4 sketches 1 session!!!

[Richard Hather]

Observing Information

DSO's - M31/M81/M82/M16/M11

Date - 03/07/16

Time - 22:30-1:30

Lunar Phase - Waning Crescent

Transparency - 6

Seeing - Average

Equipment - Celestron Nexstar 6SE

Eyepieces - 40mm

Additional info - What a night, in all honesty it really did surpass all my expectations and hopes of how the night would turn out ☺️
Well I shall start from the beginning, Lee a fellow amateur astronomer asked me to tag along to my first ever group session down in Winscar of course I was more then happy to go.
So we set off at around 21:30 and got there for around 22:15 with 2 of our group already waiting a quick introduction and then 30 mins of waiting for the clouds to clear to confirm we was good to go.
Setting up was easy enough as always 2 star auto align and I was ready.
I'll be honest it was pretty light last night it didn't get truly dark in the time we was there and we was battling clouds for those few hours but it was well worth it ?
M31 was my first target of the night and if I'm honest possibly my biggest disappointment of the night.
Firstly I thought I would see a lot more detail and it would be a bit bigger even considering I was using my 40mm but I was still pleased with the surrounding stars and the size was still bigger then the clusters I've viewed.
So onto my next target M81/M82
getting these 2 galaxies in the EP was relatively straightforward and the detail on both was really beautiful again the surrounding stars were a joy to behold.
So onto my next target M16 I mean what can I say it was stunning the stars the way they are almost column like and the surrounding dust formation simply stunning.
I really wished I started with the eagle nebula purely because I think it deserved more care and attention and I know I could have got more detail with patience.
But onto my last target and again a pleasant surprise M11 the shape was so subtle and rounded with the tightly packed stars thinning out as the cluster extended and the surrounding stars again beautiful to gaze upon.
So to summarise I think I enjoy sketching open clusters more then globular purely because it's so much more challenging to get the shape right and they are more beautiful to look at if I'm honest.
Highlight of the night the eagle nebula really did steal the show, I look forward to viewing this beauty in the future and giving it a good couple of hours to tease out everything it has to offer ☺️
Thanks again for everyone letting me tag along, it was the best night yet for me even though conditions weren't perfect they were better then what I'm used to ?
Clear skies to all ✨??☄

Richard

[laudropb]

Very nice set of sketches.

[Richard Hather]

5 minutes ago, laudropb said:

Very nice set of sketches.

Thank you, I took a lot of pleasure sketching them, I'm happy you like them.

Richard

[Pete Presland]

A beautiful set of sketches!

[Richard Hather]

5 minutes ago, bunnygod1 said:

A beautiful set of sketches!

Thank you I'm glad you like them ☺️

[mariosi]

Lovely set of sketches. Nice report!!

 

Marios 

[Richard Hather]

2 hours ago, mariosi said:

Lovely set of sketches. Nice report!!

 

Marios 

Thank you Marios, I was really pleased with how they turned out ☺️

Maybe I did overstretch myself by adding another target but I'm still pleased with the overall quality especially the open clusters ☺️

Richard

[Tzitzis]

Wow nicely done. I think they are very representative of the image in the EP. Good job mate!

[Richard Hather]

4 hours ago, Tzitzis said:

Wow nicely done. I think they are very representative of the image in the EP. Good job mate!

Thank you  Tzitzis, I appreciate your kind words.

I do aim to always stay as accurate to the EP as possible without the confines of drawing in a circle which I find a bit claustrophobic ☺️

Not that I have anything against that it's just if you can use the whole page not only does it look nice it's a lot easier to sketch ?

Richard

[Astro Imp]

I enjoyed reading your report and your sketches are very well executed. Well done and thanks for sharing.

[Richard Hather]

10 hours ago, Tzitzis said:

Wow nicely done. I think they are very representative of the image in the EP. Good job mate!

Thank you  Tzitzis, I appreciate your kind words.

I do aim to always stay as accurate to the EP as possible without the confines of drawing in a circle which I find a bit claustrophobic ☺️

Not that I have anything against that it's just if you can use the whole page not only does it look nice it's a lot easier to sketch ?

Richard

[Richard Hather]

12 minutes ago, Astro Imp said:

I enjoyed reading your report and your sketches are very well executed. Well done and thanks for sharing.

Thank you Astro, honestly the pleasure is all mine ☺️

It really is the most immersive experience I've ever had, where the hours seem to melt away and you almost fall into the vastness of the cosmos it really does put things into perspective ☺️

Richard

[rockystar]

nice one Richard, looking good. M11 looks lovely - I could have has that last night, wish I seen your sketches before I headed out

[Richard Hather]

1 minute ago, rockystar said:

nice one Richard, looking good. M11 looks lovely - I could have has that last night, wish I seen your sketches before I headed out

Cheers Lee, it really was a pleasant surprise just how structured and expansive M11 is I get the feeling I will be observing it again pretty soon really is worth a second look ?.

