Author: richardhandy

Voyager’s View of Jupiter

– Object Name: Jupiter
– Object Type: Planet
– Location: Lith, the Netherlands
– Date: 11-6-2011
– Media: pencil sketch on white paper

On March 5, 1979, Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter. During this passage, the probe made a series of legendary photographs of the planet.
Almost two years later, Voyager 1 flew past Saturn. After this passage, the probe began on its interstellar mission.

The sketch below is based on a photograph of Jupiter taken by Voyager 1. It is a pencil sketch, made on white paper.

Thanks for watching!

Rutger Teule
www.rutgerteule.com

Supernovae in the Whirlpool

Object Name: 2011dh
Object Type: supernova
Location: Cherry Springs, Pennsylvania
Date: June 5, 2011
Media: digital

Notes

High absolute humidity made the dust lane detail in the western arm invisible, and the dust lanes in the outer arm to the south and east required special positioning of the eye. In this respect, the view was much worse than last time I observed M51 this spring. All details in the arms also looked “fatter.” On the other hand, the view this time was consistent throughout the night, and with the supernova (marked on the sketch) it was well worth staring at.

Earlier last week, when the supernova was already there but not yet broadly announced, and not yet known to me or my fellow observers, some gentlemen on the field suggested that I should look at M51, because it was so nicely positioned. I did not heed their advice, thinking that with the summer humidity, it would be hard to surpass the view I had earlier this year, and absorbed myself with some new objects. I had my earlier sketch with me in my journal (the rough ball-pen original), in which the superimposed stars were marked way below the magnitude of the supernova. It would be fun to make the discovery at least for myself if not for real, but even that apparently was not fated.

Adornment of the Keystone


Hi artists:

although Tehran is a big city with lots of light pollution last night
the sky was clear and i found M13 like this…i couldn’t believe > that i
had found M13 in a big city like this…
Clear sky

Pasha Majidi

Object name: M13 in Hercules
Object tipe: Globular cluster
Location: Iran/ Tehran
Date: 25.May2011
Time: 21.30 local timime ( +3.30 GMT)
Media: Pencil,Chalk,White paper.
Type of equipment: 8″ Dabson.( Sky watcher)/32 mm eyepiece(multi > coated)

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.

A Lunar Sketching Duet

A Lunar Sketching Duet

Dale Holt of the UK and I have sketched from across the Atlantic in the past more or less at the same time and even on the same target. This past week it was all different as we met in Phoenix, Arizona and for five, dark, dry, transparent nights observed on the Peralta trail road near the base of the SuperstitionMountains not far from Apache Junction. Following crescent moonsets each night we scrutinized many deep sky targets up to the predawn hours and beyond on one occasion. This was possible as my daughter Michelle generously provided her two Dobsonian telescopes for our use all week. Back at our respective home observing sites, we are thankful to get that rare, clear transparent observing night but for this entire week, we never encountered a single cloud daytime or night time and fantastic transparency around the clock.
A highlight of our week together was lunch with Jeremy Perez in Flagstaff, during a day trip to northern Arizona.
On the last night of our observing, it was time to sketch the first quarter Moon and this time side by side from our base in Mesa, Az. Dale chose for his sketching target the lunar Alps including the front range from Promontorium Agassiz past P. Deville to Mons Blanc and including Mons Piton out on Mare Imbrium. Dale used the ten-inch Orion dob. telescope f/ 4.7 with a 9mm Ortho.eyepiece. Note the long shadows extending from the peaks and pointing towards the terminator, an awesome view in the eyepiece. I used the six- inch dob. telescope f/ 7, a 12mm Plossl eyepiece, and my targets were the three craters Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel along the terminator further on to the south.
If you have the opportunity to do a sketching duet, do not pass up the great opportunity; it can be great fun as we quickly discovered.

Sketching:
Dale Holt
White pastel on black Daler Rowney paper at 133 x

Frank McCabe
Graphite on white recycled Strathmore sketching paper at 89 x

Time: 9 June 2011 beginning 04:25 UT we finished in about an hour
Lunar information:
Lunation: 7.3 day old Moon
Illumination: 51.2%
Co-longitude: 4.1°
Phase 88.6°

Frank McCabe

A Globular Offering from the Altar

Hi all,

We’ve had some poor conditions in Eastern Australia for most of this year. I still haven’t had a single productive dark sky night yet! Last night it did clear, but for home, and on a Sunday evening! J LOL!

NGC 6397 is a real treasure of the Southern Sky. This globular cluster is just visible to the naked eye from a dark site. It has many mottled concentrations of stars within its confines, even some extending way beyond its core. Some of these, however, may just be incidental line of site features of other open clusters within our Milky Way as 6397 lies quite close to the centre of the Milky Way in the constellation Ara.

6397 also shares a feature with its more famous brother M4 of a “belt” of stars that cuts through its middle. The component stars of this belt in 6397 are much fainter though, making for a ghostly feature. It is a truly beautiful cluster, and a joy to sketch.

One thing I am not a fan of in my sketches is the blaster “Circle of Confine”, that all to dominant circle that describes the field of view. I rarely use it, but I do have to admit that it has a place. Here I’ve gone for a variation/compromise, laying down a very, very faint arc, rather than a full circle. I really want the sketch to be the feature, not a circle.

Object: NGC 6397
Scope: 17.5” dob, push-pull
Gear: 15mm GSO Superview, 133X
Date: June 5, 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Media: White soft pastel, white & black charcoal & white ink on A4 size black paper.

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