Category: Pastels

Waning Crescent Moon: Lunation 1094

Moon: Lunation 1094
Moon: Lunation 1094

This morning was the first clear sky I have seen in 2 weeks. Although it did not clear-off until after morning twilight began, I’ll take what I can get and be happy I got a chance to sketch the Moon as it prepares to end this lunation and begin the next.

At 4:30 am CDT the waning crescent moon struggled to 30 degrees above the eastern horizon as I began sketch it. By the time I had finished the sun was up and morning was well underway.

Sketching:
For this sketch I used blue construction paper 9″ x 12″, white Conte’ pastel pencils, blending stumps, a White Pearl eraser, brush and blue Crayola colored pencils. Brightness was slightly increased (+1) using the scanner

Scope 4.25” f/5 Newtonian scope with a 12mm Plossl eyepiece at 46x riding on an equatorial platform

Date: 6-26-2011, 09:30-10:30 UT
Temperature: 18° C (65° F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 214.0°
Lunation: 24.52 days
Illumination: 23.8% Waning Crescent

Frank McCabe

Atlas and Hercules

Atlas and Hercules Craters
Atlas and Hercules Craters

Location: Budapest, Hungary
Date: 5th July 2011
Media: Pastel pencils on white paper
Equipment used: 130/650 SW, 130x

Observation details: These two craters are both very interesting, especially Atlas. There are three lighter spots within the crater, and two darker parts, one between the three lighter spots and one bigger around the south-western part. Hercules must be deeper, as the dark area is quite big there and also the lighted part is wide enough to emphesize it’s size. There is a hill or similar between the two craters which must not be too high according to the craters, but high enough to be visible with 130x zoom. Above Atlas there are the remains of an older crater which is ruined and washed, but still visible quite well. There are also whiter-lighter spots next to Atlas, one is almost as long as the crater itself. This might be a different material, as there are no visible signs of other crater or object.

—
dr. Hannák Judit

The Hockey Stick

The Hockey Stick NGC 4656

Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard

Winter-Spring of 2011….extraordinary adventure at the base of Mount Chiran in the hinterland of Nice, France in early March, this was an astronomy meeting with the first light of a new 1000mm telescope belonging to David and an optical instrument of extraordinary and perfect mechanics. Each object pointed at was a high quality target screaming for joy. The big stars are revealed as never before, with a wealth of detail worthy of photos. It is illusionary to want to make an accurate drawing in those moments of intense emotions. It can only be evocations. The Canes Venatici galaxy leaves no one indifferent and one could stay in the eye to the end of the night to contemplate. The most reasonable galaxies reveal an unsuspected wealth, as here with the end of the troubled hockey stick, a form that evokes a kind of giant shrimp. While waiting my turn at the eyepiece, I take David’s 600mm scope and examine other interesting really targets.

Object: NGC 4656 Galaxy in Canes Venatici – Artist: Serge Vieillard – Sketch Date: Early March 2011

Classic Crater

Hi all,

My original intension when I selected the crater Copernicus was to have the terminator line very close to it. I didn’t get my timing right by a long shot! Instead, it was closer to a Lunar mid-day, making the shadows very short.

I was hesitant to sketch it, having my expectations dashed, and took an hour before I decided “What the heck! Just do it”.

Conditions were quite good for Sydney. At the best of times, using 222X is barely useable, giving only fleeting moments of clarity. This night was more good than poor! And an added bonus, NO DEW!

This is the first time I’ve used charcoal and soft pastels to do such a finely detailed sketch. It took a little getting used to, but what I really like about this materials is you can build up the layers to achieve the result you want. I found them very forgiving, unlike the cold.

Two hours, a pot of tea to keep the cold at bay, and a gorgeous orange tube C8, and this is the result.

Object: crater Copernicus
Scope: Orange tube C8
Gear: 9mm TMB Planetary Type II, 222X, + two polarizing filters
Date: 14’th May, 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Conditions: Fair
Media: Black & white charcoal pencils, grey soft pastel pencil, and white ink on black paper, A5 size.

Cheers,

Alex M.

The Sun Over Nagykanizsa

Hi!

