Pastels – Page 19 – Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Gibbous Moon With Sinus Iridum Detail

Moon – Gibbous With Sinus Iridum Detail
By Mark Seibold

Technical Information regarding sketch:

A 19″ X 25″ pastel sketch [with the moons disc drawn at 12 ¾”] on black Strathmore Artagain pastel paper with use of various soft to hard pastel chalks on December 26th 2009 at 5UT ~ 9UT, partly produced from direct eyepiece observation over 2 to 3 hours, then finished indoors with photos taken from the eyepiece to produce a detailed close-up of the Sinus Iridum feature at the terminator. An artists conception was added at bottom as a final touch for a total work time of 4 ~ 5 hours. Observation was through my 10.1 inch f/4.5 Newtonian telescope with use of 32mm, 12mm, 9.7mm Super Plossls and 6mm Orthoscopic eyepieces. Ambient outdoor temperature in the 750 ft elevation foothills, west of the Cascades and Mount Hood, 30 miles east of Portland Oregon was approximately 34 degrees F. Wind gusting to 20 ~ 30 mph and subsiding to still at times.

*A slightly higher quality image may be viewed at
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/markseibold/Moon_PastelGibbous6_SinusIr.jpg.

The Fourcade-Figueroa Object

ESO 270-17
By Scott Mellish

ESO 270-17
18/03/10
“Fourcade-Figueroa Object”
Galaxy
Centaurus
Ilford NSW Australia
56cm f5 Dobsonian telescope
Field: 15′
Magnification: 314
Centaurus
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:31

This is a sketch I done recently of the elusive galaxy ESO 270-17, sometimes described as the “Fourcade-Figueroa object”. Studies have shown that this galaxy could quite possibly have collided with NGC 5128 “Centaurus A” in the distant past and thus is considered as a “shred”.

The alignment of the dust band of NGC 5128 with ESO 270-17 and also its lack of rotation has lead researchers to conclude that this quite faint galaxy
had collision based origins.

A dark sky site and some decent aperture are essential for observing this unusual object.

Scott Mellish

2010 May 6 Solar Prominences

Solar Prominences – May 6, 2010
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

2010 May 6, 1900 UT – 2100 UT
Solar h-alpha featuring SE and SW prominences – Erika Rix
PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell

H-alpha sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.

T: 27.2°C-21.2°C, H: 57%-64%
S: Wilson 2-4, T: 5.5/6
Clear and calm
Alt: 58.5-37.8, Az: 229.2-259.9

I set up outside of the observatory today since the Sun was moving over the SW tree line and I didn’t want to rush my observing session. I had planned on putting in the cold crops in the garden but just couldn’t resist observing instead.

The active regions and filaments were tempting, but it had been so long since I’ve done close up prominence studies that I decided to concentrate on two limb areas instead. At the beginning of the session, the SW had a larger prominence that looked like a comma hovering over a crooked finger. I decided to move to the SE limb instead because what appeared to be a very bright hedgerow prominence with a smaller prominence beside it, turned out to a very wide set of prominences connected together, with over half of it so faint it was difficult to tease the detail out with the poorer seeing conditions at the beginning of the session.

Seeing gradually improved and I decided to go for a second sketch and just couldn’t help nabbing that comma prominence. It had already changed its shape to where it was no longer a comma, but a large loop instead. I was only able to make out the faintest portion of the loop with my Sol-Survivor cover completely shut around my head and eyepiece.

Pleine Lune

Full Moon
Sketch and Details by Christian Gros

Object Name : Pleine Lune
Object Type : Lune
Location : Besançon / France
Date : 28/04/2010
Media : Crayons Pastels sur feuille cartonnée grise

Bonjour,

Alors que je venais de changer les vis du miroir secondaire de mon télescope (18cm), pour tester ce dernier j’ai profité de la nuit de pleine lune pour faire se dessin à x70. J’ai réalisé ce dessin entierrement de nuit en environ une heure à l’aide de crayons pastels. il ne s’agissait pas de retranscrire tous les détails visibles, bien trop nombreux, mais bien montrer l’aspect principal de notre satellite.

Cordialement.

Christian Gros

Modified Google Translation:

Object Name: Full Moon
Object Type: Moon
Location: Besançon / France
Date: 28/04/2010
Media: Pencil Pastel on gray cardboard sheet

Hello,

So I had to change the screws of the secondary mirror of my telescope (18cm), to test it I took advantage of the full moon to make drawing at x70. I made this drawing at night in about an hour using pastels. It does not show all the details visible, there were far too many, but it does show the main aspect of our satellite.

Regards.
Christian Gros

Mars Pastel Sketch – February 5, 2010

Mars – February 5, 2010
Sketch and Details by Mark Seibold

Technical information regarding the sketch:

At my current residence of Sandy Oregon in the home driveway; 30 miles east of Portland Oregon:

After Observing Mars through my Nexstar 5i and 10.1″ f/4.5 Coulter Odyssey Dobsonian telescope on two evenings of February 5th and 6th 2010, I produced this large 22″ X 30″ pastel impression with artists conceptual Martian landscape showing a dust storm over the polar cap region as science news reported today. The pastel chalks were applied to black Stonehenge 100% cotton cold pressed pastel paper. Through broken clouds over two nights, I eventually rendered most of the prominent albedo features on the martian surface; the left hemisphere edge exhibited a definite blue limb haze along most of the discs edge on the evening of February 5th at approximately 7 UT ~ 9 UT.

