The atmosphere appears to be finally drying out. Viewing from near home, in Randwick, on the 24th of March, DSO's were noticably easier to see and make out detail in. The clearest for a very long time.
Thought I'd tackle a Monster too. This one's been taunting me for some time. Teasing through the mushy viewing during the last year. It's "Eye" staring back in defiance.
Here is my shot at Omega Centauri using my 17.5". So mind numbingly complex in structure. Its core shows it's "eye" looking back, which is washed out in long exposure photos. This is Omega's most outstanding signature feature.
Object: Omega Centauri, NGC 5139
Scope: 17.5" push-pull dob
Gear: 16mm Unitron Konig, 125X
Date: 24th March 2012
Location: Sydney, Australia
Media: Pastels, charcoal and white ink on A4 size black paper.
Time: 2.5hrs
Last edited by mental4astro; 05-04-2012 at 10:50 PM.
Reason: typo
This next sketch I've had to keep close to my chest for a little while. It is one of my entries to the Scott Mellish Sketching Competition.
The Eta Carina complex is a staggering region of the sky. Within the field of view of the sketch there is so much happening. Not only is the star that lends its name to the nebula there, but its associated "death throe's cocoon" is visible - the Homunculus Nebula (the white blister to the left of the Keyhole), three separate shockwave fronts (the Keyhole feature being one of them, which in turn is being pushed towards us by the wave produced by Eta Carina too), and six individually named open star clusters.
I've been wanting to do this sketch from a dark sky site for a long time. Conditions and circumstance ment I had to be happy with doing this sketch from my backyard in Sydney. I'll need to wait a little longer to revisit this region from a dark site.
I normally do not restrict my sketches to sit within the "circle of death", but as this work was to be one of my entries to the competition, the "circle" exists.
I hope you enjoy this piece. It took just over two hours to complete. Two very enjoyable hours.
Mental.
Object: Eta Carina complex
Scope: 17.5" push-pull dobsonian
Gear: Unitron 16mm Konig, 125X, OIII filter
Date: 13th March, 2012
Location: Sydney, Oz
Media: White pastel and charcoal on black paper. "circle" diameter is 16cm.
Duration: just over 2hrs.
Last edited by mental4astro; 24-04-2012 at 02:06 PM.
I took inspiration from a recent thread on M20 to have a crack at this beautiful beastie.
Neat through the eyepiece, its soft glow is not the brightest against the background skyglow. Still, its distinct lane markings are easy to see.
Using an OIII/Hbeta filter in my 17.5" dobbie, I saw a remarkable thing. Not only does it stand out much more clearly, as to be expected, but the main "flower" of M20 had to my eyes a distinct purple/violet hue to it. Especially considering that the violet end of the spectrum our eyes at this dim level of illumination, do not pick up this colour well at all. Actually, we shouldn't see it! But there it was, soft in value, but definately violet to my eyes.
The lanes of M20 are a nice challenge as they required averted vision to make out more clearly. Their twisting, winding nature also giving hints to a striated/filamentary structure.
There is an open cluster close by to M20, which I would have liked to have captured in this sketch, but I got the proportions not quite right as the cluster is just beyond the field of view in the 24mm Hyperion I was using. Bit of a shame as the two together would make for a very striking composition. I'll look to revisit M20 and its celestial companion sometime soon. I'd also like to tackle M20 at higher magnification too - this is one DSO that begs for a more careful inspection.
Object: M20, the Trifid Nebula
Scope: 17.5" push-pull dob
Gear: 24mm Hyperion, 83X, OIII/Hbeta filter
Date: 23rd April, 2012
Location: Katoomba Airfield, Oz
Media: White and violet soft pastels and black charcoal on A4 size black paper. Sketch about 16cm in diameter
Duration: 2hrs
I just looovvveeee my 8" f/4 dobbie - I can get a massive 2.5deg FOV using my 30mm TMB Paragon. A bit big in exit pupil, but I can live with that. And now that she's got legs, I can comfortably sit in a chair and use her, rather than be on my knees.
Here is my WIDE FIELD attempt over the weekend. With this 8" beastie I am able to capture within the whole FOV M8, M20 and squeeze in M21. On their own each DSO is gorgeous. Together, WOW, what a collection.
It was done from home in Sydney with conditions being ok. A couple of nights previous the dark lanes in M20 were much clearer to make out. This night not so well, and I didn't want to include them as I just couldn't get their direction and shape, only a faint hint.
I also did notice some faint nebulosity to the right of M8 in the "void" between it and M20. Soft and amorphous. This will be quite a vista from a dark site.
Object: M8, M20 & M21
Scope: 8" f/4 dob
Gear: 30mm TMB Paragon, 27X, 2.54 deg FOV, OIII filter
Date: 27th May 2012
Location: Sydney, Australia
Media: White pastel, charcoal & white ink on black paper
Time: about 1hr
I started sketching this past December using a #2 pencil and printer paper, my first ones of Jupiter. After my first sketch of Mars I started using my daughter's colored sketching pencils and soon bought a small sketching pad. Anyway, with the planets poised for such a good show I did a few of Jupiter and Mars, as well as a couple of Venus.
Recently I was trying out a new polarizing filter and decided to test it on Antares to see if it would cut the glare of the primary, making it a bit easier to see the secondary. Well, it worked. It was such a nice sight I decided to record it in a sketch, which is my first non-planetary.
They're not exactly stupendous or jaw-dropping, but I think they're not half bad for a beginner and wanted to share them with you all. The Jupiter sketch was my first. The pink Mars sketch was done using my Orion Mars Filter. The other three have better descriptions, which I started including as my sketching progressed.
Ed D
Last edited by Ed D; 02-06-2012 at 09:45 AM.
Reason: Edit attachments
I finally had a couple of clear nights in South Florida and did two wide field sketches of Omega Centauri. One is a binocular view using my 8x56 Oberwerk, the other a RFT view using my AT72ED with 24mm Hyperion for 18x. These are my first DSO sketches which I really enjoyed doing - much easier than planetary without a tracking mount! I'll hopefully have more coming, weather and time permitting. Thanks for looking and I hope you like them.
I finished up another wide field sketch, this one of globular cluster M22 and the surrounding region in the 'Tea Pot', as viewed through 8x56 binoculars in light pollution. I'm pretty new at this and I see where I can make improvements, but it's not too bad.
Two killer GCs. I was having a bit of a squiz at M22 tonight. I contemplated sketching it but the dew became absurd so quickly after setting up. It is quite a beasty. Such lovely curvey lines of stars - broad too. And such a range of magnitudes. I noticed some nice yellow and almost reddish stars in it - actually, it's the first GC I've noticed some colour in.
I also like a fellow that isn't affraid to tackle a nice wide field!
