A Few Highlights

[Qualia]

Today the calender marks the 15^th January and says that we’ve had 15 days of sun shine and 11 clear nights. That's not a bad running which seems to be coming to an end. In the clamour of the daylight before the 10km cycle ride to work, I’ve had time to observe the Sun each morning and at night the Moon, Jupiter and a host of deep space objects beyond the feast of naked eye but all within limits of vision. The following is a small sample of some of the highlights enjoyed this last fortnight:

Soon dusk came and the Saturday Sun drowned in a sea of brilliant reds and oranges. On the edge of night and day, between the orange groves and a deep blue lake that was the sky, Mercury, Venus and Mars stabbed the sunset. The camera used didn't really pick up on the planets seen naked eye, so I guessed them in using Gimp

The two bright stars of Castor are simply stunning. Two white diamonds of equal beauty and brightness.

Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) continued to brighten the night sky and after the full Moon of the 5^th could be seen naked eye. Making a little comparison to nearby stars, the comet's visual magnitude seemed to be about 4. Whatever the optical instrument used, be it the 3”, 4” or 10”, Lovejoy transformed into a gorgeous cosmic visitor, always remaining bright with a misty atmosphere (coma) of grey, green and blue.

NGC 2392 is always a pleasure to visit for it was one of the first deep space objects I ever observed with a telescope. It is a lovely planetary nebula in which you can clearly see the tiny white dwarf at its centre. With higher magnifications you can make out three main sections to the PN; the bright central star surrounded by a mottled disc and then a fainter shell enveloping the entire object. I decided to sketch using a lesser power for purely aesthetic reasons, preferring the frame of gleaming stars. 

M 44 or Praesepe is a large open cluster in Cancer and although I have seen this cluster on a number of occasions, I had never sketched it. In the 3” f6 refractor with about 20x magnification the rich open cluster is well detached from the darker background and makes for a wonderful view. Indeed, with just over 3º arc degrees of true field and a dark, moonless night, it was probably the best I’ve ever seen M 44. The range of brightness amongst the stars is huge; there are also many double stars and interesting geometric forms such as triangles, half-circles and chains. Towards the centre, a grouping of coloured stars were easily visible. To the sketch’s north, south and west of centre, in what appears to be M 44’s own asterism, were stars the colour of orange, yellow and blue. I couldn’t discern the same intensity of colour in the surrounding star field.

Inspired by the experience of M 44, another night I decided to check out some of the open clusters around Auriga, now high on the zenith. Sailing casually past the spectacular Messier clusters M 36, M 37 and M 38, I decided to see what could be tweaked from the small cluster NGC 1857. I found that with the 3” f6 any magnifications under 90x revealed little. Indeed, even with the 10mm, at best I had the suspicion of a small grouping of stars, nothing more. Certainly this is not a cluster to observe with low powers.

Working through a range of eyepieces and with the aid of a Barlow, I found that the 8mm Plossl and x2 Barlow gave the most comfortable viewing experience and a good working magnification of about 100x to begin sketching. I’ve never really understood the notion of a poor cluster, as if the only factor we should consider is the sheer number of stars contained. NGC 1857 may be compact; it may have few stars but it is nonetheless quite a pretty cluster with a beautiful deep yellow lucida at its heart surrounded by a delicate string of fainter stars playing out some undiscovered dance at the very edge of direct visibility.

Another late evening, I was ambling along the celestial avenue from Meissa to blood red Betelgeuse some 650 million kilometers in diameter and north towards Mu Orionis when I came upon NGC 2141. It’s quite a loose open cluster with a giant red star at its centre some 13,000 light years away. People have seen strange things in the stars, a dragon and hunting dogs, a vain queen and leaping fishes and I am no exception. In some manner the sketch reminded me of Earth’s continents layed out before me, the little stars revealing the most light polluted areas. 

NGC 2129 in many ways is similar to NGC 1857. It lies about the same distance from us. It is quite small and is easier enough to locate but at low powers is very hard to discern. With the 10mm Delos at 50x only the two brightest components jump at you, but using the Delos with a Barlow begins to hint at the secret nature of this small and delicate open cluster.

