Lurcher

What a great spot and report. Great sketch of Barnard's E too. Thanks for posting.

This is a great sketch. I like the way you've drawn the diffraction rings just as you would have seen them. (Very cleverly done). Once again someone's come along and kicked my efforts into the long grass!

I quite like checking these pages which feature a constellation for each month. https://hubblesite.org/resource-gallery/learning-resources/tonights-sky

This has been so great to read. That sounds like something I have said and certainly thought many times myself! I saw an old photo (from the mid-eighties judging by the photo), of two club members who had bought a 12.5" scope jointly between them. Looked like a brilliant thing to have done. Thanks for the infectious enjoyment. And for posting. I hope you get to try out your new eyepiece soon.

Excellent work Mike and great descriptions. (I keep getting clouded out where I am. Lovely clear skies during the day and then the clouds roll in for the nights and evenings!). Well done for getting out and making the most of some clear skies! Thanks for posting.

I've been looking and thinking about one of those for a while. I've just bought an actual Will Tirion skyatlas 2000 as I really wanted one of those, but thanks I will now see if I can hunt down a reasonably priced double star atlas. (From memory there weren't many out there so they tend to hold their price, but it would be good to have one). Thanks.

I'm beginning to really appreciate double stars, but it;s something quite new to me. Can I ask, what do you mean by "matched"?? Is that you determined they were of the same magnitude? Thanks. (I've got so many objects I want to look at, but I'll have to add your double to it now, and see how I get on!). Thanks for posting.

Brilliant one Mike. And interesting write up too. (Sorry I should have read this one first before replying to your other post. I see you've come up with your own solution of using a pen for the black). It's all personal trial and error isn't it!

Beautifully drawn Mike. Nice contrast. (Looks like you're getting a pretty good black/darkness to me. The softest pencil I use is a B9 or you could go over the area needing extra darkness with a black charcoal pencil afterwards? It's looking good though! Nice area.

Brilliant write-up and report Rob. I haven't viewed the swan nebula yet so I will have to add that to my list of objects to look at the next time I'm out. Sounds good. (Along with the triffid nebula and eagle nebula). Thanks for adding the light maps. It does look a great place to go. I've always wanted to go to Exmoor or Dartmoor and enjoy the remoteness of those areas. It looks fairly close. (I've just bought a 2nd hand Heritage 130P so I can get out to slightly more remote areas easily with a scope. (Although I've got to find or think of a suitable support or mount). All the best.

Hi Achem, Sorry I've been a bit slow in checking on here. I love the close-up detail sketch of the flare coming away from the side. Brilliantly done.

Hey well done. Well you have surpassed me already! That's a fantastic drawing. You've obviously gotten the hang of the charcoal immediately. It reminds me of Achim's brilliant drawings. @acr_astro Yes I must admit my fingers were a little black after I finished. Give pencils a try at night. I personally think they're easier. I've also noticed that Achim has used grey paper in the past and that might cut down on the amount of charcoal it's necessary to use. (I just bought some yesterday so hoping to give it a try. Although I think I shall keep switching between pencils and charcoal). But that is one cracking first go Mike. Or any go for that matter. Brilliant. I look forward to seeing more Mike!

Hahhhaa! Thank you Des. Most people would say there's no beginning to it! Hi Achim. Thank you. I should have acknowledged that it was because I was looking at your brilliant sketches that made me think I really need to give charcoal another try. Not as confident as yours, but it was enjoyable to have another go, so thanks for posting your sketches; they're always so good to see. 👍

Hi Mike, Thanks for your message. Please do have a go. I look forward to seeing your sketches on here. My Daughter bought me a spiral bound A5 pad of black paper from a local art shop produced by "Landscape", but they're quite readily available from other art shops or on-line. At the moment I'm using a pack of 12 assorted charcoal sticks by "Jakar" but I'm finding them a little difficult to use as they're about the size of a cigarette so the mark on the paper isn't necessarily always where you think it's going to be. Especially in the dark. So I'm going to try and get some Derwent charcoal pencils. I have seen some good sketching videos on Youtube in the past which include really good ideas on how to do deep sky objects which I've been meaning to watch again myself so if I or anybody else finds one we'll have to add a link. All the drawing is done at the eyepiece, I just add the text later. Thanks. Please do have a go. I love looking at other people's sketches, observing reports and drawings.

Thanks everyone. I'm pleased I scanned the sketch and saved it. I sprayed it with fixative afterwards, (well el cheapo hairspray), and ruined it! It's taken off all the more subtle charcoal. Pleased to have scanned it. Thanks for all your comments everyone. Clear skies all.

I've done it again!. I've ended up being drawn to the same crater again without realizing it. Although the seeing conditions weren't great - it was still light when I started with bright skies, and some cloud, so I kept with a lower magnification of 88x. My first attempt at a charcoal sketch for a while. (Black, grey and white charcoal on black paper). - It does seem to have captured the mistiness of the seeing conditions quite nicely if nothing else.

Nice sketch and post. I've started to really appreciate double stars since joining Stargazers Lounge and seeing people's reports and drawings of them like this. I've seen the double double, and just about separated them but perhaps never as clearly as I would have liked. I'm hoping it's down to atmospherics and they will appear sharper under darker winter skies maybe, so I will keep going back to them. Thanks for posting.

Yes this is a brilliant report and record. I'm intrigued by "Napoleon's Hat". I haven't heard of that. I'll look it up in a moment hopefully. NGC 5850 looks like a wonderful target. Thanks very much for posting. (I love the details like changing eye piece and this causing you to lose track of where you are in the sky. It really puts you in the moment. And I'm glad I'm not the only one that has those "oh why did I do that, it was going so well until I did that" moments!). But looks like you found and saw lots of great targets. All the best.

I received my mug today! I'm a very happy big kid. Thank you very much! @FLO

Hahaa! Do you know, I was thinking that exact same thing this morning when I noticed an old photo I had taken of the same area. I suppose I'm most annoyed as I realized at the time it was going astray and I should have started again. But then again it's all practice and I'm also keen to experiment with charcoal sketches again. Thanks Mike. All the best.

Great one Achim. I really like the contrast and effects you're managing to get using charcoal. Beautifully drawn and observed.

Yeah well don't try laying my attempt at Mare Imbrium over a photograph, or you'll see that it's out of scale too! I started too large and ran out of paper near the bottom! I thought it would cloud over early but as I went to bed I saw Jupiter still gleaming away out of the bedroom window, and I wished I'd made more of it. Cloud and rain set in for a while now I think. - - - - Thanks all.

I took advantage of a lovely warm evening last night with clear skies. (The first time I didn't need my coat this year). I only went out into my back garden as I wasn't expecting it to last. I managed a quick sketch of Mare Imbrium before then doing a sketch of the Eratosthenes Crater on the Southern border of Imbrium. I felt really rusty, but it was a lovely evening. Cheers all.

Hi Simon, Welcome to SGL. I'm more South East than you, but I've been along to a couple of Mid Kent Astronomy meetings and enjoyed them. I just felt it was a little too far up a boring length of motorway for me to keep going. But nice club if it's not too far for you. They've got a small field behind the Village Hall where they meet, but then they also use an observatory in Canterbury. Very nice scope you've bought yourself so you should soon be seeing plenty once we get into the darker skies in winter hopefully. All the best,

Brilliantly done. I tried sketching Jupiter on the 31st May, and like you I saw the Io peeking out from behind Jupiter, only to the west when viewed for me. Unfortunately my Jupiter wasn't as subtle and as well done as yours and it ended up looking more like a hamburger! Still, as you say it's nice to have something to remind me of the evening. So nicely done. Thanks for posting.