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Anticipating Spring


Qualia

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Over the weekend I used Jupiter's triple moon transit and the absence of the Moon as a good excuse to go for my first all nighter this year.

The evening began with Gemini, Cancer and Monoceros, mainly checking out and sketching a couple of open clusters, M 67, M 48, etc. Of particular interest was a small planetary nebula in Gemini called NGC 2371/2372. It's about 4,400 light years away and the double lobed shape is recognised even at relatively low magnifications (70x).

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The skies were very clear and dark, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to take advantage of galaxy hunting and try my hand at the Mellish technique, applying chalk dust with a brush rather than using graphite and blending stub. NGC 2775 is a small, round spiral galaxy about 55 million light years away. Regardless of magnification, I couldn't discern any arms but there was a clear brightening of the central region. The sketch was made with the 10" and 10mm Delos.

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Finding the technique quite easy and wanting to practice my hand further, I then turned to NGC 3593 in Leo and the famous Leo triplet. The former galaxy is about 21 million light years away while the Leo Triplet, also known as the M 66 group and made up of M 65, M 66 and NGC 3628 are a small gathering of spiral galaxies about 35 million light years away. The former sketch was made with the 10mm Delos whilst the latter with the 14mm Delos.

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Finally, before concentrating on Jupiter and the dance of moons and shadows, I moved onto M 98 and M 99. The former was a stricking spiral about 45 million light years away while M 99 was quite a challenge. With the 10mm at 125x I was able to discern a little mottling but couldn't capture more. I feel that with better skies and less fatigue, this galaxy about 56 million light years away will reveal more detail. Again, I used the 10" and 10mm Delos for both sketches.

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To round things up, I include a little sketch I made of Wasat or Delta Geminorum at the begnning of the session. This really is a lovely double to observe. Also known as Struve 1066 the 3.5 magnitude primary appeared a yellow/red while the 8.5 magnitude secondary hinted at a lighter red hue. The sketch was scanned and retouched by Gimp.

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I feel that in the 'flesh' the chalk sketches have come out rather well, but I do need to practice my hand at taking a steady shot with the mobile :p The other good news with this technique is that there is no need for scanning when it comes to displaying the sketches on SGL.

January is nearly over and in terms of stargazing it hasn't been a bad month. Today is the 27th and so far we've had 18 clear nights and 24 clear days. After the relatively disappointing seeing conditions that ruined my chance of observing the triple shadow transit on Jupiter, I came down with quite a bad fever; shivering, coughing and snuffling. I ended up in bed for most of the weekend and only have myself to blame :smiley:.

Under these circumstances, one may ask was the all nighter worth it?

Ask a silly question..... :grin:

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Loving your sketches - answers the question of whether there's an effective way of sketching on black paper. Just need to get myself the chalk now!

January hasn't been such a bad month for astronomy - I've managed a couple of sessions, observed the comet at least 5 times and I didn't even go out every clear night. Tomorrow's not looking bad either. I'll be eagerly anticipating Spring and... Galaxies!

DD

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Another great read Rob and love the sketches. As an imager, they almost make me feel like a freud.....almost :).

I tried to sketch once but I think my brain must be wired wrong.  I can see an object and picture the perspective yet as soon as I put pencil to paper, all sence of scale goes out the window....what IS the artistic equivalent to being tone deaf (another cross I bare) :)

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Thank you, Scott. I understand what you mean by losing perspective, but I don't think this has anything to do with lack of ability or your fine brain :grin: Over time, I've become aware that drawing a circle and then plotting the stars and object within it is really quite tricky. It is mainly from this concern that I'm more inclined to just not bother and use the whole page for the sketch. In the editing process, if I want to focus the eye a little, I can cut the sketch into a circle and simply paste it onto a grey or black background. 

Needless to say, I have zero artistic ability - I cannot draw - seriously. But I do find sketching relaxing, helps give me something to do whilst observing (I'm a fidgety type), it's nice to have some record of some of the things seen on a given evening, and I think it does open the eye to see more.

Thank you again for your kind words and support :smiley:

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