Solar System & DSO sketches

[Rod771]

Very nice sketches Alex! You have an amazing ability to reproduce what is seen through the eyepiece. I very much enjoyed your sketching workshop, you have a lot of great work in your diary's, thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

Cheers

Rod

[Jen]

Very nice Alex what equipment did you use for this ?
Hey what's this workshop? Do you have it on video ? I would love to see your work in action :)

[Jen]

Does anyone here know the name of the app that turns a negative drawing in reverse :) or how to do that in photoshop?
I'm not sure whether to draw on white paper or black paper ?

[glenc]

Jen try Irfan View
http://download.cnet.com/IrfanView/

[Paddy]

Brilliant sketches Alex as always!

[pgc hunter]

Amazing sketches once again Alex and you are true cornerstone for the few of us that still use our eyes. Your work is truly incredible and I find myself wondering how you do it, it is photographic in quality. Good stuff mate and keep it up!

Jen, Irfanview is one of the most useful downloads you'll ever make.

[Jen]

:thumbsup: thanks guys :)

[AG Hybrid]

We'll I picked up my astrosketching gear and I have been practicing the Mellin technique. I hope in time to be able to contribute here.

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

This is one baby I've been wanting to sketch for a LONG time.

M83 has eluded my sketch pad for years. Poor weather and conditions being the main contributing factors. Conditions in particular on those times it was a viable target were particularly frustrating. M83 requires nothing less than very good conditions to bring out the detail. Its low surface brightness falling victim to poor transparency.

This year's South Pacific Star Party finally presented the best opportunity, :)

What a beauty. First look at M83 this night had me say "Wow! That's spectacular!". A blatant bar. A brilliant core. Two definite arms that fade out into an asymmetrical round shape. M83's outer areas have a mottled appearance. A 'tag' is visible that comes off the end of one of the arms - that, and the asymmetrical shape suggest to me either recent or current external gravitational influence. Photographic evidence to this is the enormous amount of HII regions. Such activity is the result of significant gravitational tidal influence. This is all my own speculation from observable evidence.

This galaxy was a joy to sketch. Big, meaty, expansive. The only regret I could have is my eyes were very fatigued at the time, so the HII regions eluded my observation when I 'blinked' M83 with an OIII filter.

Object: M83 galaxy
Scope: 17.5" push-pull dob
Gear: 13mm LVW, 154X
Location: Wiruna, Ilford, NSW, Australia
Date: 24th May, 2014
Media: White soft pastel and white ink on A4 size black paper
Duration: approx. 45min

[Jen]

Very cool :thumbsup:

[mental4astro]

This is one of the three sketches I managed to do at this year's Astrofest in Queensland.

While the northern sky has its distinct star Polaris, the Southern sky has no such similar beacon. The closest relatively bright star to the South Celestial Pole is Sigma Octanes, but it is a few degrees away, and is not a very bright star at all. There is one catalogued object that is actually closer to the SCP, a tiny magnitude 14 galaxy that has the beautiful name 'Polarissima Australis'. Yet despite having such a special place in the sky, and having its own distinct name, there are actually very few photos/images of NGC 2573.

I've been wanting to sketch this faint distant island universe since I first glimpsed it a few years ago. But it has proved to be very illusive. Being so faint and small, it demands good transparency to be seen otherwise its soft light just doesn't make it through to our instruments. At a distance of some 128million light years, it is not a surprise really. The very first time I spotted it, it was a much easier task. Other nights I looked for it, it was invisible, testament to poor transparency. This night it did reveal itself, it wasn't an easy exercise. Curiously though, I spotted two other fainter objects within the same field of view. While I've put them on the sketch, I've been struggling to gather any information about these two objects. I haven't been able to find anything at all about there being two faint fuzzies in the positions I've put these two on, even though other fellows during the night also spotted them, confirming my sightings.

It is not the most spectacular of objects in the sky. Far from it. But its special place in the heavens, and the challenge it presents to observe, certainly warrants its sketching.

Object: Polarissima Australis, NGC 2573
Telescope: 17.5" push-pull Karee dob
Gear: 13mm LVW, 154X
Location: Linville, Queensland, Australia
Date: 25th July, 2014
Media: Soft Pastel and white ink on A4 size black paper
Duration: approx 1/2hr.

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

This was the first sketch I completed at Astrofest. I've been wanting to sketch this beautiful dark nebula ever since I first laid eye on it some three years ago. This dark nebula, B86, goes by the popular name of "The Ink Spot". It sits smack bang in the centre of the densest star cloud in the whole sky, the Cloud of Sagittarius. And what sets it off even more is B86 has a gorgeous bright open cluster right next to it, NGC 6570. Both objects are more-or-less the same size as each other, even though both are not very large themselves. But it is the juxtaposition of these two very different objects against the blaze of the Milky Way that makes this pair a spectacular pairing.

Dark nebulae are clouds of dust and gas that are drifting through the Milky Way galaxy. Many of these conglomerations of dust and gas do end up being formed into stars and planets, but most just end up forming the fabric of the galaxy. In fact, the stars that we see actually only form a small percentage of the actual mass of galaxies. By far the greatest amount of a galaxy's mass comes from this very dust and gas. The Ink Spot is a small patch of cloud. It is a very opaque nebula too. Dark nebulae are categorised according to their opacity, or how dark they are. The scale of opacity goes from 1 (very tenuous) through to 6 (very opaque). While the opacity of The Ink Spot may be a 5, it is because that it sits in the Cloud of Sagittarius that makes is a striking object.

