Total Lunar Eclipse

The Total Lunar Eclipse of October 8th 2014 as seen from the skies north of Catherine, Australia
The Total Lunar Eclipse of October 8th 2014 as seen from the skies north of Catherine, Australia
Detail of background sketch of full Moon that had color applied
Detail of background sketch of full Moon that had color applied

Total Lunar Eclipse of October 8, 2014, observed T250, Australia, north of Katherine. Nice atmosphere in the twilight moonrise partially eclipsed silhouetted against the red cliffs. This string is selected among the eight drawings, sketches showing the COLLECTED colors and visibility of lunar formations.
Full Moon déssinée the eve of the eclipse. It served as the background image for the realization of the rosary.
Sincerely
Serge

Occultation of Saturn by the Moon

The Occultation of Saturn by the Moon - October 26, 2014
The Occultation of Saturn by the Moon – October 26, 2014

Object Name (Saturn, Moon first croissant)
Object Type (Occultation)
Location (Artignosc-sur-Verdon, France )
Date (2014 Oct 26)
Media (graphite pencil, watercolour, white paper, Paint.net for inversion and crop)
Occultation of Saturn by the Moon

Here join a watercolour I made while Saturn just leaves the very young moon.
That was a very nice spectacle indeed!
The original sketch was done in B&W on white paper; the small brilliant point on the very end of the moon croissant was used to define the Saturn disk intensity.
The colours were added in my workshop and the inverted while scanning.
During the emersion (17:17 UTC) the moon was less than 4° up my horizon and the sun was only 6° behind. So the sky was still clear.
The observation was made with a 102 f/10 refractor and a 10mm Delos EP, no filters.

Clear sky to you all !

Michel Deconinck

The Cat’s Eye Nebulae

NGC 6543, "The Cat's Eye Nebula", a planetary nebula in the constellation Draco
NGC 6543, “The Cat’s Eye Nebula”, a planetary nebula in the constellation Draco

• Object Name (NGC 6543)
• Object Type (Planetary nebulae)
• Location (OAB – Bauduen – Verdon – France)
• Date (October 16th 2014)
• Media (graphite pencil, watercolour, white paper, inverted via Paint.net)

To obtain this sketch I use the following optical combinations via the 24” f/d 3.3 on equ. mount of the OAB (Observatoire Astronomique de Bauduen)
An OIII filter to obtain better contrasts. Under a magnification of 240X and the OIII filter the nebulae center darkening is clearly visible.
With the same magnification but without the filter we can easily see the central star with direct vision; anyway we are a little dazzled by the close light of the nebula.
With a magnification of 120X we can observe the structure of one or two of the outer rings.
A 550x magnification allowed me to discern one of the two jets that extend the basic ellipse.

http://astro.aquarellia.com/

Michel Deconinck

The tropical Scorpion

"The tropical Scorpion", the constellation Scorpio as seen over South Vietnam
“The tropical Scorpion”, the constellation Scorpio as seen over South Vietnam

Last month my family visited the home town in southern Vietnam where (my) wife’s mother lives. Several days and nights passed too fast as (they) always did to appreciate enough the tropical life and nature. The feeling of daily life here is always bright , busy, active,pleasant ,greenish,abundant and warm and noisy, the sun shines far intensely than in Korea, every roads every rivers flooding with motorcycles , boats , peoples, …. One late afternoon we visited a near temple to pray, have a conversation with a Buddhist priest ,rest until the sun set and ate noodles in a small restaurant near the temple . When the darkness spread on the west horizon where still remained in vermillion hue, I could see the magnificent Scorpion in full of stars, constellation rising 40 degree altitude which I always could only see the scorpions head in Korea, my location. Reaching mother’s house I aimed my hand binocular at the scorpion’s tail and I saw 7-8 globular, 8-10 open clusters. On the other nights I saw the Sirius hang on almost 75 degree altitude and the Altair hang on the zenith. I love Vietnamise song much, that helps artwork,astronomy together . —————-

Object; Constellation scorpio

Observe/ Sketch for 2 hours; (September) 9, 2014

Water color painting for 4 hours ; (September) 10, 2014

naked eye (with eyeglasses) , x1 power

Location ; Southern Vietnam ,T.P.Cantho near Equator [ ca 5 degree N]

White paper [50 x35 cm] with pencils , watercolors with brushies

4 Dimensions for Jacques

C/2014 E2 Jacques - August 24, 2014
C/2014 E2 Jacques – August 24, 2014
C/2014 E2 Jacques - August 24, 2014
C/2014 E2 Jacques – August 24, 2014

Object Name (C/2014 E2 Jacques)
Object Type (Comet)
Location (Varages Provence France)
Date (24-08-2014)
Media (watercolour, 4 white paper, Paint.net and 3D photo maker)
With our sketches we are staying with 2D only, the two dimensions of our papers.
So, I project to reach 3D with anaglyph (cyan-red) glasses. It’s not so easy to make four watercolour layers, two inverted one naked eye for the sky and another through the eyepiece for the comet, plus two classical views one for the telescope and one for the landscape… and then compile all of them with stereo slip.

But on top of that I want to reach another dimension, the time! Today, it was the good time to try that!
This Lautter refractor, was build in 1830 ! The telescope and this lovely mount aren’t copies but originals. In the year 1830, the comet Jacques was very far from the today’s orbit. To give an idea of this 1830 old-time, we just invent photography and railway, the country of Belgium, the cities of Miami and Victoria doesn’t exist yet. That gives us an idea of the fourth dimension.
The light coming from the comet Jacques was seen trough those very old lenses.
The watercolours show this old lady refractor of Jean-Luc and Caroline, my friends from the “La Blaque” domain, near Varages in Provence.
This antiquity was shown for the first time to the public during our yearly star party : august 2014 24th; what a success! I was lucky to receive some EP time (just 15 minutes) to sketch the comet Jacques. Regarding the long queue of curious waiting for a view of the comet I was quite happy.
A diameter of 180mm f/d 15 with a 40mm eyepiece gives a magnification of 67X. The end time for the comet field was 21:45 UTC.

