Category: Pastels

Fire from the Twins

Object Name Geminids
Object Type Meteor shower
Location My own backyard, Deventer, The Netherlands
Date Dec. 14th, 01.15UT – 03.00UT
Media Black and white pastels on navy blue paper

Last night the rich meteor shower of the Geminids peaked (actually it was around 14.00UT this afternoon, but the most favorable time to watch it from Europe was during the dark early hours of 14 december). Once again I decided to make a pastel sketch, just like I did during the Perseid shower last August. I used the same method: I made a very global sketch of the starfield I was going to view, including the obstruction caused by the roof and a tree on a dark blue piece of paper. In the field during the observation period I drew every meteor in place with a white pastel pencil.

But the shower was so rich I hardly got time to plot every meteor in the drawing. At given times there were 4 meteors per 10 seconds! I did not count them, but I must have seen over 150 meteors (incl. the ones outside the drawing’s field of view) in the 2 hours of observing time. Incredible! Around 40 of them appeared in the area of the drawing. I observed from my own backyard from 01.15 UT until 03.15 UT. Skies were clear during this whole period, but light pollution got a nasty boost from the snow that fell earlier that evening. NELM was around 5.

Kind regards,
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl

To the Edge

NGC 4517
Galaxy
Virgo
28/03/06
Ilford NSW Australia
41cm f4.7 Dobsonian telescope
Field: 23′
Magnification: 210x
Sky quality: N/A

Black Canford paper
White pen
White pencil
White pastel chalk
Blending stump
Paint brush

NGC 4517 is a really nice edge-on galaxy around 12′ x 2′ in size.
In the 41cm dob this galaxy looked very elegant and is designated as type Sc.
However visually it looks somewhat irregular in its appearance.

It reminds me of NGC 55 in Sculptor.
This is one of my older sketches from 2006.

Scott Mellish.

Midday’s Moon

Hi,
This is my october sketch of moon with naked eye. On october 29, at noon I was looking out the window and thinking: “wow, I must draw it”. The moon this day was over the buildings where I live. The roofs and chimneys was beautiful illuminated by sunlight…So I have drawn it 🙂
This sketch is created with dry pastels on blue paper.

object: moon with naked eye
location: Katowice, Poland
date: october 29, 2010
technique: dry pastels on blue paper

Katarzyna Kurdek

Down the Whirlpool

NGC 5194/5195 (M-51)
The “Whirlpool Galaxy”
Interacting galaxies
24/05/06
Ilford NSW Australia
41cm f4.5 dobsonian telescope
Field: 23′
Magnification: x210
Canes Venatici

Black Canford paper
White pen
White pencil
White pastel chalk
Blending stump
Paint brush

What can I say about the Whirlpool Galaxy?

At my location Messier 51 is at a little over +47 deg, so it is about as far north as I can go without getting ridiculous, especially when there is a big chunk of glass sitting at the bottom of the telescope.
At this extreme declination I only require a modest chair to sit on as the object is so low in the northern sky.

I done this sketch in 2006 in my old 41cm dob, which was before I purchased a sky quality meter so information on the “seeing” conditions is a bit scant.

However the northern sky from my site always seems to look a bit hazy down low despite the fact that there is no major city in that direction except from the
rural township of Mudgee some 40km away.

I best leave any thoughts on my interpretation of NGC 5194/5195 for those who observe it far higher in the sky than me.

Scott Mellish

Fading Planetary Nebula

Abell 72
PK 59-18.1
Planetary Nebula
Delphinus
07/08/10
Ilford NSW Australia
56cm f5.0 dobsonian telescope
Field: 27′
Magnification: 218x with OxyIII filter
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:65

Black Canford paper
White pen
White oil pencil
White pastel chalk
Soft white pencil
Paint brush

George Ogden Abell’s classic catalog of planetary nebulae contains 86 objects which are quite faint and challenging for avid deep sky observers.

A good example of what to expect when tracking down these elusive nebulae is the ghostly Abell 72 seen here.

Delphinus is a fair way north from my observing site, but the sky conditions on the night offered up some good transparency which assisted in observations.

Scott Mellish

“Perhaps the Finest…”

Hey !

I send you the planetary M.27, “The manual”.

This is a easy object, bright and perhaps the finest in the
northern hemisphere. But M.57 is the most
special for us in Norway. I did not see any central star in this
planetary, and the “ears” were very faint.
It is a very splendid object in small telescopes too. More info on
my sketch!
I used crayons (watercolours) on black paper only.
The sketch was made outside Trondheim city, Norway.

Clear skies, from Per-Jonny Bremseth.

The Perseid Meteor Shower 2010

* Object Name: Perseids
* Object Type: annular meteor shower
* Location: near Lochem, The Netherlands
* Date: August 13, 2010)
* Media: white and black pastels on navy blue paper

Last night I wanted to try something different: drawing a meteor
shower instead of photographing it!
First I rendered a background with only stars. I used a white pastel
pencil for that. Then I added a horizon with a black pastel.
I took this background drawing to my favourite observing site, lay
down on a comfortable chair and added every meteor I observed on my
pefab sky drawing.
I made two of these drawings. This one is made between midnight and
02.00h. The second one (between 02.00h and 03.30h) can be viewed at

Perseïden 2010: helemaal goed! (ASOD 14-08-’10)

Kind regards,

Roel Weijenberg

So Many Bright Galaxies in One Field

NGC 4268/4272/4277/4281/4270/IC 3153
Galaxies
Ilford NSW Australia
14/05/10
56cm f5 Dobsonian telescope
Field: 17′
Magnification: 354x
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:43

Black Canford paper
White pen
White pencil
Soft white pastel chalk
White oil pen
Blending stump
Fine tip paint brush for smoothness

Whenever Virgo is well placed in the southern sky I always try and tick
a few more objects off my observing list.

I noticed an interesting group of galaxies as I was checking my charts,
and I marked them down for observation.
I was most impressed when I finally managed to get them in the eyepiece
of the 56cm dob.

It is quite a rare treat to have so many bright galaxies gathered
together in the one field.

I have included a duplicate reference sketch with details.
Hopefully I have got all the designations correct.

Scott Mellish