Mike JW

Thanks Ruud, fun trying different techniques. Mike

No doubt we have all looked at Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel many times but what intrigued me was to the north of Ptolemaeus lying between Herschel and Glyden is a long valley running slightly west of north. The more I looked at the area the more intrigued I became and so began the sketch. As usual I got carried away and kept sketching all sorts of detail, all over the area. So far I have been unable to find out any information about this valley. The terminator was fascinating – various shades of black???

Key features laid out at the eyepiece and then the sketch completed later. I have done two versions – my normal graphite pencil on white paper and then coloured pencils on black paper (need to develop this technique). On both I have used a white gel pen to enhance the white.

Mike

PS Looking at photos of the region this valley (Glyden valley) seems to be a very steep sided V-shaped valley, hence its very black shadow contrasting with the sunlit portion.  Tried to imagine walking along it - awe inspiring with steep sides towering over.........Also noted it is on the Lunar 100 list.

Because of the time involved I do this dotty technique about once a year. There are various styles out there. Mike

Enjoyed the realism of the sketch with bits of annoying cloud. Sometimes when folk are depicting the brighter stars they do tiny diffraction spikes (even if you are using a SCT), which can add to the artistic look. Thanks for posting. Mike

So nice to see a realistic sketch of "the mess" of viewing stars at high power - rarely are stars nice round dots/diffraction rings. Is this sketch totally free hand or done in photoshop? - impressed either way. Mike

You have captured them well. Mike

Astro dark is back so an unexpected gap in the cloud saw me unable to resist getting the gear out. Not the clearest of skies.

First up, Arp 319 better known as  Stephan's Quintet. Not the greatest of shots but beyond anything I saw with the 20" so I am happy. It was a warm night so camera was far from being cool and there was thin high stuff at times messing up the viewing. Also picked up (just) is NGC 7320C (up from the group and to the left - faint circular fuzz).

Next I tried for Arp 13, NGC 7448. This one is classed in galaxies with detached segments. Really struggled to get anything half decent but the shot does show hints of detached bits - the two blobs near the top edge of the galaxy.

Near by to Arp 13 are the trio NGC 7463/64 and 7465. Way too much noise in this shot - I then realised I was looking through thin cloud.

It was good to be out there but not the best of nights.

Mike

Hi Ruud, so enjoy your art technique. Really does capture the roughness of the area. Well done. Mike

Hi  Ruud, thanks for the feedback. I am most impressed with your computing skills. Way beyond my knowledge. I like all three versions. Agree that the coarser one looks a touch better.  Mike

Thought I would do the same sketch as my previous post but this time try the "dotty technique". I found it quite relaxing mindlessly putting dots on a piece of paper. Pleased with the result but nowhere near the standard of the professionals who use this technique.  I shall not attempt this again for awhile unless the weather is so bad that I have nothing else to do - takes a very long time.

I mainly used  a 0.3 mm pen, but very small dots are 0.1 mm. I did try a 0.5 mm pen but that seems too heavy. Best viewed from a distance - 60 cm or more from screen.

Mike

Amazed you were able to pick up the moons. - well done. Being honest , much prefer the view of these moons and Saturn through my former big Dob.  Mike

10 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

Another excellent sketch!

With all the fine detail visible, what is the actual size of your sketch?

 

Hi, The sketch is approx 14cm wide and 12cm high.  Mike

Thanks everyone for your kind comments.

Thanks Ruud.

12^th July gave me a chance to do another lunar sketch. I got going 45 minutes before sunset to get the basic outline in place to then gradually define the shadow areas. As the moon brightened with the setting sun I was able to firm up finer details.

I wanted to sketch something not normally viewed when I spotted crater Cichus. At the time I did not know its name but what appealed was it sits on higher ground and has a crater on its Western Wall. The more I looked the more I became fascinated by the area. Its western walls appear terraced and gentler than the Eastern side. Cichus C is the crater on the western wall. What an impressive impact that must have been as the asteroid slammed into the top of the wall.

As I sketched I realised that to the north lies a crater that has been lava filled – this is Weiss. This leads to the question which came first Cichus or Weiss. The junction between Cichus and Weiss has a very straight section and judging by the lighting is quite steep – what caused this? This straight section forms the northern edge of highland running off to the north west. As the sky darkened it revealed crater-lets on these highlands. On the opposite side to Weiss is another larva filled crater – or is it? As I was finishing off the initial notes and outlines at the eyepiece, now 9.45pm I suddenly became aware of some straight regions of lighter material. Careful inspection revealed two almost parallel lighter bands so I followed them across the lunar surface and of course there was Tycho: well known for its lunar rays. A fascinating and absorbing 1+ hour at the eyepiece. So much going on in this area.

Who says lunar observing is boring? It is what you make of it. Sketching certainly adds to the enjoyment.

Mike

Completing the sketch probably took another 2hrs – graphite pencil, carbon pencil for the shadows, black felt/ink for the small shadow areas and white gel pen for the high points of craters and peaks.

