Sketching back to the start - more or less

[Moonshane]

More solar from April 2014

 

 

 

 

[Moonshane]

and the last of the Mars sketches from April 2014. The small pale circle in the second one was identified as the clouds over Olympus Mons!

 

[Moonshane]

Mars to the end of May 2014

 

 

[Moonshane]

DSO's

May 2014

Comet Panstarrs

 

Messier 91

 

 

Messier 88

[Moonshane]

Solar May 2014

    

[Moonshane]

Saturn moon layout

[Moonshane]

Sketches from June 2014 including Vega which a lot of people don't realise is a double star.

Vega

[Moonshane]

Here's my efforts from July 2014, more of a mixed bag! The doubles I cheat a bit and create nicer coloured spots to match the view as closely as practical.

 

Doubles all with 80mm f11 Vixen achromat

23 Aquilae

 

Epsilon Lyrae, the double double

Sigma Cass. 

Izar, Epsilon Bootis

Pi Aquilae

[Moonshane]

And here's August 2014

Comet Jacques

and with more magnification.

Messier 26

NGC 6664

Messier 30

NGC 7448

 

[Moonshane]

The offering from September 2014

 

Trumpler 2

Messier 103

Stock 23 Pazmino's Cluster

Trumpler 3

Messier 45 The Pleiades

Close up of one of main ARs

Close up of one of main ARs

[Moonshane]

Iota Cassiopeiae 

 

Gamma Andromedae

Eta Persi

3053 Cassiopeiae 

1-Psi Pisci

8 Lacerti

 

6 Triangulum

Zeta Pisci

 

 

[Moonshane]

October 2014 - just solar and the most impressive AR I have seen.

 

 

 

 

 

Sketched again when seeing better

 

 

 

An alien conspiracy theorist's dream

[Moonshane]

November 2014, mostly doubles.

 

IC405 Flaming Star Nebula

 

NGC 2169

Gamma Arietis

Lambda Arietis

14 Arietis

1 Arietis

Theta 1/2 Tauri

742

Theta Aurigae

[Moonshane]

December 2014

Just solar including my first attempts at Ha plus a moon transit of Jupiter.

 

[mikeDnight]

Your solar observations are fantastic! And I love your observations of double stars too, as representing them in sketches is far more meaningful, to me at least, than a page of notes and data. Truly inspirational Shane! I've only a hand full of solar observations from recent years, so may be this is a prompt for me to do more. ☺

Do you project the image, use a full aperture filter or use a Herschel wedge for your solar work? Some of those sketches are reminiscent of those made by R. S. Ball back in the 19th century. Superb! 

Mike

Attached are some of Balls sketches from his book The Story of the Sun.

 

[Moonshane]

Cheers Mike, how kind of you. I initially used a 6" f11 newt with a foil filter which was pretty good but since moving to a frac with a herschel wedge (initially a 1.25" Lunt but more recently a 2" Baader cool wedge) I see far more detail than before. Binoviewing also makes the whole experience very enjoyable indeed. In some ways I prefer white light (when there's some action anyway) to Ha although having the capacity for both is great. For me the combination of 120ED, binoviewers and a Baader Cool Wedge is perfection in all but the worst seeing when my 102 ED does a better job.

[Moonshane]

Sketches from January 2015

Comet Lovejoy Q2

 

Messier 47

NGC 2261 Hubble's Variable Nebula

It turns out the third moon shadow I saw was actually one of the moon disks! 

Asteroid 2004 BL86 'time lapse'

 

[Moonshane]

February 2015, more of a mixed bag

Lunar halo / ring encircling Jupiter and Regulus - nice!

 

[Moonshane]

Nothing at all in my notebook for March 2015 but here's April and May

 

M86 and M84

 

[Moonshane]

2015 was a relatively lean year - these conclude my sketches for that year, all solar.

 

[Moonshane]

January 2016 using a new albeit only partially successful Ha template. 

 

[Moonshane]

February and March 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Moonshane]

April 2016

My wife liked the first one. My attempt to show the difference in spot appearance between Ha and white light. She thought the former looked like a ghost hoovering up.

[Moonshane]

May 2016

All solar with the Mercury transit plus an attempt to sketch a large spot developing daily.

 

[Moonshane]

June 2016