M27 from Los Angeles

[AlexxxAA]

Hi everyone. So I finally managed to get out of apartment living and move into a house with my wife. That means I actually have my own yard space to set up the beasts! So after a year, I finally took an hour Thursday night (Sept. 5) to set up the LightBridge and check out of few things. Mostly around the zenith since I didn't have all my leveling tools.

So in the excitement I decided to also try a sketch after so long. M27 would be a nice, bright, easy target. But to my surprise, even with the 12", the Dumbell was very faint due to the horrible light pollution here in LA, particularly bad being a weekday... I tried the UHC filter, but with very little improvement. On the other hand, the oxygen filter made a huge difference. Even all the nebulosity around the apple-core was very noticeable.

Hope you guys enjoy the sketch. I think I did a little too much emphasis on the apple-core. And there should have been a few more faint stars in the view but I was running out of time being a weeknight.

Suggestions for improvement are welcome. Thanks for looking guys.

[AlexxxAA]

For some reason the sketch didnt post on the first try... So here it is lol

[Uplooker]

Hi Alex,

That's a crackin' sketch! Lovely to look at since I have just spent the last hour or so looking at M27 with a C8. You say you have light pollution, can't be that bad as I was not able to see anywhere near that amount of detail. Well done again.

Ian

[AlexxxAA]

Hi Ian

Thank you for your kind honest feedback.

Indeed the light pollution here where i live is quite bad since I'm only about 20km from downtown Los Angeles. But the only salvation I have is that 12" of aperture and the OIII filter work wonders together. When I tried to see M27 without the filter it was almost missable. The filter really brought out the nebula into easy view. I really recommend getting one. It would be a great team with your C8

[RikM]

Well done. That's a really nice sketch. M27 can be really quite extensive with an Oiii or UHC filter. 

[jdg600]

Hi Alex, I really like your M27 sketch. I was just comparing it to the one I made of M27 the other evening (see my other post) and I think they compare quite well. You have more detail in yours - probably due to larger aperture and maybe better seeing (not good at all here).

I think its interesting that we both decided to add diffraction spikes to the same bright star. This is something I often do with the brighter stars in the star-field in my sketches just as a bit of artistic license really.

John

[Qualia]

Cracking sketch and thank you for sharing.

[kerrylewis]

Nice sketch. Fundamental question: what materials do you chaps use to get the true white/grey on dark effect? I've experimented but always with soft pencils on white cartridge paper which obviously results in a 'negative' appearance.

[RikM]

I use soft pencil and a paper blending stump on white cartridge paper and then scan and invert it in Photoshop.

[kerrylewis]

I use soft pencil and a paper blending stump on white cartridge paper and then scan and invert it in Photoshop.

I thought there might be a bit of Photoshpo involved! I must try that - thanks

[Mike73]

Nice sketch. Fundamental question: what materials do you chaps use to get the true white/grey on dark effect? I've experimented but always with soft pencils on white cartridge paper which obviously results in a 'negative' appearance.

I use black paper and white pastel pencils so no need to invert the final sketch in PS, just take a picture resize and its done!