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Messier 33

mikeDnight

By mikeDnight
in Sketching

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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A starlight night lured me out to the observatory. Fitting my 35mm Eudiascopic eyepiece into the 100mm scope, giving X21, I spent a good hour aimlessly sweeping through the milkyway. Triangulum was rising and reasonably well situated so I thought I'd take a look at an often overlooked gem - M33. Attached is my quick sketch of the face on galaxy. Although the sketch didn't take long, the star field being only approximately placed, i spent some time examining the subtle glow afterwards for any structure. There were times when hints of subtle detail appeared to be there but I couldn't be certain, so the sketch doesn't include the potential detail.

1194008036_2018-09-1800_47_18.thumb.jpg.644c86702ddc3e9d967c678f637eff78.jpg

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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2 hours ago, Stu said:

Great sketch Mike. Struggled to see much of it even in the 14” the other day, but your sketch shows that familiar glow when the transparency is enough to show it in a small scope. Nice.

 

7 hours ago, Swithin StCleeve said:

I found M33 tonight through my 10x50 bins. Very very faint. I was beginning to think it'd disappeared, I haven't seen it for ages. Nice sketch!

Thanks guys.

I've always found M33 to be a bit of a strange object. Looking back at my early observations of it back in the 1980's I seemed to have little trouble finding it in 12 x 60 binoculars. When it came to detecting it in a larger scope, it was always a struggle for some reason. Last night I swept over it several times before I noticed it was there, so I could have so easily missed it. I did think about looking for it in my 70 mm bin's, but wanted to let the scope find it if it could. It wasn't as easy as I remember it being!

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Swithin StCleeve

Swithin StCleeve

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I made exactly the same point in my write-up of last night's binocular obs in the binocular section.  I swear I used to be able to see M33 with the naked eye under dark skies in the early 90's. These days I struggle to see it through binoculars.
Either it's getting dimmer, or the skies are getting worse.

Or, it's my eyes! Do your eyes lose sensitivity to light a you age? (I almost don't want to know the answer).

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Stu

Stu

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44 minutes ago, Swithin StCleeve said:

Or, it's my eyes! Do your eyes lose sensitivity to light a you age? (I almost don't want to know the answer).

I'm afraid your pupils don't dilate as much as you get older so you dont see faint objects as well as you did when younger. Sad but true :(

 

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paulastro

paulastro

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Excellent Mike, what I could probably see from home with my six inch on a really good night!

I think if you had a few nights under some dark skies, like Kelling at its best, with your acute vision and artistic ability you'd come home with a portfolio of drawings which would be quite stunning.  Your scope and yourself deserve the extra ingredient of some great transparent skies and the 'dream team' would be complete :smile:.

At Kelling, using my AT-102ED even I could see considerably more detail - and not just on the cusp of visibility.

It would be wonderful to see what you would produce under such conditions,  your drawings would probably be the pinnacle of what could be seen with a four inch telescope, even using a Takahashi ?.

 

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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2 hours ago, paulastro said:

Excellent Mike, what I could probably see from home with my six inch on a really good night!

I think if you had a few nights under some dark skies, like Kelling at its best, with your acute vision and artistic ability you'd come home with a portfolio of drawings which would be quite stunning.  Your scope and yourself deserve the extra ingredient of some great transparent skies and the 'dream team' would be complete :smile:.

At Kelling, using my AT-102ED even I could see considerably more detail - and not just on the cusp of visibility.

It would be wonderful to see what you would produce under such conditions,  your drawings would probably be the pinnacle of what could be seen with a four inch telescope, even using a Takahashi ?.

 

May be next year Paul! ☺  You're cooking!!  On second thoughts, I'm cooking!!! ☺

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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On 21/09/2018 at 20:18, celestron8g8 said:

Very nice sketch , question for you . Just below M33 one of your stars has a tail that looks like a comet . Is that just a smear mistake ? I know there is a comet out there going through at the moment but don't know if this is what you saw or just a smear ? 

Hi Ron,

Sorry to disappoint you. It's a smear!  I unwittingly slid my hand over the felt tip star before it had dried. I tried to remove as much as I could using a putty rubber but couldn't remove it all. ☺

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