π Puppis (Pi Puppis) is the second brightest star in the constellation of Puppis and is approximately 810 light years distant from Earth. It is an outstanding double star and surely one of the sky’s finest doubles. To my eye, Pi Puppis consisted of bright orange supergiant and a dimmer but no lesser significant blue companion. The supergiant has a diameter about 600 times that of the Sun and turns out to be the brightest member of the open cluster Collinder 135. For the sketch I used the cracking Moonshane 10" and a 10mm Delos.

[Pig]

Fantastic Rob  great presentation I must say and what a run of clear nights and days you have had, double figures

[cotterless45]

Superb Rob. We've had a run of cloud, wind, snow, rain and grot ! Thankfully tonight is forecast clear. Really inspiring to see these wonderful targets,

Nick.

[ghostdance]

Wonderful. Loved the 'continent cluster' - the stars play.... eh?

And in awe of your sketching, as per.

[Peter Drew]

Great presentation, both written and pictured. One aspect that puzzled me was the notation that a couple of the clusters were placed a 3.26 light years distance. I always thought that Proxima Centauri at around 4.2 light years was the closest star to us after the Sun. ?  

[estwing]

Stunning report thanks for sharing

[Qualia]

Thank you for your kind comments Today is a grey and windy day, so just as I imagined the running is over for a while

Peter, thank you for pointing that out! I should have written 3.26 parsecs, or as I normally do, change the reference to light years. In a moment of distraction or sleepiness I just didn't notice my error

If we do this we have the estimated distance 3.26 parsecs = 10,600 light years I won't edit my mistake, preferring to keep the posts coherent.

[Peter Drew]

Thanks Rob, puts my mind at rest , in no way does it detract from your presentation.

[Astro Imp]

Another wonderful report accompanied by some outstanding sketches. I particularly liked your view of M44, I find when looking at this gem it difficult to tear myself away, as the more I look the more asterisms I see.

As Nick said above we have had a run of terrible grot but looks like we might be in for a change.

[dick_dangerous]

Some great inspiration here - not only your descriptions and wonderful sketches but also for having a crack at sketching myself. I have a load of black paper spare from my wife's portfolio, so I'm hoping to have a go at it this year.

Cheers,

DD

[Qualia]

Thank you for the warm and supporting comments. You're good guys and I hope to some extent I am able to return the genoristy you show me

DD, if you can sketch on black paper and pull it off, the final image is cracking but I've tried sketching on black paper and for a number of reasons found it really quite tricky. I used a variety of white and silver pens to get the star effect but the ink would often run across the paper or simply create a blob rather than a crisp star shape Drawing clusters was also a bit of a nightmare. To draw in the DSO, I tried using chalk dust and brush, but this too caused me great discomfort. Wind would blow it everywhere, or I simply couldn't get the texture and detail I was looking for. Furthermore, in dim red light I found it quite difficult to see what I was doing .

A bad workman will often blame his tools and in this case the worn out phrase might be true. I have no expertise and simply cannot draw, so the technique is beyond my capabilities. However, Mike 73 here at SGL was a master as was Scott Mellish the fellow who designed it. 

[dick_dangerous]

Interesting - I'll see what my wife suggests because she's a designer and illustrator so very much can draw. Unfortunately the astronomy bug has yet to bite her, so we're unlikely to see her attempts at astro-sketching here!

DD

[65Cap]

Rob, your sketches are truly inspiring, with such beautiful, intricate detail in them. I really love the sunset image too, especially with those gorgeous contrasts between the oranges and the blues. Watching the changing scene during that time is always fascinating. I managed to catch sight of Venus and Mercury myself the night before, and it's still very vivid in my memory.

Jeff.

[Qualia]

Thank you, Jeff I've noticed you've a good hand and eye for detail in your own observation and sketching threads. They too are really inspiring and excellent works of creation. It's good to have you on board SGL .