The little open cluster NGC 6520 really works very well in setting off B86. Open clusters are groupings of stars that are all related to each other having been formed out of the same parent cloud of gas and dust. Evidence for this is seen in the spectra of the stars displaying the same chemical make up. The brothers and sisters of our own Sun have been identified this way, with the same chemical signature as our Sun having been identified in several close by stars even though the Sun's 'siblings' have long drifted off away from each other. Open clusters are loose groupings too, so even though they formed from the same source, their gravitational connection to each other is not strong enough to keep the group together for too long.

For me, this tiny patch of sky is one of my most favourite. Tiny and oh so precious. Brilliant, dark, stark, ghostly. All in one. Gorgeous.

Object: The Ink Spot, B86 & NGC 6570
Telescope: 17.5" push-pull Karee dob
Gear: 13mm LVW, 154X
Location: Linville, Queensland, Australia
Date: 24th July, 2014
Media: Soft pastel, charcoal and white ink on A4 size black paper.
Duration: approx. 3hrs

[pgc hunter]

Another cracker sketch Alex. I see you've even managed to fill in the thousands of backgrounds stars :eyepop:

[Jen]

:eyepop: wow very nice Alex it does look like a pretty area that I havnt taken any notice of I must have a look at that one next time I get the scope out :) cheers :thumbsup:

[mental4astro]

Thank you Sab and Jen.

Sab, the thousands of tiny background stars is something added in the cool light of day. Just pecking away with a sharp pencil, and constantly, again and again and again resharpening it. These tiny stars are not accurately portrayed unless there are specific concentrations I would have made a note in on the original sketch. It is the brighter and more significant patterns that can be laid down with some degree of accuracy. Same with M22 below. Most of the time spent on M22 is in the multitude of stars that are significant - and that is a bloody lot of them. But the tiniest pinpricks are added afterwards to give the necessary depth to the sketch.


This was the second sketch I completed at this year’s Astrofest.

M22 is a true jewel of the night sky. This giant globular cluster from a dark site it can be a naked eye object as well. It is large enough for even smaller telescopes to resolve its multitude of component stars, revealing its large and intense core.

M22 is beautiful in my 17.5” scope. It is very different from Omega Centauri and 47Tuc – could even describe it as the ‘runt’ of the giant globulars as its core is not as busy as its bigger brothers. But the component stars of its core are absolutely brilliant, arranged in so many signature patterns. It is slowly turning into a favourite of mine with its understated brilliance, loud without being overbearing presence, and sitting on a magnificent carpet of the Milky Way glow.

I won’t say much here. I’ll let M22 do its own quite whispering of its magnificence. Yeah, I think one firm fav of mine now…

Object: M22 globular cluster
Scope: 17.5” push-pull Karee dobsonian
Gear: 22mm LVW, 91X
Location: Linville, Queensland, Australia
Date: 24th July, 2014
Media: Soft pastel and white ink on A4 size black paper
Duration: approx. 2.5hrs

[Jen]

Very nice Alex :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
when u say white ink what exactly are u using is it a white gel pen :question:

[pgc hunter]

That makes sense, it would be quite a mission to plot them all 100% accurately!

[Paddy]

Another stunning pair of sketches Alex! Brilliant!

[glenc]

Great sketch Alex. M22 was the first globular cluster to be discovered.
Abraham Ihle (Ilee) found it in 1665 from Germany.
Edmund Halley found the 2nd GC, omega Centauri from St Helena Island in 1677.

[mental4astro]

Thank you Glen and Paddy for your words.

NGC 1566 - a gem sharing the sky with a colossus

I was given the rarest of all gifts a married man with an astro fetish can get on Monday - a free pass to make a dash to a dark sky!!! :clap: I didn't read the fine print that came with the pass, so I'll probably pay for it sooner or later... :(

Of the 'fresh' items I spied out that night, one was a complete revelation, the little Seyfert galaxy NGC 1566 in Dorado. I was inspired to chase it down by the recent SN that's been found in it. What I didn't expect was the absolute treasure that this galaxy is!!! OMG! Not only is it a pocket dynamo bright with easy arms to make out (I'm using a 17.5" dobbie), but one of the arms has its entire length lit up by beaded trail of massive stellar formation! What a cracker-jack galaxy!

I couldn't make out the supernova even though it was still visible this night. I just couldn't distinguish it from between 1566's bright core and the bright foreground star very close to the core.

You'll find a more complete write up on my blog site so I don't double up posts and threads: Galaxy NGC 1566 - a hidden treasure deep in the Southern Sky (http://alexanderastrosketching.blogspot.co m.au/2014/09/galaxy-ngc-1566-hidden-treasure-deep-in.html)

Object: Galaxy NGC 1566
Telescope: 17.5" Karee push-pull dob
Gear: 10mm Pentax XW, 200X
Date: 23rd September, 2014
Location: Katoomba Airfield, NSW Australia
Media: Soft pastel & charcoal on A4 size black paper.

[glenc]

Well done Alex, (1566) you have good eyes.

[Scorpius51]

That's a beauty, Alex. Well done (as usual!). :thumbsup:

Cheers
John

[Jen]

Awesome Alex :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

I've been having a crack at some sketching with an HB and a shading stump, inverting the image in GIMP and slightly enhancing some of the brighter stars (a little whiter and rounder). Hope it looks something like it? I try not to reference the AP images. Still learning to trust averted vision for details so quite vague on that front.

[Benjamin]

Also had this sketch from last summer which was all about trying out the shading stump. Spent too much time trying to make it hazier!

