Category: Milky Way

In Flight through the Milky Way to Andromeda

Milky Way
Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy
Sketch and Details by Patrick Van Beeck

The milky way and the stunning great galaxy of andromeda
38000 feet over north western Italy
Feb 7th, 2010

This sketch was made at an altitude of 38000 feet over the north western Italian coastline enroute to Paris in an Airbus 319 cruising at 455 kts groundspeed.
The views from the cockpit at night can be truly amazing, the reason being that 70% of the atmospheres mass is below us! Giving a crystal clear view of the sky almost right down to the horizon. What stuns me every winter, is the size of the blob of the andromeda galaxy almost as big as the moon!

This sketch was made digitally with photoshop

Enjoy this nightly cruise with me as the atmosphere rushes by…

Patrick Van Beeck

Milky Way in Cassiopeia

Milky Way in Cassiopeia

The Milky Way in Cassiopeia
By Rony De Laet

 This is a lawn chair observation of the Milky Way passing through Cassiopeia. The view was so beautiful that I wanted to capture it in a sketch. I studied the region for about 20 minutes before sketching. North is right in the sketch. The two patches on top of the view are the double cluster in Perseus. I tried to simulate the glow of the Milky Way as it crossed this mighty constellation.

Location : Bischofshofen, Austria
Date:  Dec. 25, 2006 , 21.00UT
Seeing:  4 on a scale of 5, Transparency : 4, Nelm : 5.1
Scope : naked eye

A Promenade Through a Royale Garden

IC 1396 

IC1396, a promenade through the Royale Garden.

One of the known highlights of Cepheus is Mu Cephei, a deep orange star. This night Mu Cephei served as the guiding light to IC1396. This region is a beautiful field of stars. There was something peaceful about this place. I felt like strolling through an exotic garden covered with haze. The place seemed majesticaly silent with Mu Cephei as a guard of honour at the border of the eyepiece. I don’t know if I saw IC1396 at all. I just noted all the light I could absorb in this field. A strange fact is that Mu Cephei kept his orange color through the UHC filter.

Date : October 13, 2007
Time : 21.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Meade SP 26mm
Power : x20
FOV: 150′
Filter : Lumicon UHC
Seeing : 3.5/5
Transp. : 3/5
Nelm : 5.3
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Rony De Laet
Belgium