The Trifid Nebula

Messier 20
Messier 20

Object: 20 Trifid Nebula
Location: Mt. Nerone
Date 3rd Aug 2013
Pencil on white paper

This nebula is quite low at my latitude and thus is always submerged in the light pollution halo from cities in the south. This makes it a quite difficult object without a nebula filter. I have obtained the best results with an UHC-S filter. I also tried with an OIII filters which gives outstanding constrast on Lagoon Nebula, which is just nearby, but it is not the best for the trifid.

Regards, Immagine in linea 1

Aldo

Messier 20 and 21

Messier 20 and 21
Messier 20 and 21

Did some observing and sketching in the Sagitarius region on 8/24/2013. Very “crowded” area of the sky … so much to see and sketch. What caught my eye was the view of M20/M21, both easily visible in the FOV of my rich field scope. Hope I did it justice.

Mike

M20/M21 Nebula/Open Cluster
8/24/2013
Warren County NJ
Orion Astroview 100 Refractor
Sketched on a laptop computer

Splendor of the Eagle

Messier 16
Messier 16

Here’s my impression of M16, a large star-forming nebula with inside of it a brilliant cluster of newborn stars in the constellation of Serpens. It was made on the 10th of August at my little observatory in Carù, Italy. Equipment used was my 18″ f/4,45 homemade Dob with 40mm Siebert VP Echelon binoviewer, a couple of Explore Scientific 24mm 82° eyepieces and a Baader OIII filter. Conditions were rather good and I could even make out the main “pillar of creation” as a small dark lane in the nebula’s centre. I captured the image with an ordinary pencil on white paper and afterwards elaborated it on the pc, trying to make the final result as realistic as possible. I sincerely hope you like it!

The Eastern Veil

Eastern Veil (NGC6922-6955 / IC1340)
Eastern Veil (NGC6922-6955 / IC1340)

Hello!

I’d like to submit my latest sketch for the ASOD. The Object is the Eastern Veil (NGC6922-6955 / IC1340) which I’ve observed with my 18″ f/4,45 homemade Dob. It was done at my observatory in Carù di Villa Minozzo, a small village in the Emilian Apennines of northern Italy on the evening of the 5th of July. Originally I used pencil on white paper and then elaborated it extensively on the pc to make it look as realistically as possible.

Have you ever had one of these drawings you’ve always wanted to make but never got round to it? Well, this one used to be mine. Perhaps I was afraid of the many subtleties, the complexity and the enormous amount of time involved (mostly because having to re-acclimatise my eyes to the dark after every pencil stroke). This nebula is so spectacular with the 2″ binoviewers and a couple of 82° eyepieces. It just didn’t fit in the FOV though and unfortunately I had to find a balance between the “snake’s teeth” (IC1340) and the bright NGC6992 area. It also took me quite some time indeed, but in the end I’m really pleased with the result. I hope you are too.

Kind regards,

Peter

Great Nebula in Carina

Carina Nebula - NGC 3372, NGC3293 and NGC 3324
Carina Nebula – NGC 3372, NGC3293 and NGC 3324

Object name: NGC 3372, NGC3293 and NGC 3324
Object type: Emission nebula, open clusters
Location: Bogotá, Colombia.
Date: March-2013
Media: Graphite pencil on white paper. Scanned, inverted and processed with photoshop.
Equipment: Celestron skymaster 15X70 Binoculars

Hello all,

I don`t really remember which day of March I started doing this sketch, but the day I started it, the moon was high in the sky so I postponed the sketch to catch the most number of stars possible in this vaste region of the sky. However, I had to postpone the sketch for forever due to the cloudy weather and finally I decided to proceed with the information I had.

I started this sketch with no information about the deep sky objects I was watching. I saw a column very rich with stars, most of them unresolved with the binoculars and forming a vaste region denser and whiter than the LP background sky. I also noticed two groups of stars close to the column (NGC 3372): NGC3293 and NGC 3324. The best out of the three was without doubt NGC3293: just 7 stars could be resolved well, but the whole cluster seemed to shimmer and glow.

This region seems to be a hard one to sketch, but I would like try to sketch it again from a less light polluted site.

Thanks to all for watching.

Rosette Nebula

Rosette Nebula
Rosette Nebula

Hi all!

I made an observation about Rosette nebula with my 10X50 binoculars. This is a digital drawing, but I hope you like it! 🙂

Date: 2012-01-05 20:33UT
Object: NGC2237-2238 (open cluster and nebula)
Location: Nagyvarsány/Hungary (N: 48°09’37” E: 22°16’46”)
Temperature: -2°C (windy)
My blog: www.viktorcsehdraws.blogspot.com

Clear skies!