[Benjamin]

Tried adding the diffraction spikes in this one. Clear skies.

[Jen]

Well done Ben :thumbsup:

[mental4astro]

Nice work Ben. Great to see a few works! :)

Where were you when you did these sketches? Under dark skies or urban?

Diffraction spikes are great tool to add 'brilliance' to the brighter stars without making big dots. I use them too for this.

An HB pencil is a good start. Try going softer with graphite, 2B, 4B, even 8B. These will kick things along with the blending/shading stick. You might even like to explore things with charcoal too - very different beast to graphite.

One thing I do to develop technical ideas & also shake out cobwebs if I haven't done a sketch for some time is to sit down with a black and white astro photo & practice a bit. This way you can push techniques without fear of 'wrecking' a proper sketch done at the eyepiece. If something doesn't quite work, no harm done. If another starts tickling your fancy you can develop it some more. What a photo does is guide your eye to the forms, shapes & density variations that on your own we just can't do. Other times I find I don't need a photo, just working on a technique. Sometimes it is best to try things out in the light of day so you go to the eyepiece best prepared & not guessing.

last week I started a sketch of the Tarantula Nebula. So many folds in it. After 2 & a half hours I was not happy with it. Something just wasn't right. I started a practice piece at home to try a few things out. I spent about an hour 'doodling' until I came up with something that gave me the effects I was after. This last Saturday night I continued with this Tarantula piece, employing what I had sussed out at home. Much happier now with the piece, :)

Do a few practice pieces. It will embolden you at the eyepiece! You'll get a whole lot more out if you don't have to worry about what the pencil is doing.

[Benjamin]

Thanks for the encouragement Jen and the great advice Alex. These sketches were done in urban skies, 7km south of the Brisbane CBD. The Lagoon was through a 12" Dob and the others were through an 8" Dob, neither of which are goto scopes. I enjoy the nudging in a way as it seems to bring out a little more detail. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try some daytime sketching but my doctoral studies (in music) tend to limit my time :-/ Thanks again and clear skies :-)

[mental4astro]

You've done well to pull out this amount of detail in M8 under urban skies, :)

Ben, it is no accident that you actually DO see more by constantly nudging the scope along. While a go-to instrument will help find and track objects, it makes for 'lazy' observing. By that I mean it takes out the very thing that maximizes the sensitivity of the eye at low levels of light - movement! At these levels of light, our eyes are poor in sensitivity and so saturate quickly and we end up seeing less. Also, our eyes designed to respond to the slightest change in illumination - notice that you always quickly notice something move out of the corner of your eye? Again, no accident.

All this leads to one thing - you need to induce movement into the image you are looking at to re-set and refresh the maximum sensitivity of our eyes. Trick is that just by moving your eyes quickly about the FOV does not achieve this - we can't fool our eyes this way.

This is something that I've noticed over many, many years of observing, but it was only explained to me the mechanisms at play about 5 years ago. For this reason, all but one of my 7 scopes are not motorized. The only scope I have with a drive is my 30 year old C8 that I uses exclusively for the Moon and planets.

Take my last posted sketch of the little galaxy NGC 1566. It is a very small object with soft details. Yet even with averted vision, some of the faintest of details only had detailed features after the scope was given a little nudge. Once the scope was still, these features quickly faded out of view, only to pop up again with a little nudge of the scope.

Now, all is not lost with a go-to instrument. What is important to do to achieve this exact same movement induced re-activation of the eye's sentitivity is by giving the scope a good tap to induce a shake/vibration into the instrument. It is necessary to make this second nature otherwise it is something that is easy to forget to do - and you end up loosing so much of what the scope is actually providing.

[Benjamin]

Hi Alex, just found your blog, Gondwana telescopes, your article on the Mellish technique and more! Ill take some time to read through it all properly and give some of the techniques a go. I'm using the method described in Jeremy Perez's YouTube post, and the biggest problem, aside from not putting too much weight and getting the right angle on the shading stump) has been inverting the scanned image (the scanner picks up all the lumps and bumps on the page as well as the markings). Might need a different scan setting, better paper or a different tool in GIMP.... Or get some black paper and embrace Mellish :-)

[Benjamin]

Aside from Alexander's amazing work (!) I found some of Greg Wing's pictures quite compelling (astropaintings.weebly.com). It's not their accuracy that is amazing but the way he uses observation and photography as a starting point for creative work. It's nothing I'd ever consider but his work sparked some interesting discussions in other forums. Certainly raised the issue of what a sketch meant to those doing them: a record of an event, seeing better, a joy in drawing, creative endeavor, building a personal catalogue etc. Right now I'm just out to see better and take time looking at one thing, to counterbalance the desire to finish a list (which is currently a Dunlop 100 list). Curious as to why others sketch?

[Jen]

Hi guys :hi: today the sun had an awesome flare on and i couldnt resist i had to get the pencils out :) i have only just started doing this recently but im happy with my progress so far they just keep getting better each time :) i need to do it more often as i really enjoy doing it :D Hope you like cheers

172487
172488

[michaellxv]

:sunny: that high power sketch made me smile.

I don't think I've seen too many solar sketches. Nice work, great to hear you are having fun.

[Jen]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: thanks michael :)

[mental4astro]

Excellent piece, Jen! :)

The great thing about sketching the Sun is being able to make use of the paper's texture to our advantage. The Sun's surface being so 'grainy' is easy to simulate with the texture.

