Dedicated to Scott

Dedicated to our beloved friend Scott Mellish…
Aristarchus is one the of the brightest Moon’s crater.
Some people believe that it can be seen with naked eye!!!

Object name: Aristarchus crater
Location: Tehran,Iran
Date: 15 may 2001.
Time: 23:11 local time.
Media: graphite pencil, charcoal and edited with photoshop.
Equipment: Dabsom.8″ Skywatcher.

Clearsky…
Pasha Majidi

A Rushed First Quarter

Hi all,

Time at the eyepiece has been scarce so far this year. And as yet, still no productive time at a dark sky site either. Thankfully we still have the Moon!

This one hour sketch of the first quarter phase of the Moon was a bit of a race. That was all the time I had before the Moon went behind the neighbour’s palm tree, plus conditions were cold and windy. I guess as close to “Extreme Astro Sketching” as I’d like to get to, LOL!

This was also the first sketch undertaken with a real old girl scope, a beautiful early 1980’s orange tube C8. No GPS, no periodic error control, no Go-to, no special lens coatings, doesn’t even make me coffee. Just a little clock drive. Cool.

Object: first quarter phase Moon
Scope: 30 year old C8
Gear: GSO Superview 30mm, 66X
Date: 11th May, 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Conditions: Poor, windy and cold
Media: White and black charcoal pencils, white and black Chinagraph, & graphite pencil on A4 size black paper.

Cheers,

Alex M.

Heart of the Orion Nebula

Observer: Saeed Zohari
Date: Dec 29, 2010
Time: 20:40 (Tehran: +03:30 UTC)
Location: Tehran ( Lat.: 35° 43.158’N, Long.: 51° 30.616’E, Elev.: 1278m)
Optic: Telescope: Maksutov 102mm Focal Length: 1300mm
Eyepiece: 15mm 66d UltraWide
Object: Trapezium Cluster in the heart of the Orion Nebula
Object Type: Cluster and Nebula
Media: white pencil and black paper

Description:
The Trapezium, or Orion Trapezium Cluster is a tight open cluster of stars in the heart of the Orion Nebula, in the constellation of Orion. It was discovered by Galileo Galilei. On February 4, 1617 he sketched three of the stars (A, C, D), but missed the surrounding nebulosity. The fourth component (B) was identified by several observers in 1673, and several more components were discovered later, for a total of eight by 1888. Subsequently several of the stars were determined to be binaries. Telescopes of amateur astronomers from about 5 inch aperture can resolve six stars under good seeing conditions.
The Trapezium is a relatively young cluster that has formed directly out of the parent nebula. The five brightest stars are on the order of 15-30 solar masses in size. They are within a diameter of 1.5 light-years of each other and are responsible for much of the illumination of the surrounding nebula. The Trapezium may be a sub-component of the larger Orion Nebula Cluster, a grouping of about 2,000 stars within a diameter of 20 light-years.

Total Eclipse in Malindi

Hey artists!

This is my first and only total eclipse of the sun. It is only > one thing to say, beautiful, and this is still
my finest minutes as an amateurastronomer!
The eclipse started with a long lasting diamondring, and ended > with a shorter one.
Info on my sketch!

Best wishes and clear sky from Per-Jonny Bremseth

Planets of a Red Dwarf Star

Object Name: Gliese 581 g
Object Type: Exoplanet
Location: Lith, the Netherlands
Date: 14-5-2011
Media: Photoshop CS5

More than 20 light years away lies a perfectly normal star. It is a red dwarf called Gliese 581. The mass of this star is 0.33 times that of the Sun, and 0.002 times the luminosity. At first sight, no agreements with our star you might think.
Imagine yourself being in a spaceship towards this star. When we approach Gliese 581, we see six bright dots that rotate around her. These dots are planets, and some of them may contain life.

We now focus on Gliese 581 g. This is the sixth planet in this system. Gliese 581 g has a mass of 3 to 4 times that of Earth, and is 30 to 40% larger. This is probably a rocky planet with enough gravity to hold an atmosphere.
One rotation of the planet around its own axis takes as long as one rotation around its star: a little less than 37 days. This means that one side of the planet is constantly turned to its star (like the Moon orbits the Earth).

This Digital Impression is made in Photoshop CS5. It is the first time I’ve done this, but certainly not the last time. Thanks for watching!

Rutger Teule
www.rutgerteule.com

Cusp of Moon and Sinus Iridum

Hello artists,all o.k.? Compliments for last Moon sketches ,great work ( at Frank in paricular)at all.
I made three sketches of Moon ,two in one week,but at moment i sent you my two sketches,one of a cups of crescent Moon,one of Sinus Iridum and environs.
I used my refractor Kenko 80mm 1000 f.l.,little but perfect for this work.
About my sketch of Moon cups,i go at hill near my town.At first i go for one observing session but when i see in eyepiece this incredible zone i decide to draw quyckly.
I see the mountains coming out from shadow ,one light thread of light on the surface.
The Moon phase was crescent(one day),this is the first time that i made one sketch of this zone,i want to made other,nextly.
The second ( and last) sketch i made last friday.
I mounted my refractor on the roof of my room’s terrace,i list music….perfect Moon sketch session.
One incredible neat vision ,the Sinus Iridum, Bianchini crater, Mount Jura and many splits and shadows…..very difficult work !
I go to bad satisfied but with head-ache.
I hope like you.
Ciao a tutti,Giorgio.