Viktor

Alnitak Nebula Complex

B33 - Horsehead Nebula
NGC 2024 (Flame Nebula), IC 434, B33 (Horsehead Nebula), IC 435, NGC 2023

Hi,

In attachment you can find sketch of nebulas complex in Orion around
Alnitak – NGC 2024 (Flame Nebula), IC434 and B33 (Horsehead Nebula),
IC435, NGC 2023

Short description:

Object Name NGC 2024 (Flame Nebula), IC434 and B33
(Horsehead Nebula), IC435, NGC 2023
Object Type emission nebulas and dark nebula (Barnard 33)
Location Budy Dłutowskie – small village in central Poland
Date 04.03.2013
Media graphite pencil, white paper, color invert
Telescope Columbus 320UL (320/1384 Newtonian) +
Orion Q70 26mm + TS H-Beta 2”’
Seeing 2/5 (good)
Transparency 2/5 (good)
NELM 5,5 mag

I’ve heard that is possible to observe B33 under medium sky
condtitions (5-6mag) using 12” or bigger scope and H-Beta filter and
I’ve wondered is it true… In 2012 I bought 2” TS B-Beta filter and
after some months of really bad weather in Poland I tried it three
days ago.

When you looking thru the eyepiece you can see Alnitak and misty
shadow of flame nebula. All views using H-beta filter are really dark
so you need few minutes for eye adaptation and you need also to cut
off from all external light sources (using some towel on head or
something like that 🙂 ).
After this adaptation really faint fog of IC434 will appear and in the
middle you can observe small black roundy shaped place in this nebula
– this is the shape of B33.
You won’t observe horsehead shape in 12-16” telescope probably even
in extremely good sky conditions. To see horeheadshape you need 18”
or bigger scope and H-Beta filter.

But its worth to try to observe it. It’s a challenge which can give
you knowledge how you can “detect” and observe really faint objects.

Clear Sky
Łukasz

McNeil’s Nebula

McNeil's Nebula
McNeil’s Nebula

Friends:

Here is my submission, which is, I think, not only my best sketch to date, but also my most valuable one: as I cannot find any other one of the nebula during its short 2008 outburst.

* Object Name (McNeil’s Nebula)
* Object Type (Likely emission nebulosity, outburst of V1647 Ori)
* Location (Santa Cruz mountains, north of Santa Cruz, California)
* Date (12-20-08)
* Media (graphite pencil, white black paper)

The sketch was made in my logbook after a long study about the the nebula, careful preparation of regional charts, and intense scrutiny during a session arranged just for this observation, using my Orion XT-10 Sky Quest 10 inch Dobsonian (f/4.7, 5 mm Orion Stratus eyepiece [240x, 1.1 mm exit pupil, ~17′ FOV], without filtration.)

Sue French, “Deep Sky Wonders” columnist for “Sky & Telescope” magazine, had carefully observed the previous outburst of McNeil’s nebula in 2004, with a 10″ Newtonian (confirmed by Joe Bergeron.) She studied my report and first and second drawings, and commented in reply, “You no doubt saw McNeil’s reflection nebula.”

My lengthy article about the nebula, and this observation, is found at:
http://freescruz.com/~4cygni/astro-app/essays/fuzzy-objects09.htm#McNeil

This article discusses the meteorological conditions, and many other aspects of my quest to see it, and the actual experience, plus my background research. The viewing location was a rural private road in the Santa Cruz mountains, south of San Jose and north of Santa Cruz, at an elevation of 3,400 feet (site of some previous Don Machholz comet discoveries.) The drawing shown was confirmed by me with a second sighting and sketch made with a C-11 telescope, at Lake San Antonio further south, on 12-28-08.

Respectfully submitted,
Stephen R. Waldee
amateur astronomer, San Jose
Manager: Roper Piano Studio

A Bird in Flight

Messier 42
Messier 42

Hi,

I send my sketch of M42. This well-known nebula. In particular, beautifully presented in a dark country sky. Friends who looked at this property by my telescope will not forget this view, the dark sky in the eyepiece and on the background of glowing mist that looks like a bird in flight is a sensation that can not be forgotten. It is a pity that the sky is still cloudy for a long time. I hope that in March the weather will be better 🙂 Thank you and best regards,

Object name: M42 ”
Object type: Nebula
Location: Psary in Poland
Date: 6th February 2013
Power 56x
Telescope: Newton 8 “dobson.