First attempt at drawing. (Cassiopeia and Pleiades)

[Astroegg]

Cassiopeia (unaided) and Pleiades (8x40 binoculars)

I have not tried this before, in fact I have not recorded my observing in any way before (except for scribbling some Messier objects I wanted to see on a post-it note once), so I hope this looks acceptable.

I drew these on black art card using a white gel tip pen, as suggested by todd8137 and found it quite interesting. I think the accuracy is pretty bad but checking them against Stellarium shows I wasn't totally off.

The skies were clear but the light pollution (London is less than 20 miles away) and some hazy seeing probably hid a lot of detail. The Milky Way was not really visible at all in the Cassiopeia observation, and when I drew Pleiades, although I could see some slight nebulosity in the binos, I did not know how best to draw it using the gel-ink pen. The 8x40 binoculars I used in observing Pleiades have really seen better days too!

I drew them from the top of the North Downs whilst sat in a deck chair looking up at the sky. I held a red torch in my mouth to illuminate the drawing, which meant I eventually drooled all over the place! I also managed to smudge some of the wet ink. Maybe next time I should get a clipboard and head torch...

[Demonperformer]

Excellent results for a first attempt - I particularly like the pleiades one

Thanks for posting

[Astroegg]

Thanks DP. I am quite pleased with the Pleiades one myself. I can't really see enough stars for unaided observtions to be very detailed (as the Cassiopeia illustration shows) however I needed to have a go at something simple first. Seeing as Cassiopeia was straight above when I looked, and there were not too many stars, I thought I'd crack my teeth on it for a first effort and move onto something a little more detailed the next time. Pleiades through binoculars is a sight even in poor binoculars though! Glad you like it.

[todd8137]

hi looks good bet when you get behind the scopethe pics will have more detail may have a go at m81/82 over the weekend keep it up

[DarkerSky]

They are fabulous. Well done. Really like both of them. I use a red light strapped to my head(!). Looks a bit odd I know, but it keeps your hands (and mouth) free

[spaceboy]

That is REAL good!!! Plenty of detail included.

[dweller25]

I can easily recognize both constellations from your drawings - brilliant

[Nexus 6]

Nice work

[Astroegg]

Thanks for the lovely comments folks. I managed to look at the Pleiades again through my new 20x80 binoculars and the detail is incredible. I will get the drawing tools out again and try to improve the technique. Not holding the torch in my mouth is definitely going to help!