The Sun before Christmas

The Sun before Christmas - December 24, 2014
The Sun before Christmas – December 24, 2014

Hi ASOD:

Objet: Sun
Objet Type: Sun Ha
Location: Panama city, Republic of Panama (Central America)
Date: December 24 , 2014
Media: graphite pencil , white paper and Phto Zone to invert, color tone and text.
Telescope: Meade Coronado PST – H alpha, 40/400.
Ocular: 13mm

The Sun before Christmas

clear skies , Ricardo Schwarz

Nebulosa de Orion (M-42)

M 42, "The Great Nebula in Orion", a giant  star forming region that contains emission, reflection and dark nebulae located in the constellation Orion
M 42, “The Great Nebula in Orion”, a giant star forming region that contains emission, reflection and dark nebulae located in the constellation Orion

Object name: M-42
Object type: Nebulosa brillante
Location: Pelayos de la Presa (Madrid) España
Date: 21-Dic-2014 Hora: 02:45 T.U:
Media: lápiz de grafito; A4 de 120 gr; difumino; procesado con GIMP 2.4
Equipo: Refractor Acromático Bresser Messier 152L 1200mm; F/7.8. Montura: HEQ5 Pro. Ocular: WO 2″ 25mm 48X.
Condiciones de observación: Cielo rural urbano con algo de viento y una magnitud límite de 6 a simple vista en el cenit; humedad del 70% aproximádamente

Object name: M-42
Object type: Bright Nebula
Location: Pelayo de la Presa (Madrid) Spain
Date: 21-Dec-2014 Time: 2:45 T.U:
Media: pencil graphite; A4 120 gr; stump; processed with GIMP 2.4
Team: Achromatic Refractor Bresser Messier 152L 1200mm; F / 7.8. Frame:. HEQ5 Pro Ocular: WO 2 “25mm 48X.
Conditions of observation: urban rural sky with some wind and a limiting magnitude of 6 to glance at the zenith; Approximately 70% humidity

Smiling Christmas Eve Moon & Mars

The conjunction of the crescent Moon and Planet Mars - December 24, 2014
The conjunction of the crescent Moon and Planet Mars – December 24, 2014

Aloha,

Every Christmas Eve, my family treks to the top of Haleakala to feel the chill and look for Santa’s Sleigh. This year we went to the 10,000 el to find it a cold 36*, wet, and blowing rain. After a few minutes we jumped back into the car a bit disappointed, to descend the mountain. Right before the park exit the sky had mostly cleared and the winds calmed. There we hiked under the “smiling” Hawaiian crescent. Chilled cheeks and fingers, it was perhaps one of the nicest Christmas Eves ever. This sketch was drawn from my memory of the evening.

In the winter months the path of the Moon is more parallel with the horizon giving the lunar crescent in Hawaii a bowl or smile like appearance when lit from the already set sun. Ancient Hawaiian’s called this the “wet moon” because it looks like a bowl that could be filled up with rain. As the winter moves into Spring & Summer the crescent shifts to “pour” water onto the land, empties and becomes a “dry moon” once more. Wet moons occur routinely in the tropics where the sun and moon rise and set nearly vertically.

3.5 day old Crescent Moon & Mars
12/24/14 1930 HST
Haleakala National Park, Hosmers Grove
Black Canson paper with colored Conte’ Crayon and watercolor pencils

Cindy (Thia) Krach

Webmaster’s note: Wishing all astrosketchers a Very Happy New Year and looking forward to another year hosting all your wonderful observational sketches!

Richard Handy
Jeremy Perez

Lunar crater Maurolycus

Lunar crater Maurolycus and environs - December 28, 2014
Lunar crater Maurolycus and environs – December 28, 2014

Hi,

here we go with a chalk/charcoal sketch of lunar crater Maurolycus.
Object Name: Maurolycus
Object Type: Lunar Crater
Location: Germany, Dusseldorf area
Date: 2014-12-28, 1650-1720 CET
Media: chalk pencil and charcoal pencil on black sketching cardbox
Telescope: Martini 10” f/5 truss tube dobsonian
Eyepiece: TS HR Planetary 7mm

Clear Skies!

