Solar System & DSO sketches

[yusufcam (Colin)]

Originally Posted by mental4astro

Man-O-Man, what a nightmare of detail. Three hours of work, and the result is below. My nervous tick twitches at the thought of doing all this again from a dark site, Ooooh, it's gonna be soooo much fun, !

sublime

well done!

[pgc hunter]

Thanks Paddy and Alex. Alex, that Eta Carina sketch is amazing!

[Paddy (Patrick)]

Colin has already used the word that comes to my mind for you sketch Alex. It is truly sublime and an inspiration.

This will of course be an Astronomy Sketch of the Day, I assume.

[pgc hunter]

Here's my widefield M42 with the 120mm Skywatcher. Eyepiece used was a Vixen LVW 22mm @ 2.5° TFOV.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Hey Sab,

There is something very appealing about each and every image of M42, they are all uniquely beautiful. This giant of a clam-shell nebula, with it Trapesium pearl, is so emotive. You've laid down some fine detail, along with M43, and a nicely glowing Running Man. The Running Man is often overlooked, and I now consider it an added bonus if prevailing conditions allow it to be seen.

Well done!

Mental.

[Paddy (Patrick)]

As always a great sketch, Sab. Lovely in both detail and texture!

[orestis]

Thanks for posting Sab very impressive.

Alex that is absolutely sensational.What i love about your technique is that it looks as if you are there at the moment looking through the ep.so realistic.Well worth the time.

Cheers Orestis
keep them coming
ps-This is a great thread

[pgc hunter]

Thanks gents. Paddy, the texture on the sketch IMO came out too rough, but that is the fault of the cheap Coles brand paper. I now use more "premium" brands (reflex et al) which have a noticably smoother texture much better suited to sketching.

[iceman (Mike)]

Alex's sketch of Eta Carina is this weeks IOTW.

What better time to showcase the talent and fantastic work that astro sketchers do. Brilliant work Alex. My talent extends as far as stick figure drawing!

[orestis]

Way to go Alex

I commend your absolute talent.

Cheers Orestis

[Terry B]

Stunning sketch.

[steve000 (Steve)]

Attached is the sketch with an image taken with a 350D by someone on the net.. its a nice comparison.

amazing sketch really amazing

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Holy cow, Steve! Mate, its spooky the comparison! Thanks for that.

So, I wasn't really imagining it, .

Thank you everyone for your comments. This was the last sketch of mine that I was able to show Scott. He liked it too. I'm just sad that he didn't get to see how influential his sketching technique had become to have a sketch using his method, earn Image Of The Week.

I am honoured, thrilled and humbled, with a tinge of saddness too.

[morls (Stephen)]

Great sketch of Eta Carina Alex!

[michaellxv (Michael)]

Congratulation Alex, well deserved. It's a great way to honour the memory of a friend.

[danielsun]

Congrats on IOTW Alex! Brilliant work!
Also great sketches all round from everyone else too! Some very talented members here.

Cheers Daniel.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

I managed a short session tonight, after not being able to get to my regular dark site last night due to cloud. Tonights conditions from home were not great, with high whispy cloud causing annoyance.

NGC 3532 is a fantastic bright open cluster. It is a naked eye object, even from my home, sitting just East of Eta Carina (also a naked eye object), and often mistaken for it when looking through a finder scope.

It is a massive cluster, with a size of close to 60' - twice that of the Moon! It is a cluster that is best seen in a pair of binoculars or a rich field scope.

For once I added a ring, marking the FOV. This was done after the sketch was laid down. I added it to give a sense of the size of this bugger as the AFOV with the eyepiece I used is close to 2.5deg!

I also used my new 'sketching dew hutch'. Good thing I did as everything was soaked after the 45minutes the sketch took, yet the paper remained nice and dry, .

Cheers,

Mental.

Object: NGC 3532
Scope: 8", f/4
Gear: GSO Superview 30mm (68deg), 27X
Date: 1st May 2011
Location: Sydney
Conditions: poor, high cloud and very dewy
Materials: White charcoal pencil, white and coloured ink on black paper
_____

Edit:

There were some words that astroron had said while the debate about having a sketch forum created. It went along the lines of:

"frankly honest Most do not impress me that much".

These words have been ringing in my ears about this sketch. It was flat and unexciting. It lacked the PUNCH of the eyepeice experience.

I reworked it a little, adding diffraction spikes to the brighter stars. To me it now seems to have a bit more of a kick. What do you think?

Ron, thanks for the words too. It got me thinking on how to sex up these otherwise flat open cluster sketches,

[michaellxv (Michael)]

Another great sketch Alex. It must have taken a lot of concentration to place all those stars.

Good to hear the dew hutch works.

The spikes certainly add another dimension to the sketch. It works well in this one. I don't know that I would use it all the time. For those clusters that really sparkle it would be good.

[Paddy (Patrick)]

Another great sketch Alex. And what a challenge. Such a large and populous open cluster - I could not imagine trying to capture it.

Regarding sketches looking "flat" - well, hmmm. I am in vigorous disagreement. Firstly, for me the priority is an accurate representation of what is seen at the eyepiece. Secondly, with the talent that you have, these are always inspiring. I don't think you need to "sex them up", although the spikes do make it look pretty. Your sketches just as they are are inspiration enough for me.

[yusufcam (Colin)]

looks great, good job...

you deserve a medal just for attempting to capture the complexity of the cluster

hmm...

take requests? (lets see, jewel box might be nice)