Would be exciting sketching the Sun too as features change so quickly. I've only had the one opportunity to view the sun with a dedicated solar scope, and the five minutes I sent with it amazed me at the speed at which things happen. And then knowing the sheer size of the sun, these flares are really moving!!! at pace, :eyepop:

You might have a dicky high power eyepice there too Jen... that, or you got sun stroke... :rolleyes: :lol: Nice way to finish the piece too, :D

[Jen]

:D thanks Alex
Yeah the first time I looked through a solar scope that was it I was totally hooked :D so I had to go buy a solar scope straight away hehehe :thumbsup:
It is fun drawing the sun as it's always different :) and easy
But the moon on the other hand looks way to hard to draw I'm too scared to even attempt that one yet hahaha
Yeah I love my high power piece it always reflects back my smiley face when I wake up to a clear sky sunny day :)
:sunny::sunny:

[peteradams]

I'd like to try doing eyepiece sketches using the white-on-black technique (been using graphite so far). The local art store had a pad of the Strathmore Artagain (60 pound, 400 series) paper I've seen recommended, but they didn't have much of a pencil selection.

So I went online and ordered 2 black and 2 white Conte' Pastel pencils:
http://www.dickblick.com/products/conte-pastel-pencils/
And a set of 4 Conte crayons:
http://www.dickblick.com/items/20201-0049

Did I get the right stuff? They all feel a bit 'chalky'.

[mental4astro]

Hi Peteradams,

Soft pastels are a type of very fine grain chalk. So, yes, they are chalky, ;)

I, for one, don't recommend any grade of paper. Some do, and that is fine. But sometimes it can be difficult to get these, but other grades would be more readily available. So my 'recommendation' there is to get and use what you can readily get your hands on. It can be easy to get lost in technicalities. If what you can get your hands on gives you the results you are after, then there is no right or wrong.

Here's a link to the Melish Technique that I use for sketching white on black. You may already be familiar with the article:

[http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-614-0-0-1-0.html]Sketching DSO's using the Melish Technique[/url]

At the end of the article there are a few resources to further assist with developing your technique and confidence. Do a few practice pieces to get a feel for the materials and how they respond. This will take much of the guess work out of attempting to do a first up sketch in the dark. If you have any questions, please ask. Any pieces that you produce, practice or at the scope, do post them, :)

Alex.

[peteradams]

Hi Alex, and thanks for your reply.

Yes, I'm familiar with this technique - been using it on my graphite astro sketches for over 15 years, but only recently started experimenting with "General's" brand chalk pencils and black craft paper (called 'construction' paper over here, no idea why). The results turned out ok, so I decided to get some better supplies - thanks for verifying that I bought the right stuff. Time will tell if the 'art' paper is better than the craft paper... the latter is definitely cheaper, and more easily available.

Already, I can tell that the pastels are much smoother to work with than the chalk pencils I'd been using. It's been mostly cloudy (and cold) lately and I haven't been able to get behind the eyepiece for a while, so I'll be practicing from photographs - or from some of your fine work, if that's ok. And yes, I'll post my results - warts and all, as they say.

I'm hoping the white-on-black method will be easier on the eyes while sketching at the eyepiece. Sometimes it was very difficult (a strain, really) to see how much graphite I'd 'painted' on the paper, but increasing the light's brightness would interfere with my night vision - so most of the time, nebulous objects turned out looking too intense. Hopefully working on black paper will help.

[peteradams]

As promised, here's a sketch using the pastels (sorry, I can't remember whose online sketch was used as a model). It turned out better than expected and I'm glad I took a pic before spraying it with pump-style hair spray from the bathroom shelf - maybe an aerosol can would have been better, but there wasn't one there. The spray darkened the sketch and left speckle marks all over it. Oh well, lesson learned - looks ok without my reading glasses though, lol. I'll post the before and after versions.

The white pastel looks great on the black paper but I think I'll stick to using graphite on white paper for my lunar sketches - the pastel medium is just too darned messy. Not too sure how the dew would affect it either - I'm usually at the eyepiece for the better part of 2 hours when making a lunar sketch. DSOs will probably be a lot easier and neater because of the lesser amount of pastel used. I'll post one of those too, as soon as I get one done.

In the meantime, what does everyone spray on their sketches to keep the dust from smearing?

[Jen]

Nice work :thumbsup:

[peteradams]

Thank you, Jen! :)

[lepton3]

Excellent sketch. Crater Plato, I'm pretty sure. Love those spiky shadows on the crater floor.

I reduce the darkening you saw by doing two things:


I put the pastel on really thick! Yes, it's messy.
I use Boyle "Matt Spray Finishing Sealer" which is an aerosol. I spray it on in about 5 very light coats, allowing to dry for 5 mins or so in between coats.

-Ivan

[peteradams]

Thank :) you Ivan, and thanks for your advice regarding a fixative.
I'll experiment with different pastel thicknesses, and see how they react to it.
(Yes, it's Plato - sorry, I should have included that info.)

[mental4astro]

Nice work Peter. Good to see new participants :)

Working with pastels and charcoal is a challenge. Smearing goes with the material, and demands special care. I used to use fixative, hairspray actually. It requires very careful use as Ivan mentions. GO VERY LIGHT ON EACH AND EVERY APPLICATION! You can't hurry the stuff, or it will stuff-up the piece.

I no longer use a fixative. Now I remove each piece from the sketch pad and put it into a plastic sleeve book. No fingers, no smears, no risk of damage from spraying.

You can also look to practice sketching by working from a photo. Nothing wrong with that. You can practice and develop your technique this way too. Will give you a different insight into sketching as the finer details will test your capabilities, and helps you determine how to best render these yourself.

[peteradams]

Thanks, Alex.

You're absolutely right - working with pastels and charcoal is challenging, but it's good to try new things. And yes I'll use photos as models - I never thought of it before, but using someone else's sketches might encourage me to imitate their style. It's best to develop my own.

I bought a can of fixative and will experiment with it out of curiosity, but would rather not spray anything on my sketches. So I'll take your advice and keep them in plastic sleeves - what a great idea, thanks!

[ralph1]

Here's a quick sketch of C/2014 Q2 'Lovejoy' done at 87X through the eyepiece of a 130mm F5 reflector. It was easily visible naked eye and showed a pale green tinge in binoculars however no tail was visible. I used a 3B pencil on paper, used my finger as a smudging tool and inverted the image in registax 6. The FOV is approx 45'.
seeing: 4/10
transparency: 3/10
Earlier in the night I also saw 15P/Finlay but it went below the treeline before I could do a sketch.

[ralph1]

Sorry about the dark image. I just saw it on a different monitor and it was almost invisible! Here's a brighter version.

[mental4astro]

Hey Ralph, nice work on Lovejoy! :)

I've had a chance to also pin Lovejoy. My chance came on New Year's Eve from an uncle's property out at Hill End, an hour's north of Bathurst.

I just took my little 4" refractor and a single eyepiece, an ES 30mm 82deg. This combination gives me a 5deg true field of view, yum! Even more staggering is that this combo gave me a view of an angle's-breath faint tail! Not just a hint of a tail, but some structure to it too.

I've done a more extensive write-up of this sketch in my blog, which can be accessed through the link below in the signature.

Scope: 4" f/5 achromatic refractor
Gear: ES 30mm 82deg, 16.7X
Location: Hill End, NSW
Date: 31st December, 2014
Materials: Soft pastel & white ink on A3 size black paper.

[OzStarGazer]

I use this:

http://www.helmar.com.au/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=27&virtuemart_category_id=1

PS: It works fine with pencils, but you have to be very careful with pastels.

[mental4astro]

My first view of Thor's Helmet was back in 2011 during the 2011 IISAC. It was suggested to me to chase it up that night, and it made such an impact I had to sketch it that night too, :)

Last Saturday night was my second view of it.

A change of circumstances on the morning of January 17 meant I could make a mad dash up to Katoomba Airfield that night. And I feel very, very fortunate to have had that chance. That evening presented the most extraordinary transparency I had seen for several years!

Curious thing though, while you may know it is a brilliant night, just how good it is sometimes does not totally sink in until you revisit an old friend you haven't seen for a long time. In this case it was Thor's Helmet.

You'll find a more extensive write up on this sketch in my blog, listed in my signature below.

By way of comparison, I've included the sketch I did of the Helmet back in 2011. The difference is striking. Same scope, but a 16mm Konig eyepiece for the first sketch. But the quality of the night ultimately made the difference.

Object: Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359
Scope: 17.5" push-pull Karee dob
Gear: 22mm LVW, 91X, OIII filter
Date: 18th January, 2015
Location: Katoomba Airfield, 2015
Media: White soft pastel, charcoal and white ink on A4 size black paper
Duration: approx. 1hr.

[glenc]

Well done Alex. :thumbsup:

[michaellxv]

Both nice sketches Alex.

Thors helmet was shown to me a few years ago through an 18" and it was a wow moment. I couldn't stay at the EP for an hour so I didn't pick out all the detail you have captured but it was very close.

Ever since then I have tried to find it in my 10" and struggled. Recently I did find it and the view was more like your older sketch and much harder to see.

[ralph1]

Jupiter on the night of the 13th. Same scope but with the 6mm eyepiece plus barlow to give 216X. This is the best view I ever got of a once again disappointing Jupiter.(For its size I see far more detail on Mars than I do on any other planet.)
Seeing - good
Transparency - excellent
Time - 9:00 - 10:00 p.m

[mental4astro]

Hi Ralph,

You have picked one big sucker! Jupiter is for me one of the most technically challenging objects to sketch. There are significant contrast variations, and a lot of faint whispyness pouring in and out of these. It also requires a lot of time and concentration to tease out those details.

I was just talking to a good mate about Jupiter today! A quick look WILL NOT show all that subtle swirling detail. It requires a lot of time and brain work/training. For being a giant, it is a master of disguise. Jupiter visually can reveal as much detail as can be seen in Voyager images! But it requires a combination of great seeing (thermally stable atmosphere), a good scope, and bucket loads of training your eyes/brain. Then you have to couple these to a challenging graphic!

Ralph, your rendition is a good one. BUT, BUT, I have a challenge for you! Look to revisit Jupiter. You are now armed with your best ally - experience. Give yourself time. If conditions are not great, don't bother. Jupiter is not the King of the Gods for nothing. It demands the best conditions to reveal the best it has.

This is the approach I take with the Moon. If conditions are not up to it, then I just pack up. But if I at least notice a good amount of clear moments, I have a crack. Makes for tough going though. But when conditions are great, I can push things to 400X, and go nuts with so much detail on offer. I missed out on Jupiter last season. The ducks just didn't line up. I will be paying a bit more attention to it from now with your inspiration, :) .

Good shot Ralph!

Alex.

[ralph1]

Challenge met!
Jupiter on the night of February 28th. The seeing was very good, the transparency was below average with some haze around, the two moons showing are from the left Europa and Io. It was just 1 hour short of seeing the Io transit along with the great red spot but there will be a next time. I observed for about 3/4 hour, intending to get up early for morning plants but saw some quite satisfying detail in the equatorial zone as well as in the south tropical zone and a large dark area in both polar regions.
As a side observation, I looked at Mercury on the morning of March 1st but was disappointed with the very poor seeing especially after the quality of the evening and only saw the phase which was a just-past-half.

[Allan]

These are the first sketches I have done since I sketched Halley's Comet. So I know very little about what I am doing, but I owe all that information to Alex Massey, so I want to publicly thank him very much for passing on his knowledge to me. :thanx:

All the field stars in these 2 sketches I have placed as accurately as I could. The sky was very dark where I was observing and there were hundreds of stars in the field of view. I attempted to include only the brighter ones, as I thought the sketch might get overwhelmed if I kept going with more stars, and I wanted the main object to be the centre of attention. But, what is the general consensus, would more field stars improve the sketch?

I couldn't resolve any stars in the Globular Cluster using my 4", so no machine gunning with the pencil was required.

I really enjoyed doing these and having something to show for my night of observing. Sketching is something I look forward to continuing with and improving at in the future.

[mental4astro]

Well done and congratulations Allan on your first astro sketches in so long! :thumbsup:

Both sketches are very nice renditions, and the red star in the first is a nice touch, :) Did you ever think sketching a GC would be as simple and effective as with the Mellish Technique! NGC 2808 really glows. And the nebulosity also in the first sketch is textured and subtle - nice effects, great composition with the cluster, and a great challenge to give yourself.

My take on sketching is, if you can see it, put it down. You can't have too much, after all, you otherwise dismiss the aperture grunt your scope is giving you. No need to lay down absolutely every single star you see accurately - you'll never finish. But once you are happy with what you've painstakingly laid down, some artistic license is merited to help give the sketch the punch of the softer details. For me this is what gives the sketch depth and richness, otherwise it can resemble a black page with some dots. And some more sparkle can be given to the brighter stars with a tiny set of diffraction spikes.

Now, give us more! :D

Alex.

[Allan]

Thanks Alex, there will be more, next new moon at SPSP, see you there.

Yes I think I need more stars, but it took me so long to place the ones you see. But I understand what you are saying about placing the fainter ones in a more general position rather than fussing over their exact position. I will try that next time.

Building the core of the glob using a brush with cut of bristles is like magic. It really brings it to life so quick and easy.

I thought about adding spikes to the bright stars, but I am not keen to do that using the refractor. It's one of the things I like about it, that the stars are so sharp. Anyway what I did was turn the sharp point flat by running it across the sand paper and making bigger star points like that. I will bring on the spikes when I use my Dob as the brighter stars certainly show spikes in that scope.

[ralph1]

NGC 2808 looks almost real! Great job. All you need to do now is look at it through a much larger scope to resolve the brightest stars.
Ralph.

[Allan]

Good idea Ralph, I might sketch it again using my 12" and see how different it looks.

[ralph1]

Not technically a sketch, but I still wanted to post it. Here is Saturn on the night of the 23rd, morning of the 24th. At only 12 hours past opposition, the rings looked incredibly bright and pure. 4 moons were visible, Tethys on the right and Dione above Saturn. Unfortunately, the photo itself isn't very good, but it loses very little detail.
The image itself is a painting, done on the afternoon of the 24th, working off the sketch done at the specified time down the bottom.
scope - 130mm F/5 Newtonian
eyepeices - 11mm TV plossl for the moons(59X), 6mm orion edge-on+celestron 2X barlow for planet(217X).
Seeing - excellent
transparency - good
time - 10:30 pm - 12:30 am(sketch), about 2 hours on 24th for painting
date - 23.5.15 - 24.5.15

[mental4astro]

Ralph,

Lovely piece! :)

I for one don't have any problem with a painting. Today, the only 'regret' I have about this thread is that it has "sketch" in its title, and not 'illustration' or some other more encompassing term.

There are some illustration techniques that better fulfill some people's passion than sketching. Painting is certainly one of them. It can help render ideas, emotions, even capture subtleties in ways a pencil cannot. After all, illustrations, as much as any other amateur form of imaging, are all a personal interpretation of an object.

Alex.

[Allan]

Everyone knows M104, it is one of my favourite galaxies so I couldn't resist trying to sketch it.

Located 29 million light years away, it shines at magnitude 8 and was discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1767.

[Jen]

Nice Allan :thumbsup:

[ralph1]

It looks fantastic. Out of curiosity, do you draw white on black or black on white and invert it using the computer?

[Allan]

Thanks Jen.

Ralph, I used black paper and white pastel. Then followed the Mellish technique as taught by Alex.

Last month at SPSP Alex passed on an interesting fact. This technique used by Scott Mellish dates back a long time, pre photography. Early observers used it to record very realistic impressions of what they saw in the eyepiece. I feel like we are keeping a bit of history alive by continuing its use.

[Allan]

Omega Centauri is one of my favourite deep sky objects, and along with 47 Tucanae, one of the best 2 globular clusters in the sky (IMO). It shines at magnitude 3.7 and is an easy naked eye object, appearing as a luminous patch in the sky. It is 15,600 light years away and contains several million stars.

An interesting detail I have tried to show in the sketch are the "eyes" in the centre of the cluster, which are always burnt out in photo images. They are not immediately obvious for first time observers, but eventually become apparent as areas devoid of resolvable stars. It appears as if you are looking through them and into the core of the cluster.

[mental4astro]

Lovely work Allan.

I was honoured to be able to look at Allan's work earlier this year at SPSP. Lovely, lovely work! :)

Below is my first DSO sketch in some 7 months. And I sketched the same object twice in the one night!

The Veil Nebula had never been an object I entertained the idea of being able to view. But with the excellent transparency we had during Astrofest, the Veil presented as an extraordinary vista!

This is the first sketch I did of the Veil that night. The entire Veil just fit inside the field of view of the ES 30mm 82deg eyepiece (3deg TFOV!).

You will find a more extensive write up of this sketch on my astro sketching blog site (http://alexanderastrosketching.blogspot.co m.au/).

Object: Entire Veil Nebula
Scope: 8" f/4 Kulali push-pull dob
Gear: ES 30mm 82deg, 27X (3deg TFOV), + NPB filter
Location: Linville, Queensland, Australia
Date: 14th August, 2015
Media: Soft pastel, charcoal & white ink on A4 size black paper
Duration: Approx 1.5hrs.

[mental4astro]

The Veil Nebula really starts coming into its own as aperture increases. With the 17.5” scope, the filamentary structures within the nebulosity begin to resolve. Mottling, or variations in density of illumination, are easier to pick up. And wispy, soft extensions of the ends of the nebulous cloud seem to keep extending on and on.

The Veil looked to be ablaze! The filament structures give movement to it, as they twist and wind, streak and surge through the cloud. The true bubble nature of the object begins to achieve a 3D look to it as the fainter and softer less dense material of the ‘inside’ of the ring starts to show itself with its own set of concentrations of material. It really beings to show itself as the smoky bubble it is of the aftermath of the cataclysmic explosion that created it.

I am sure that it would be even more splendid when it is higher up in the sky. I can only feel that this first look at the Veil is really just a tease of promise to what it can totally show – just like a veil serves to tease us with its haunting semi transparency…

I hope I have succeeded in giving a good depiction of this majestic structure. I felt like an adolescent, with their quirky physical awkwardness, and handling a precious and mercurial gift, and not being sure just how to handle it. The Veil really left me awestruck.

Alex.

Object: Eastern section of the Veil Nebula
Scope: 17.5” Karee push-pull dob
Gear: 23mm Celestron Axiom LX, 87X, & NPB filter
Date: 15th August, 2015
Location: Linville, Queensland, Australia
Media: Soft pastel, charcoal & white ink on A4 size black paper
Duration: Approx. 2.5 hrs.

[Allan]

Wow Alex, absolutely beautiful capture of the veil. I observed it every night for 3 nights over this last weekend under very dark skies, and you have managed to do a very faithful sketch with so much detail.

They would look great in an SPSP exhibition. ;)

[Allan]

I sketched this under very dark and transparent skies and it's incredible how much detail you can see under those conditions, especially when M8 was up near zenith.

[Rob_K]

Here's my sketch of comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina), 22 Aug 2015, using a 4.5" scope and 21mm eyepiece (43x). Funny how through the eyepiece it looked nothing like it is currently photographing! Despite the growing moonlight there was a large very faint outer coma that I could make out to about 8' in diameter, a small brighter inner coma and a bright central condensation that was visible in averted vision. The coma appeared elongated roughly to the east and also to the east was a short subtle brightening that was probably the dust tail. But the latter was so indistinct that it was impossible to assign a P.A. with any certainty.

Cheers -

[Allan]

Great sketch Rob, and a good description to go with it. Well done

[mental4astro]

Nice piece, Rob. Comets are amazing creatures through telescopes. They can either benefit from a large aperture, or other times a smaller aperture at low power can be best to observe them with. And then these little buggers can change their stripes in a matter of days just to keep things interesting.

~x.X.x~

I’ve been able to steal a few moments over the last couple of weeks to sketch Sol.

This is turning into a wonderful journey for me with the Sun. I am not just marvelling at its ever changing surface. It has also spurred me onto learning so much about our parent star. I never thought nuclear fusion could be such a spectacular topic!!!

August 18 gave me a very active limb and chromosphere quarter section. The chromosphere (surface of the Sun) was riddled with fine filaments (prominences seen over the surface), plages and sunspots. The limb had an assortment of prominence types – arch, platform arches, & a pyramid. Also a lovely long spicule.

Yesterday was a race to beat the approaching clouds and rain. The race became more intense as the Sun had two wonderful areas of activity on the go, but on opposite sides of the disk. As things turned out, I was only able to complete only one of the two sketches I hoped to accomplish. Better something than nothing…

The second sketch presented here shows two different stages of prominence development. The brighter part on the lower right shows mature platform prominences. They are called platform as they exhibit a flat, table like roof where high energy plasma is racing through the magnetic fields on the surface of the Sun. There are two platform prominences here, with a smaller & brighter one underneath the taller but thinner one above it. The larger top prominence stretched out into an ever diminishing ribbon, to then frazzle out into shredded pieces. A really lovely spectacle to follow through off fine details.

It is the disintegrating stages of a coronal mass ejections that we see on the upper left. We see just the remaining columns of plasma that is being held in place by the weakening magnetic fields. When I started this sketch I had been able to spot some of the plume of escaping plasma being launched off into space. I should have sketched this section first, rather than the platform prominences, for when I returned to the CME, that plume was too faint to see through the incoming thin cloud. Oh, well, lesson learnt…

Both sketches were done using the same equipment:
Scope: ED80 f7.5 refractor
Gear: Daystar Quark, 25mm plossl, 101X
Dates: 18th August & 3rd September, 2015
Location: Sydney, Australia.

[Jen]

Well my sketches arn't quite as cool as you guys :) but here is my contribution of my solar sketch today 45 minutes drawing time it was a bit windy which made it quite difficult grrrr but it was a beautiful day :)

188469

Sorry it's sideways it's the first time I have posted a pic on here with my phone :)

[Rob_K]

You're selling yourself way short Jen, that sketch is brilliant! :thumbsup:

But actually I also like your High Power view! Always suspected the Sun had a big smiley face coz my grandkids draw it all the time - and they've got better eyes than me! :D

Keep up the good work!

Cheers -

[Jen]

Awwww thanks Rob :)

[Allan]

That's a fantastic sketch Jen, so much detail. I'll tell you, looking at it makes me want to get a solar scope. I do some white light observing, but I think a Ha would be the business.

Good stuff.

[Jen]

:D thank you Allan the solar scope is one of my fav Astro purchases watching the forever changing proms on the sun is very intriguing :)

[mental4astro]

Lovely work, Jen!

I'm happy to see you taking up a pencil and paper to the Sun. The PST is a wonderful instrument. Shows a hell of a lot of detail,eh! I was fortunate to have had a PST lent to me by a fellow IISer a couple of month's back. I had it for about a month - ooooh, it is a really nice beastie! :) The surface texture of Sol is an interesting one to reproduce... something I'm working out.

Here's a sketch I managed through gaps in clouds on Sunday. Right now if it were not for my Quark, I would be sketching nothing! Two brilliant proms, both very detailed and subtle, and both very different in structure. Transparency wasn't great on Sunday, but better than nothing.

[Jen]

Thanks Alex :) that looks really cool what sort of equipment did you use, an orange pencil/pen ? I wouldn't mind going for a bit of color next time I'm solar sketching :) it's good fun but the proms I find are difficult to draw I need more practice :)

[mental4astro]

Jen, I essentially have blended the Mellish technique for DSO's and what I do with the Moon to work the Sun. I use a bight orange soft pastel to develop the disc segment first, and fix it with a fixative (hair spray in my case). I redo the disc again, and again fix it, to get a more uniform and dense coverage of the orange. Once the fixative has dried (couple of minutes), I then use an orange soft pastel pencil to develop the proms. The softer details are brushed out using a small soft paint brush to brush out the soft pastel pencil. I sometimes use yellow soft pastel pencil to highlight the more intense/dense prom. details as the orange pencil alone can only yield so much density/intensity.

[H.Treur]

:eyepop::eyepop::eyepop:
That sketch !!! That sketch !!!!
Amazing work !!
Closer to reality is not possible.

[H.Treur]

Fantastic observation of Thors Helmet !
You are a great artist!

[H.Treur]

That is an enormous amount of stars you have drawn! :thumbsup:
A very big effort this must have been.
I also like the crisp way you draw your stars.

[Jen]

Wow Alex I would love to see you draw one of these pics one day ( do you go to any Astro parties ? ) I reakon you should come to snake valley and do a few demos hehehe :) it's hard to wrap my head around how you get it looking so cool :) I can't even make my hair look nice with hairspray let alone use it on a drawing hahaha it would be one big mess lol do you use a special hairspray or just any type will do :question:

[mental4astro]

Jen, the hairspray I'm using I nicked from my mum 25 years ago! :lol: Hairspray is essentially a type of quick drying varnish. I cannot recommend which hairspray. Just be aware that hairsprays contain more additives than dedicated fixatives. These additives may react with the paper over time. If the paper is white, this may be obvious. Black paper much less so, if at all noticeable.

~x.X.x~

If it were not for my Daystar Quark and the Sun, I would have nothing much to show for the year.

This morning I set up my solar gear for a Captain Cook. I was greeted with an amazing vista!

3/4 of the Sun had no significant activity. But one quarter sector had not just a sensational Arch Prom. straddled by a pair of sentinel pillars, and also a string loop of sunspots - something I had never seen before.

You'll find a more extensive write up on this spectacular apparition in my blog - link in my signature.

I've added a couple of 'accidental' photos of the sketch. While photographing the sketch, I accidentally selected a multiple exposure setting that takes pics using different effects. Two of these effect pictures show the chromosphere features of my sketch more clearly than the straight colour photo does. So I've included these 'special effect' pics for this reason.

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

At the risk of making duplicate posts, I'm posting a link to a video I've made on astronomical sketching using the Mellish Technique:

https://youtu.be/aeFVBHjsvT4

I hope you find this video informative and useful,

Alex.

[Jen]

Thank you Alex :) :)

[Mariosi]

Καλημέρα,
The Sun today. Very nice activity in the morning. Here is the result

40mm Solar Scope
130mm Celestron SLT F.L.650/f5
Eyepiece 8mm
Astrosolar Baader

Thanks for looking
Marios

[GUS.K]

Nice sketches Marios.

[Mariosi]

Thanks Gus.K :)

Marios

[Mariosi]

Hello all,
Sunspots on 6/5/24 at 08:30l.t. from Nicosia-Cyprus

Enjoy the light

[AstroViking]

That's a sketch? Cripes! I thought I was looking at a photo!

[EpickCrom]

I agree with Steve, that is the highest resolution sketch I've ever seen :eyepop:

[Mariosi]

Good morning all,
Sunspots this morning at 07:35 l.t. The weather is clear and sunny!

Thanks for looking
Marios