It's all personal trial and error isn't it!  

Absolutely right there but fun to learn from others. 

Hi Lurcher, In the actual sketch because its graphite then the black suffers from that dreaded graphite shine which makes the black look so much lighter. I had a practice this afternoon with doing black areas with charcoal pencils - a much blacker and matt result. I have tried darkening up the black areas afterwards but the charcoal does not take to an area with graphite on it - much to learn. This afternoon I have ordered some Staedtler Mars Lumograph black pencils which according to the info give a matt black finish but cannot easily be erased or blended.

Cheers, Mike

Hi,

Two nights ago (7th July) Theophilus was a ring of bright white crater tops and a jet black crater floor with two white mountain tops sticking out. Very hard to capture. How do I get a jet black effect using pencil? This sketch does not do justice to the beauty of the view.

Mike

Hi,

A very enjoyable hour or so on the 7th July. I have long wanted to have a go at sketching the Rheita Valley area. It is a subtle feature and needs to be caught early in the lunar cycle.

The sketch outline was done at the eyepiece but the mess of converting to charcoal was attempted indoors. The black shadows were enhanced using black felt. A white gel pen was used to give a greater intensity to the mountain peaks and the tops of crater rims

Crater Rheita is approx 70 km x 70 km and 4 km deep with a significant central mountain and various crater-lets in the crater floor. The terraced steep walls on the south west merge into the Rheita Valley, which at its widest is 25 km and up to a 1 km deep. The valley is about 445 km long. It is the second longest lunar valley and has been altered by several large impacts. It is thought that part of the original valley may have been caused by subsidence. Also the valley is radial to the Nectaris basin which suggests that when the impact that caused the Nectaris basin, debris that was flung out could have created the valley.

Crater Rheita E is the long irregular crater and most likely was caused by multiple hits as an asteroid fragmented.

Mike

Hi,  

5 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

The surface brightness of M27 is Mag 7.4.

If i understand correctly (and I may not) visual brightness is 7.4 but the surface brightness is about 11. The light from this extended object is spread over a large area thus making its surface brightness somewhat less. I regularly get confused between visual brightness (=total brightness as if it were a point source such as a star) of an extended object and its surface brightness.

Great to see a Watec still doing the business.

Mike

Erling - you are absolutely right about eyes getting old and diminishing ability to discern colour. I am much further down the path than yourself ........... Mike

Hi All,

Some Planetary Nebula will be seen as blue and greenish in colour with scope upwards of 8". In my 20 the colours were just brighter. DSOs are never bright enough for our eyes to pick up colour. Some times we convince ourselves we are seeing colour. Star colour is an interesting lark. Folk will see the colour of stars differently - just read through any definitive guide about viewing coloured stars/doubles and you will realise just how subjective colour is. So called red stars for me normally appear more orange than red.  Also when looking at coloured doubles the colour and brightness of the main star will influence how we see the colour of its companion. So called hot blue stars I see as white but the more I look then I pick up the blue in the flaring. I find the Great Red Spot on Jupiter another good example of "exactly what the colour is" - I do see it as "red" but more like reddy brown.  Uranus is blue but more a greeny blue. Hubble/images in general give a misleading picture of what can be seen in the night sky.

"Ships and Stars" - don't expect a blaze of colour from PNs even in a dark sky - just enjoy the brightness of everything through a 20" A mate of mine when he first looked at M42 through his 24 lost his dark adaption!!!!

Mike (E. Anglia)

Hi Achim,

You capture the flares etc just as I remember them from my days of having access to a H Alpha scope. Mike

Totally agree with Martin about M92 and it makes for a lovely outing to go globular hunting both direct visual or using EAA. Then for the real challenge, try sketching them to the same scale to understand the differences.... I have yet to take up that challenge. A challenge that one day I hope to take up using the EAA technique is to capture the Palomar Globular Clusters.

61 cygni is a real favourite of mine - just cannot resist a visit if I am having a doubles night as I did recently.

Have fun. Mike

Hi Bill, Well done. No need for astro dark to do astronomy. I have had some of the best observing in GB in the light summer months, especially in July. Here in E.Anglia it has been some of the cloudiest summer weather for years so no observing for me. Doubles observing is easily do able in the June/July period.

I looked at Arp 91 back in May of this year with my C11 and ultrastar, 16 x 15 sec subs. Pleased to get the hints of star forming regions (knots) in 5954 (upper galaxy), hint of a dust lane and also the tidal stream between the two. An interesting point is, of the two galaxies it is NGC 5954 that is most disrupted - does this mean it is less dense than  5953?

Mike

Hi Ruud, Thanks for the info. Using a computer to sketch - never occurred to me. Must investigate this idea for lunar sketching. Fully understand that smaller detail creeps in by happy accident. Just the same for me. Drawing the moon is a lifetime's journey in itself, let alone doing DSOs etc. What fun and pleasure to be had from this hobby. Mike