About first sketch( cups of Moon):

Site:Pergola (Serraspinosa Hill,400 meters over see level )
Date:7 of May 2011 10,50 p.m.
Moon phase : Crescent
Instrument:Refractor Kenko 80/1000
Eyepiece:15mm + Barlow (133x)
Seeing :Very good
Air: Calm.light cold.
Technnics:Graphite pencill on withe paper fabriano.

About last sketch (Sinus Iridum and environs):

Site :Pergola,Marche Region,center Italy
Date:13-14 of May 2011 from 10,40 p.m. to 01,13 a.m.
Moon phase: Crescent (11,3 days )
Instrument: Refractor Kenko 80mm/!000
Eyepiece:15mm+ barlow
Seeing:Good,turbulance and light clouds at the end.
Air: Light cold,no wind.

Lassoing the Horsehead

Horsehead nebula is one of the most challenging deep sky objects. Also one of my favourites.
I made this sketch using a 8″ Newtonian and a UHC filter under very dark and transparent skies (close to 7th naked eye magnitude). The region around Zeta Orionis is rich with nebulae, 4 of which can be seen here: The famous “Flame” (top), a little NGC2023 (middle), large and faint IC434 (right) and of course the tiny “Horsehead” dark nebula inside IC434. Only a hint of it can be noticed, without any significant details we usually see in long exposure photos.

Equipment: 8″ F/5 Newtonian, UHC filter.
Name: IC434, NGC 2023, NGC 2024, B33
Type: Emission and dark nebulae
Constellation: Orion
Location: Negev desert, southern Israel
Date: 01-02/11/2008 , 02:00
Conditions: good seeing, ~6.9m sky.
Media: Graphite pencils, white paper, red light.
Scanned and processed in Photoshop

Eye of the Raven

Object Name: NGC 4361
Also Known As: H.I.65, PK 294+43 1, PN G294.1+43.6, VV 62
Object Type: Planetary Nebula
Constellation: Corvus
Right Ascension (2000.0): 12h 24m 30.8s
Declination (2000.0): –18° 47′ 05″
Magnitude: 10.3n/13.2s
Diameter: 45″/110″
Voronstov-Velyaminov Type: 3a+2
Distance: 2,600 light years
Discovery: William Herschel on 7 February 1785 with 18.7-inch reflector
NGC Description: vB, L, R, vsmbMN, r

Telescope: Parks Astrolight EQ6 • 6″ f/6 Newtonian Reflector
Eyepiece/Magnification: 7.5mm Parks Gold Series Plössl • 120x • 26′ Field of View
Filter: None
Date/Time: 30 April 2011 • 05:00-05:45 UT
Observing Location: Oakzanita Springs, Descanso, San Diego Co., California, USA
Transparency: NELM 6.2; TLM 14.1
Seeing: Pickering 7-8
Conditions: Clear, calm, cold, humid

I found this bright planetary nebula easily by sweeping 5° due east of my previous target, NGC 4038/9. If you are seeking this object out on its own, it lies in the northern portion of the keystone-like shape of the Crow, and forms a right triangle with Delta (δ) and Gamma (γ) Corvi. As the brightest deep-sky object in Corvus, it is faintly visible in 10×50 binoculars under a dark sky.

At 30x magnification, NGC 4361 appears as a small circular patch of colorless nebulosity with a brighter center in a field sprinkled with bright and faint stars. The central concentration, while prominent, could not clearly be resolved as the central star.

At 60x magnification NGC 4361 displays a bright inner ellipse in position angle 115° surrounded by a fainter outer halo. The central star is intermittently visible as a stellering in the center of the ellipse. Variations in brightness are suspected in the outer shell. At 120x magnification the central star is clearly and steadily visible, even with direct vision. The inner shell appears slightly brighter in its NE half, and faint spiral “arms” can be traced through the outer halo. The nebula remains colorless (or “white”) at each of these magnifications. In many ways this object looks a lot more like a galaxy than a planetary nebula through the eyepiece. At 240x magnification NGC 4361 appeared dim and very diffuse, with the 13th-magnitude central star blazing through the fog. This lack of definition prompted me to back the magnification down to 120x for the sketch.

At 120x magnification, most of the prominent stars visible in the low-power view have been pushed out of the field of view. Only TYC 6105-1027-1, yellow-orange, 8.7′ NE, and TYC 6105-1204-1, blue-white, 10′ NNW, both 11th-magnitude are bright enough to rival NGC 4361. The remaining field stars range from 12th down to 14th magnitude.

The sketch presented here depicts the view at high magnification (120x). The sketch has been rotated so that north is up and west is to the right. The sketch was produced with a No. 2 mechanical pencil with 0.5 mm lead, and three blending stumps (8948B, 8943B, and 8941B) on 100 lb. white card stock. The original drawing measures 7½ inches across.

This observation was made from a reasonably dark site (borderline blue-green on LP maps) at an elevation above 4,000 feet. The NELM was estimated at 6.2, the TLM at 14.1 in the vicinity of the target. The seeing conditions were above average (Pickering 7-8), but the humidity was quite high and care had to be taken to prevent dew from accumulating on optics and sketching materials. The temperature was 37°F. The air was very still and the high magnification views very steady.

Eric Graff