Achim

A Supernova in the Galaxy NGC 4666

NGC 4666 and ASASSN-14LP, a galaxy harboring a supernova - December 21, 2014
NGC 4666 and ASASSN-14LP, a galaxy harboring a supernova – December 21, 2014

Object Name (NGC 4666 and ASASSN-14LP)
Object Type (Galaxy and Supernova)
Location (Observatoire Astronomique de Bauduen – Provence France)
Date (2014 12 21)
Media (graphite pencil, white paper, just rapid usage of Paint.net to invert the B&W)

Here’s the sketch I made while looking at this galaxy. The mag. estimation I did is far better than expected : 11.2.
A target easy to find because the galaxy NGC 4666 is quite big and very close to gamma Virgo with a confortable magnitude, but the SN is very close to the galactic centrum, only 12 sec of arc!!, so to separate the two lights the use of the 24″ helps a lot.

http://astro.aquarellia.com/

Sentinel C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy

Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, a winter solstice view - December 21, 2014
Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, a winter solstice view – December 21, 2014

Hello friends,
I send you a report observation of Comet C / 2014 Q2 Lovejoy yesterday night, December 21, 2014
Just started the winter solstice and wanted to celebrate it!

Waiting for the chance to see the comet decide to go to the rooftop, the map says it’s 15 degrees high. I hope that the fog has not risen much …

The humidity is very high but its clear and I can see lot of stars south of CMa … looks like I’ll be lucky.

I pointed to the area between south CMa and Columba with binoculars 12×80 (4.2º), no need to look further: there it is. His precious coma highlighting against the background of stars…

The field of binoculars is beautiful, the comet is framed in a triangle of stars and I can see a thin tail with indirect vision that goes north. It’s longer than I expected to see, I make a mark on the picture to know the length of the tail I see (arrow).
I make a drawing with the position of the comet and the reference stars and the size of the coma and tail to the correct scale I see.

Graphite (H, HB) and difumino on white paper, scanned and inverted.

Regards.

Leonor


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NGC 362 in Tucana

NGC 362, a globular star cluster in the constellation Tucana
NGC 362, a globular star cluster in the constellation Tucana

Object Name: NGC 362.
Object Type: Globular Cluster.
Location: Malabrigo, Santa Fe, Argentina.
Date: Friday December 19, 2014, 22:00 hs
Media: White paper, pencil HB and GIMP to invert colors and make minor tweaks.
Equipment used for the drawing: Dobson SkyWatcher 12″ (305 mm).
Power: 70x, with Baader Hyperion 21 mm.

Claudio Vidolini
Foro “Espacio Profundo”
Malabrigo, Santa Fe, Argentina.

NGC 2808

NGC 2808, a globular star cluster in the constellation Carina
NGC 2808, a globular star cluster in the constellation Carina

Object Name: NGC 2808.
Object Type: Globular Cluster.
Location: San Miguel, Buenos Aires Argentina.
Conditions: Good transparency, bad seeing.
Date: 19/12/14.
Media: 2B, 2H, blend stump and PS. Averted vision.
Telescope: Meade LB 12″ on equatorial tracking platform.
Eyepiece: Plössl 10mm (x152) .
First glob, very tricky!

Difficult Uranus

The Planet Uranus and its moons, Oberon, Ariel, and Titania December 11, 2014
The Planet Uranus and its moons, Oberon, Ariel, and Titania December 11, 2014
Uranus and it's moons, Oberon, Ariel, and Titania - December 11, 2014
Uranus and it’s moons, Oberon, Ariel, and Titania – December 11, 2014

Object Name (Uranus with moons)
Object Type (Planet and satellites)
Location : Observatoire Astronomique de Bauduen, Provence France
Date 2014 Dec 11th
Media (graphite pencil, and inverted watercolor on white paper, Paint.net for the inversion)
That’s maybe because I like to use this great telescope, or it’s because I like challenges but,… it’s certainly not the best optical combination for this observation.
On 11 December, I finally found a corner of pure sky above the 24-inch reflector made by Olivier Planchon. To observe Uranus, the speed is definitely too high: f / 3.3 d, so we had to use very short focal EP to reach the useful magnification (Nagler 3.7 and 2.5) !.
If you look at my watercolor you can see a somewhat elongated comet hair that diffuse around the planet, that’s exactly how we see the planet area in the field, this is probably linked to a not 100% perfect collimation, but still. I get the impression that the work of collimation facing these big tubes, it is not a piece of cake.
Anyway, we can say two things:
1- We observed three of the Uranus satellites: Oberon, Titania and Ariel, this last one being a bit lost in the lights of the planet
2- the disk of the planet was not uniform as seen in a small telescope or some photos. It’s very difficult to confirm, but a diffuse zone clearer was observed in the upper atmosphere of Uranus, is that an artifact, I do not know? Anyway the main direction of the area is not in the direction of the cloud bands of Uranus.

Another composition of this observation is given here: http://astro.aquarellia.com/croquis/uranus_page_h.jpg