To see the 3D effect of the second picture you have to use anaglyph glasses.

Clear sky to you all !

Michel Deconinck

The Sun in H-alpha – aquarel technique

The Hydrogen-alpha solar disk on July 25, 2014 using Aquarel pencils on Aquarel paper.
The Hydrogen-alpha solar disk on July 25, 2014 using Aquarel pencils on Aquarel paper.

Date and time: 25th July 2014, UT 15:30
Place: Tarjan, Hungary (Astronomy Camp of the Hungarian Astronomical Association)
Equipment: 35/400 H-alpha Lunt LS35T, 12 mm
I used colour aquarel pencils on special aquarel paper.

Regards,
Judit

Moon Race Watercolour

July 4-8, 2014 - Conjunction of Moon with Mars, Saturn and Spica
July 4-8, 2014 – Conjunction of Moon with Mars, Saturn and Spica
July 4-8, 2014 - Conjunction of the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Spica
July 4-8, 2014 – Conjunction of the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Spica

* Object Name (Moon, Mars, Saturn)
* Object Type (Conjunctions)
* Location (Artignosc-sur-Verdon – Provence – France)
* Date (2014 from 4 to 8 July)
* Media (Watercolour, white paper, paint.net to invert the result)

From July 4 to 8 Moon played with planets. From a purely astronomical point of view the Moon showed us some beautiful conjunctions, Mars, Spica and then Saturn. By the way the game was a little complicated with the clouds. What a season!
On July 5, the moon was still visible behind heavy clouds. The next day, I have not even been able to detect the moon light ! I had to invent the sky. July 7, when the Moon approaches Saturn, clouds returned to disturb the magic of the moment. I’m a bit fed-up about this weather, and I think not being alone!
The advantage of astro-artist on the astro-photographer is that we can complete our design. This time I have to add the missing lunar position on the view. And to capture those irritating clouds, I painted a hazy wash around the Moon as was the case on July 5.
The small hilltop village that served as a foreground is called Artignosc-sur-Verdon. I confess to being quite happy by this view. Artignosc is just halfway to two now well-known astro-spots “The Blaque” in Varages and the OAB in Bauduen. And ‘cause we are nevertheless in Provence, believe me above the clouds the sky is very dark!
Still … what a season!

To do this watercolour, I went out on my terrace at ten PM every night, sometimes before the storm, sometimes after and once during, being passionate or you do not. Every time I sketched some sketches in a hurry, and took two or three pictures allow me to keep the shades. At the workshop, I started by gathering the different positions of the stars and their locations relative to the village. In less than a week, only the Lunar race was noteworthy, Mars and Saturn are much quieter than the stars. Then I realized in reverse mode (colors and contrast) this watercolour. I just had to scan my sheet and reverse the colors.

http://astro.aquarellia.com

Michel Deconinck

Double Crescents

The conjunction of the Moon and Venus - January 2, 2014
The conjunction of the Moon and Venus – January 2, 2014

I got a quick walk up the hill behind the house this afternoon with 8×32 Nikon binoculars, I scanned for Venus at 16.20ut and was surprised to see a very thin crescent moon in the same fov, also even in the binoculars Venus was a sharp and beautiful crescent, I walked home quickly and made a memory painting in watercolours to try and capture a totally exquisite sight 🙂

Dale

Do you want to know more about my interest in astronomy? If so take a look at my Website: www.chippingdaleobservatory.com

Keep up to date with observations from Chippingdale Observatory by reading the Blog http://chippingdaleobservatory.com/blog/

On the Horizon Near Mare Orientale

Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale - June 15, 2014
Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale – June 15, 2014
Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale, water color painting- June 20, 2014
Mountains on the lunar horizon near Mare Orientale, water color painting- June 20, 2014

Goddess Selene showed me this beautiful old Lunar horizon landscape on the good seeing night on 15th 6. 2014.

I was very happy to see this view .

I opened covers of optics at soon after sun set , …. always the 35kg 18″ flat in front of the 13″ og cools slowly, the image saturn began to show encke minima when I started observing at 10 o’clark.
I was very tired then to give up observing as this 13″ never showed me a Lunar view that surpass 8″….. until now , I slept for 2-3 hours till 2 o’ clock ….. I woke up and again looked through the bino eyepieces.

The beautiful whole Lunar surface was there in incredible details that far surpass the 8″ even along the entire moon limbs… even in that low transparency night, then every skepticisms about the optical qualities shattered , vanished away.
The power of 13′ OG could penetrated twice times into the lunar horizon, so sketch span reduced from 70- 80 km of 8″ og to 30-40 km of 13″ og.

I was interested in water color painting when I was a high-school student and there is 40 years vacancy till worked again on this a lunar limb water -color picture.

…..Still work-able…, right?

Always clear nights, to all amateurs
K. S. Min

—————-

Object; Two mountains near Mare Orientale West Lunar limb

Observe/ Sketch for 2.5 hours; 15. 6, 2014

Water color painting for 2 hours ; 20. 6, 2014

13″ refractor, x 530, naglar 7s type 1

Lunation ; 16 day [14 day is incorrect]

Altitude of moon at 3 ;00 am; about 40 deg [maybe the amount of photons flow from that night’s moon came into the 13″ was 1/100 in compare with that from the clear cold winter nights’ high alt. moon ]

Location ; Backyard home in South. Korea

White paper [40 x30 cm] with pencils , [70x 40 cm] in color with brushes