Category: 02_Media

Petals of a Planetary – NGC 2818

NGC 2818
NGC 2818

Aloha!

I submit to you my sketch of planetary nebula NGC 6818 and the beautiful open cluster of stars that frame it, NGC 2818A, in the southern constellation Pyxis. The night was exceptionally clear & still at ~10,000 foot elevation site of Haleakala.

At the eyepiece this planetary appears as a greyish, elongate & irregular ghostly object within a lovely, but dim open cluster of 10th to 14th magnitude stars. On prolonged observation this open cluster takes on the appearance of petals of a flower with the planetary somewhat offset in the central region. The planetary nebula is best seen with averted vision and a narrow pass band filter which is helpful to better define the borders.

Though NGC 2818 & its often cited as a member of this open cluster of stars, accurate measurement of their velocities suggest this is a only chance alignment. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090122.html

NGC 2818 & NGC 2818A in Pyxis
Planetary Nebula / Open Cluster
Haleakala National Park, Maui HI
5/8/13 8:45pm
12.5” Portaball
14mm ES, 109X
DMG NPB Filter

Cindy (Thia) Krach
Haleakala Amateur Astronomers

The Tango

Messier 97 and 108
Messier 97 and 108

Object Name M97 and M108
Object Type Galaxy and Planetary Nebula
Location Banyoles (Girona), Catalonia
Date 2 – 6 – 13
Media Graphite and digital inverted colours

My equipment is a Dobson 10″ with a 25mm eyepiece. The seeing and transparency is 7/10.

Sorry for my english, this is my first sketch with my new dobson. When sketching that you see, you see more details!! It’s awesome!

The name of the sketch, “The Tango” is from… this objects are very spectecular pair on the sky, and give me a “Tango” idea.

… and sorry for my bad english 😉

Marc Muñoz.

White Light Sun – May 22, 2013

White Light Sun - May 22, 2013
White Light Sun – May 22, 2013

Hello,

I would like to submit a Drawing of the Sun on May 22 2013 at 08h00 UTC,

Object : The Sun (in visible light)

Location : Narbonne – South of France

Media : White paper (18.5*18.5cm) & Graphite pencil (HB0.7mm) + backgroud colour, corections and light/contrast adjustment with “Gimp image editor”

Telescope :Skywatcher Mc 127/1500 + Baader astrosolar Filter,
Eyepieces : Televue Plossl 32mm (46.8x) / Hyperion 24mm (62.5x)

Meteo : cloudy but stable seeing 😉

Thank you for reading,

Gallardo Julien

the Sun – Drawing

Messier 51

Messier 51
Messier 51
Equipo Tubo New 10’ ’ Dobson Telrad y codo 9x Ocul. 30mm-40x-2ºca Barlow 2x
Objeto NGC 5194 Galaxia Clase: SA(s)bc pec, II-III Mag. 8.5 B. super. 13.1 Tamaño 11’ x 8’
Situación CVn AR: 13h 30m 29.6s DE: +47º 07′ 47″ Elevación del objeto +70º aproximados

M 51 in interaction with its companion (NGC 5195) is one of the most beautiful images that gives us the sky for amateur astronomers. In a moderately good sky and with a half-open tube appreciate how the disks of these galaxies are playing.

Two spiral galaxies are located in the northern constellation of Canes Venatice, about 3 ° away from the star Alkaid (eta UMa). Its location is easy as can be distinguished in the search box 9x as a tiny gray haze. With letters from mag. 6.5 takes me a couple minutes to find them.

Also called the Whirlpool Galaxy, M 51 is a very bright object with a bright nucleus, where it descends gradually to the outside light to get lost in a blur round irregular contour. The brightness of the disk is irregular with signs of spiral arms.

It’s pretty big, about 8 ‘, in relation to the eyepiece of actual field 1, and its shape is round, somewhat flattened perhaps because we see her face.

Attached to the contour Visibly M 51 NGC 5195 is another spiral galaxy about 2 ‘in size, round and rather less luminous than its companion.

Another feature that is seen in M 51 is a little star superimposed in the middle of your disk.

Scattered throughout the field there are several bright stars and about 15 ‘of the galaxy, the more brightness of all.

The 80x I get the best view and choose to do the part. Also alternate direct vision and diverted.

Sketch:

• Media: Graphite Pencil HB 2, torchon 1 and 130g drawing sheet

• inverted colors with GIMP 2.8

Peter Villamiel

Alcorcón 13/05/2013

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.

Our Sun in White Light – May 19, 2013

White Light Sun - May 19, 2013
White Light Sun – May 19, 2013

Hello astronomers,

This is my drawing of the sun in white light at May 19, 2013.

Object name: Sun
Object type: Star
Location: Koudekerke, Netherlands
Date: May 19, 2013
Media: Graphite pencils and processed with GIMP
Time: Around 14:00 UT
Telescope: Sky-watcher refractor (102/500mm)

First I made a fussy grey background for the sun and drew a circle. Thereafter I drawed the sunspots and the rest of the details inside the disk. I scanned the picture and processed it with GIMP for a smooth contrast and brightness.

Kind regards,
Lennart van Sluijs

NGC 6337 Revisited

NGC 6337
NGC 6337

Hello again! This time i sketched NGC 6337 from the rural skies of Doyle (160km away) at a star party. Luckily the central asterism (http://www.capella-observatory.com/images/PNs/NGC6337Small.jpg) appeared so much better and no filter was needed for the nebula. I used also a bunch of different eyepieces for the challenge.

Object Name: NGC 6337.
Object Type: Planetary Nebula. Apparent mag. ~12.3.
Location: Doyle, Buenos Aires Argentina.
Date: 12/05/2013 3:00-4:00 AM.
Media: Digital tools. PS 5.

Telescope: Dobson 12″ F/5.

Eyepieces: ES 11mm 82º, BST Explorer 8mm/5mm, TMB II Planetary 5mm/4mm.

Filter: No filter needed (yay!).

Bortle Scale: 3, Rural Sky. Very good transparency, average seeing.

Thank you again!!

Leandro Yasutake

M64 – A Different View

Messier 64
Messier 64

M64 -Black Eye Galaxy

Object Type: Galaxy

Location: Tarragona – Spain

When I watched M64 for the first time with my 5″ SC, I thought I was whatching an awesome galaxy. But on the night of May 11, I could see how important telescope aperture and dark skies really are. The image with my 9,25″ SC was very impressive. I attach the sketches in order to compare the two nights. Really, both have their own charm.

For more details of my observation you can visit my blog:

http://laorilladelcosmos.blogspot.com.es/2013/05/m64-el-ojo-morado-con-el-sc-de-235mm.html

Date and Time: 2010-04-10, 21h 47m UT / 2013-05-11, 22h 36m UT

Telescope: SC Celestron Nexstar 5i (127mm) / SC Celestron 9.25″ (235mm)

Eyepiece: Nagler 16mm (69,44x / 146,88x)

White paper, HB2 graphite pencil, and scanned and inverted with Photoshop

Seeing: 3/5 (5 the best) – Both

Transparency: Clear. Rural Skies – Both.

Location Constellation: Coma Berenices

Position: R.A. 12h 56m

Dec. +21° 40′

Thank you and best regards.

Oscar