The data of drawing: 07.Jun.2011.
Telescope : Colorado PST.
Observing Location: Nagykanizsa – Hungary, Canis Maior Sun Observatory
(www.nae.hu)

Today I’ve made a h-alpha sketch through with Colorado PST H-Alpha
telescope. The drawing is made between 8:00 an 10:00 UT from
Nagykanizsa Canis Maior Sun Observatory , using a red pastel pencil on
black paper.

The weather was bad. The sky was cloudy. Sun only 1-3 happened upon lawsuits up.
I was not able to finish a drawing. The clouds did not allow it. I
managed to prepare a digital scheme it redrawing.

This digital drawing preparated GIMP 2.6 programs, based on a pastel sketch.

Thank you for it!

Clear Sky !

Tamas Bognar

http://tamasasztro.blogspot.com
http://tamasfoto.blogspot.com/

skype : bognartamas
msn : bognart@gmail.com

The Active Sun

– Object Name: Sun
– Object Type: Star
– Location: Lith, the Netherlands
– Date: 5-5-2011
– Media: white pastel, black paper, PhotoShop CS5
– Telescope: Coronado P.S.T.

Today was a nice clear day in Holland. The sun was shining bright, so i aimed my brand new solar telescope (Coronado P.S.T.) at it to see some Solar Flares. There where many flares visible, and also some sunspots and other details on the surface.
This is my first solar sketch in H-Alpha. The original sketch is black & white, and i changed that colour in PhotoShop.

Clear Skies!

Rutger Teule
www.rutgerteule.com

In Memory of Scott Mellish

We are saddened to inform you that skilled observer and astronomical sketcher, Scott Mellish, passed away last week. He was 46 years old. His contributions to amateur astronomy and to the Astronomy Sketch of the Day will be greatly missed. Today’s image features a collage of some of Scott’s incredible sketches. To view more of the work we have been privileged to feature here, please browse the gallery at this link: Scott Mellish Sketch Gallery.
We wish to extend our condolences to all of his family and friends.

Richard Handy and Jeremy Perez
Astronomy Sketch of the Day

The following message was posted to members of the ASNSW by Paul Hatchman.
——–
Dear Members,

It is with great sadness that I have to let you know that Scott Mellish passed away late last week.

Scott had been an active member for over 25 years and was awarded life membership in 2008 for his invaluable contributions to the society. He was well known for his beautiful sketches of deep sky objects, many of them done at Wiruna, which he attended regularly and deeply loved. A sample of his sketches can be found on Astronomy Sketch of the Day at the following link http://www.asod.info/?s=scott+mellish&x=0&y=0

Scott’s knowledge of the night sky was remarkable and he would often observe some of the most obscure objects from Abell planetary nebulae to the Fourcade-Figueroa object. For this he was awarded the Mike Kerr Award for Observational Astronomy in 2010. He served on the committee as observations officer and was a regular contributor to “Universe” with observation reports, movie reviews, articles on string theory and many other topics, receiving the Editor’s Award on many occasions.

Scott had a great many friends in the Society who will all miss him deeply and the Society will be that much poorer without him.

The funeral arrangements are not know at this time, but I will let you know once they are available.

Regards,

Paul Hatchman
President ASNSW

The Reason for the Messier Marathon

April 2 to 3 participated in the Messier Marathon without a star chart.
The weather is not good all night, but one hour before twilight sky cleared.
While frantically looking for the star, suddenly the day was bright…

What is the reason for the Messier Marathon?
Just before twilight of breathtaking suspense.
Maybe it’s the reason for the Marathon.

Material : White paper, Stick pastel, Colored pencil

Red Forest on the Sun

Today I’ve made a h-alpha sketch through my 60mm H-Alpha telescope. At 78x (9mm plossl) the large proms on the edge of the Sun’s disk showed a lot of detail. It was pretty hard to keep up with the constantly changing structures, when I finished the lower “tree” the little prominence above the main group had totally changed its shape! The drawing is made between 12.30 an 12.45 UT from Deventer, The Netherlands using a red pastel pencil on black paper.
Object Name Sun
Object Type Star
Location Deventer, The Netherlands
Date March 20, 2011
Media red pastel pencil on black paper
Kind regards,
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl