Hi all,
There are many articles and threads that describe what and how things will appear through different telescopes. While many have fine descriptions, unless you actually understand what is being described, it can make for confusion.
"A picture tells a thousand words"
Alas, the many beautiful photographs we salivate over are not a true indication of how things actually appear through a telescope. Our human eyes operate very differently from cameras and clever computer software.
There is a thread here on IIS that is dedicated to sketching. Not only is it to showcase the talents of fellow IIS members, but it gives a fantastic synopsis of how things ACTUALLY APPEAR through many different sized scopes.
This link to
Solar System & DSO sketches has sketches done naked eye & from 4.5" through to 17.5" telescopes. Refractors, reflectors and Schmidt Cassegrains are represented. Comets, planets, open clusters, globular clusters, nebulae, galaxies are all there. Dark sky sites and from urban areas too (yes, you can still see a lot from the big smoke).
Also, have a look through the
Observational and Visual Astronomy forum. There are many, many more sketches dotted throughout the threads. All of these will give further indication of what and how things actually appear through telescopes. As a fabulous example, Rob_K has started a thread on how
tiny Mars actually is through a telescope.
A related thread is
Sketch the Moon Night. While the Moon can be overlooked as a target, it offers so much detail to the keen eye. The good thing about it is size of the scope is not as critical, & you don't need to look at it with all the lights turned off,
.
Hopefully we'll see contributions from you in the near future too.
Clear skies,
Mental.