M31, M32 and M110

[jdg600]

A sketch I made on 10/12/2012 using my 200mm f/6 dob with a 32mm eyepiece. It was the first time I've ever managed to see M110, it was very faint but it was great to get them all in the same field of view.

[rory]

nice. what did you use to sketch those, pastel ?

[jdg600]

Thanks Rory. I use Paint Shop Pro on my computer to produce my final sketches. I find this really useful as I dont have any great talent for art. Basically the technique I use is as follows:

• First I produce a simple pencil sketch at the eyepiece just to get the overall form of the object and the positions of any bright stars in the vicinity. I can do maybe three or four of these sketches in a single observing session.
  
• Once inside in the warm, and hopefully while the object is still fresh in my mind, I scan my sketches into PSP.
  
• I then use PSP to re-draw the image on top of the original sketch, in this way I can be sure that the relative positions of stars etc are the same as in my pencil sketch.
  
• Finally I use the Negative Image option to produce a white on black image which I print out and keep together with my pencil sketch in my Observation Log.
  

I find that even with my limited artistic capabilities this enables me to produce reasonably decent images which I think are a fair representation of what I've seen at the eyepiece. In particular I find the airbrush tool in PSP invaluable for producing nebulosity in my sketches.

John

[Stephen Green]

Hi John I like your sketch I have never had a clear view of M110

Stephen

[jdg600]

Thanks Stephen, this was the first time I've ever managed to see it and, in truth, it wasn't as prominent as it appears in my sketch. It was very faint, I could just make it out using averted vision, but I was eventually able to convince myself that I really was seeing it.

John

[nightskystargazer]

John,

Nice sketch of M=31, M-32 & M110 .

CS.KLU.

Tom