December Challenge Object (OC) - M46

[TJD (Trevor)]

NGC 362 is a very bright globular cluster and has so much detail its my favourite star cluster. i can just see it because i live in a light poluted area when i go to country skies it is a wonderland of deep space objects i find astronomy amazing.

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Originally Posted by Smirnoff

Here's my sketch of NGC 2438. Scope was 10" dob, magnification 416x with UHC filter.

That's a great observation and thanks for sharing. How long do you take to do a sketch like that? It brings out a lot of detail!

[Smirnoff]

^^ thanks for you kind words Astrojunk.

The time it takes to do a sketch really depends on the object. For example, a small, faint galaxy or a featureless planetary nebula in a starless field may take all of 5 minutes to smudge in, while a larger, complex nebula or star cluster can take an hour or more. When I'm out sketching, I usually make about 4 throughout the course of a 6 hour session (typical duration for me). Most of my targets are not particulary complex, mostly just PNs and galaxies. I hope to psych myself up for the Eta Carina complex one night