Maybe I will get the chance on my 4 off but it's looking doubtful.

Clear skies ✨??☄

Richard

[gtis]

Hi Richard 

great report and great sketches,glad you liked the meeting with us

and nice to meet you hope you can get to the next one

 

[mapstar]

Lovely Sketches Richard. Did you do them on the night as I can't remember seeing you sketching

[Richard Hather]

7 hours ago, gtis said:

Hi Richard 

great report and great sketches,glad you liked the meeting with us

and nice to meet you hope you can get to the next one

 

Thank you, I really enjoyed the night it really did exceed all my expectations.

I would go as far to say there so much to see and to look at scope and EP wise add on top of that talking to everyone it if a bit overwhelming.

I loved every minute and would love to go to the next one ☺️

Richard

[Richard Hather]

7 hours ago, mapstar said:

Lovely Sketches Richard. Did you do them on the night as I can't remember seeing you sketching

Thank you Damian, yes I sketched them on the night and inverted them on my iPhone later on.

I was surprised I got 4 done but I found when the skie did clear I got a lot more detail of the object a lot faster then being in my back yard.

Yes I have a camping table were I keep all my sketching tools and A5 sketchbook reslly comes in handy ☺️

Richard

[FenlandPaul]

Great sketches, Richard, and together with your words really help me to imagine your eyepiece view. I think M31 can often be disappointing, particularly as there are so many amazing pictures of it.  It's so large on the sky that it can be difficult in substandard conditions to pick out anything in the way of detail. But every so often you can get a truly dark and transparent night and it seems to leap out at you like never before.

look forward to seeing more of your sketches.

Paul

[Richard Hather]

55 minutes ago, FenlandPaul said:

Great sketches, Richard, and together with your words really help me to imagine your eyepiece view. I think M31 can often be disappointing, particularly as there are so many amazing pictures of it.  It's so large on the sky that it can be difficult in substandard conditions to pick out anything in the way of detail. But every so often you can get a truly dark and transparent night and it seems to leap out at you like never before.

look forward to seeing more of your sketches.

Paul

Thank you Paul for your kind comments, I still enjoyed the view of M31 and I do think I will get more from a truly dark night.

I look forward to the challenge the open clusters were brilliant though and I look forward to sketching many more of them ☺️

Trust me Paul you will see many more of my sketches in the future and I look forward to sketching them ☺️

Clear skies ✨??☄??

Richard

[Ruud]

Fine sketches. Richard! I looked up Winscar. A beautiful place.

[Richard Hather]

6 hours ago, Ruud said:

Fine sketches. Richard! I looked up Winscar. A beautiful place.

Thank you Ruud, it really was a great place to observe, I look forward to going there again ☺️

Only problem I had was I tried to pack to much in next time I will stick with 1-2 targets and try and get more detail, quality over quantity ☺️

Clear skies ✨??☄??

Richard

[N3ptune]

I like your sketches Richard, really nice!

What kind of paper and pencil are you using to do that? I would like to try very much. Is it special paper and pencils?

Thanks for sharing.

[Richard Hather]

2 minutes ago, N3ptune said:

I like your sketches Richard, really nice!

What kind of paper and pencil are you using to do that? I would like to try very much. Is it special paper and pencils?

Thanks for sharing.

Hi N3ptune, thank you for your kind comments ☺️

I try to show an accurate yet beautiful representation of what you see through the EP.

I find instead of using circles to represent the EP using the full page allows a lot more freedom and for me is easier to represent what I see through the EP.

I use A5 Seawhite sketch paper due to the paper being thick.

I use Derwent sketching pencils 3B,2B,B,HB,H and 2H.

Primarily I use the 2H to sketch all the stars in and use varying degrees of pressure to show different brightness for different stars and structure for the DSOs.

I also use Derwent rice paper stumps to achieve the dust and shade effect around nebula and galaxies.

What I also find comes in handy is a kneadable eraser for rubbing away some of the shading and reapplying were needed.

Once I'm happy with my sketch it's a simple case of scanning the sketch and then processing it through photoshop.

I usually sharpen the sketch and then invert the image so the white becomes black and black becomes white.

Here is my original sketch, any questions don't hesitate to ask ☺️

Richard

[N3ptune]

Richard thanks for these explanations and for the publication of the original drawing, which is also a really interesting piece of the subtle nebula.

--> (Ahhh!) It's done with colour inversion in photoshop/Gimp! Now I understand better ((: I thought it was white lead on black paper really. lol

I am going to buy sketch paper has you use and suggested to me, now I use a strange paper found in a disaffected office building, it's in between a sketch paper and a standard printer paper 8.5x11, I feel it's not the optimal paper yet, especially against humidity.

If the sky drawing is done with lead pencils, then I have them! I typically use the 4B, HB, H and 4H (Little bit different from you selection 3B,2B,B,HB,H and 2H.)

The rice paper stumps I didn't even knew they exists , ill get some has soon has possible.

Thanks !