastel pencils on black paper, Saturn was pretty much done (although I found it surprisingly difficult to draw a good ellipse for the rings), and just when I added the easily visble Titan, I heard some droplets on the trees next to me and felt something on my head: RAIN! I immediately covered the pastel sketch witch my hand and rushed inside my shed. After the sketch was save I pulled the telescope out of the rain. The most abrupt ending of a sketching session ever! I had completely missed the incoming clouds while viewing through the eyepiece.

Anyway, both the sketch and the telescope survived. Sadly with only one moon observed: Titan.

Clear skies and kind regards,
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl

Lunar Crater J Herschel

It is morning across the 165 km wide irregular floor of this walled plain
crater. J Herschel is a pre-Nectarian crater and in the observing light is well lit across its rubbly, slightly convex floor. This crater is a survivor of the Imbrium basin formation. The southern well defined outer rim to the south (to the left in the sketch) has its rampart buried under the lavas of Mare Frigoris. Along the south wall at the west end is crater Horrebow (26 km) which can be seen superimposed upon Horrebow A (25 km.). To the right and closer to the terminator and limb are craters Anaximander (70 km.) and Carpenter (61 km.) both of their rims are illuminated and only part of the floor of the former can be seen.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump.
Telescope: 10 inch f/ 5.7 Dobsonian and 9 mm eyepiece 161X

Date: 05-3-2012 02:10 – 03:30 UT
Temperature: 21° C (70° F)
Partly cloudy, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 53 °
Lunation: 11.8 days
Illumination: 86.6 %
Altitude of Moon about 41°

Very favorable libration for this crater

Frank McCabe

Eye of the Monster

Hello all,

The atmosphere appears to be finally drying out here on the east coast of Australia. Viewing from near home on the 24th of April, DSO’s were noticeably easier to see and make out detail in. The clearest for a very long time.

Thought I’d tackle a Monster too. This one’s been taunting me for some time. Teasing through the mushy viewing during the last year. It’s “Eye” staring back in defiance.

Here is my shot at Omega Centauri using my 17.5″. So mind numbingly complex in structure. It’s core shows it’s “eye” looking back, which is washed out in long exposure photos. This is Omega’s most outstanding signature feature.

Alex M.

Object: Omega Centauri, NGC 5139
Scope: 17.5″ push-pull dob
Gear: 16mm Unitron Konig, 125X
Date: 24th March 2012
Location: Sydney, Australia
Media: Pastels, charcoal and white ink on A4 size black paper.
Time: 2.5hrs

Crater Furnerius

Beautiful evening with the 4 day old Moon above Venus and the planet Jupiter above the crescent Moon. After a careful look at the crescent Moon through the telescope at low power, I needed to decide if I should attempt a sketch of the beautiful view of western Mare Crisium or the crater Furnerius which was the easier target. Considering the air temperature which was cold, I took the easy way out and sketched Furnerius.

With the terminator well past this region, I knew I would have time to go indoors and warm up if I got too cold. I centered the eyepiece on my target and turned on the equatorial drive platform. Furnerius is a large 125 km. crater that has the appearance of the old pre-Nectarian period crater it is. Its walls and floor are battered with many small craters and Rima Furnerius was detectable on the northern side of the floor. Crater Fraunhofer (57 km.) another old crater was sketched to the south and much younger Stevinus (77 km.) was showing off its central peak to the west.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, white and black Conte’ pastel pencils and a blending stump.

Telescope: 13.1 inch f/ 6 Dobsonian and 9 mm eyepiece 222x
Date: 02-26-2012 00:30 – 01:40 UT
Temperature: -6° C (21° F)
Clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 315 °
Lunation: 4 days
Illumination: 15 %
Altitude of Moon about 33°

Frank McCabe

Heveluis

2012 01 07, 0200UT – 0340UT Hevelius, Lohrmann, Cavalerius
PCW Memorial Observatory, OH, USA, Erika Rix
www.pcwobservatory.com
16” Zhumell f/4.5 on a non-tracking Dobsonian mount, 24-8mm Baader Planetarium Mark III Hyperion, 225x, Moon filter
Temp6.5 C, 58% humidity, S: Antoniadi I-II, T: 4/6
Eyepiece sketch black Strathmore Artagain paper, Conte crayon and pastel pencil, charcoal pencil
Phase: 25.8 deg, Lunation: 13.35 d, Illumination: 95.0%
Lib. Lat: +01:33, Lib. Long: -04:22
Az: +206:07, Alt: +30:18

The trio of Hevelius, Lohrmann, and Cavalerius were the first to catch my eye along the terminator tonight. After a quick tour near the terminator, I settled on the trio and their surrounding area for a closer study. Grimaldi’s western rim was etched south of Lohrmann and had begun to fill with sunlight creeping over the waxing edge. The small central mountain of Hevelius and crater Hevelius A were spotted easily and the only hint of Hevelius rimae was a softened dark line reaching north to south just east of the central mountain. I didn’t realize it was even there until I came inside after my session and compared my sketch with an atlas of the area. The tormented outer slopes of the crater chain were very clear and sharp, making them very enjoyable to study and even more so to draw (in my feeble attempt to capture all the detail as accurately as I could). Cavalerius was completely filled in with shadow.

The fantastic find of the night was the Hevelius D 1 (dome) along the wrinkle ridge between Reiner and Hevelius. Reiner and Reiner Gamma were added as the sketch progressed, as they were too tempting to leave out.

Messier 96

Messier 96
A spiral galaxy in the constellation of Leo
Rush Valley, Utah (West Desert)
February 17, 2012
Pastel on Black Paper, contrast refined in GIMP.

I had some frustrations as my main dark site was muddy and though I could get to it with my 4WD, my observing companions could not. So I called them since I was the first out to the site and we opted for a secondary site and I got there at dusk to set up, after my friends had already set up. After completing setup and collimation, I went to work on open clusters in Puppis and after doing these for a couple of hours, I was tired so I took a break. I then went to work in Hydra on some objects there and decided as I looked up and noticed that it was late in the evening, and both Mars and Leo were up high in the sky so I decided to work on a project that I really want to sink my teeth into. This project is to take some of the Messier and other brighter objects and sketch them from a really excellent dark site and then sketch them again at home in the backyard under light pollution. The goal is to hopefully have some newer people and perhaps some others compare and contrast the sketches to see the difference in detail objects have at a dark site versus when they are observed in a light pollution zone.

So this night I picked several of the galaxies in Leo and in this case, I was pleased with how the sketch of Messier 96 came out, which I present here. I’m still working on the Mellish method though I much prefer it overall then any other method I’ve tried. Now I need to sketch M96 from my backyard if the weather will permit! Skies this night were an Antoniadi II when the sketch was made and the LM was about 6.6 to 6.7 I would estimate (I left my thermometer and my SQM at home along with several other items. It was one of those nights initially). The scope was my Orion XX14i with a 10mm and 7mm Pentax.