Childrens Hubble Drawings

Children’s Hubble Drawings
Sketches by Students of St Peters National School Walkinstown Dublin
Photo by Bernard Kelleghan • Details by Deirdre Kelleghan

Gallery of the Individual Drawings

The 20th Anniversary of the launch of The Hubble Space Telescope was celebrated in St Peters National School Walkinstown Dublin 12 on April 23rd. ESA sent me an enormous print of the Carina nebula, the celebration image for public outreach. A drawing workshop to inspire and educate was the way to go. That morning the boys of 5th class at St Peters listened very carefully to my simple explanation of this visually powerful image. The boys used soft pastels on black paper and lovely blending and feathering drawing methods to capture the swirling clouds of gas and dust 7,500 light years from this planet. Great energy and use of color produced some beautiful drawings, it was a very special event. One child said ‘Its amazing to draw this huge thing on my small page’

Deirdre

Aristarchus & Vallis Schröteri

Craters: Aristarchus, Herodotus. Vallis Schröteri
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla (Wimmer)

Objects: Moon 88% of full. Craters: Aristarchus, Herodotus. Vallis Schröteri
Date: February 25, 2010
Place: Poland, Wrocław
Equipment: Schmidt-Cassegrain 5″ with Sky-Watcher SWA-58 9mm + barlow 2x
Magnification: About 227x
Seeing: 2/5
Transparency: 2/5
Weather: Good. Light fog
Technique: Pastels on fine art paper
Observer: Aleksander Cieśla (Wimmer)

Planche Mars 2010

Mars 2010 Composite
Sketches by 24 Observers
Composite by Serge Vieillard; Description and Submission by Christian Gros

I am attaching a board of the 2010 opposition of Mars, realized by Serge Vieillard. He gathered the drawings displayed on the French sites AstroSurf and Webastro and made this beautiful spiral. The drawings of the most experienced ones are alongside the beginners (the youngest artist was only ten years old), which makes such a collective approach so worthwhile. It is interesting to note the style of each, and he has been very careful to position the drawings so that we can see the rotation of the planet!

Object Name: Mars
Object type: Planet
Location: France
Date: April 12, 2010

(French-English Translation using Google and other online dictionaries)

Original French description:
Je vous joins une planche de l’opposition martienne 2010 réalisée par Serge Vieillard. Ce dernier a recensé les dessins présentés sur les sîtes francophones Astrosurf et Webastro et en a fait cette belle spirale. Les dessins des plus chevronnés cotoient ceux des débutants (le plus jeune dessinateur n’a que dix ans), ce qui fait tout l’intérêt d’une telle démarche collective. Il est intéressant de remarquer le style de chacun, et Serge a bien pris soin de positionner les dessins de telle sorte que l’on peut voir la rotation de la planète !

Artists:
Yohan Archambaud
Jean-Marc Beraud
Nicolas Biver
Fred Burgeot
Xavier Camer
Cricri
Youenn Daniel
Pierre Desvaux
Sebastien Graziani
Christian Gros
Christophe Gros
Vincent Gros
Vincent Jacques
Daniel Paletti
Emmanuel Pelegrin
Ptit Prince 974
José Rodrigues
Gérard Sirven
Daube Sonne
Pierre Strock
Bruno Thien
Julien Vandermarlière
Serge Vieillard
Vvastro

NGC 5286

NGC 5286
Sketch and Details by Scott Mellish

NGC 5286
Globular Cluster
Centaurus
18/03/10
Ilford NSW Australia
56cm f5 Dobsonian telescope
Field: 27′
Magnification: 218x
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:39

This rather quaint little globular cluster was mostly resolved in the
56cm dob at 218x mag.

The bright orange/yellow tinged star in the field is the spectroscopic
binary M Centauri, a G-type star which lies around 257 ly from Earth,

Both the star and the globular cluster together make for a most pleasing
view.

Scott Mellish.

Moon and Venus

Gibbous Venus and the Crescent Moon
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

The western sky at twilight was just cloud free enough for one to see the planet Venus and the 1.23 day old moon together. I was about 12 hours away from catching a flight back to Chicago from Phoenix and I had just enough time for a quick free hand graphite sketch on copy paper before retiring for the night. I included with the sketch notes on the sky colors and cloud locations so that I could make an oil pastel drawing when I arrived back in Illinois.

Sketching:

This is a re-drawn sketch in oil pastels of the Moon and Venus in the western sky on dark blue construction paper 12” x 14”.
The original graphite sketch was completed in about 20 minutes on the back patio looking due west.
No optical aid was used.
At the time of the sketch (March 16, 2010, 7:26 pm local time) the moon was 1.5 % illuminated and only 1.25 days old. Lunation 1079
The sky was partly cloudy and filled with aircraft contrails especially in the west.
The air temperature was a pleasant 24° C (75° F).
Location: Mesa, Arizona

Frank McCabe