Open and close

Melotte 111 

Melotte 111

Hello sketchers,

What is called the second closest star cluster to our sun? Looking at it with a
scope is of little use, because the grouping covers about 5° of sky. Some of its
stars look so bright in a scope, as if one can almost touch them. So here it is, my
impression of this beautiful naked eye cluster. I used the lowest power available,
but even the fov of 3° is not large enough to cover the cluster. So the sketch is a
composite image of overlapping observations. Because of the low power, the sky-glow
washes out al stars fainter than mag 10.9. I hope you like my impression.

Date : May 5, 2007
Time : 22.00UT
Scope : SkyWatcher 102/500
TV SP 32mm eyepiece
Power : 15
FOV: 5°
Filter : none
Seeing : 2.5/5
Nelm : 5.1
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with a digital tablet and PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Rony De Laet

http://www.geocities.com/rodelaet, my personal website.

4 thoughts on “Open and close”

  1. Rony I do like it very much it is quite beautiful. Well done and thanks for sharing it with us.

    Warm regards, Dale

  2. Rony,

    For spectacular open clusters this one is right at the top of the list. You have done a wonderful job of sketching this cluster, which I and probably others use as a pointer to edge on galaxy NGC 4565. Excellent work and selection for sketching.

    Frank

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