SGL 2023 Challenge 2 - Sketches

[MartinB]

Whilst this might be an opportunity for those handy with a brush or pencil it is also an opportunity for those who have never attempted an astronomical drawing/painting.  The earliest astronomical drawings date back to the stone age.  Astronomers started using early telescopes to create detailed pictures of the moon early in the 17th century.  Sketching at the eyepiece is an excellent way to improve observing skills as well as providing a great record of an observing session.

For the purposes of this challenge all sketches should be taken at the eyepiece as opposed to making a drawing from a photograph, there is no way of enforcing this other than trusting to your honesty and integrity!  Using multiple sessions to create the sketch is fine.

Drawings can use any medium - pencil, pastels, oils (!!)

All astronomical objects are acceptable but please do not include any non sky foreground.

Now hear is the important bit.  The judging will be based not just on the presented picture but also the account of the creation of the sketch.  So please give as much description as possible including prior sketching experience, telescopic equipment, the observing conditions, materials used and, particularly for novices, how you found the observing/sketching experience and what, if anything, you learnt.

If you have any queries about the challenge please contact me via PM rather than from within this thread.

 

Start date 1st February 2023

End date 30th April 2023

No entries will be accepted after this date.

As previously the winner and runners up will receive an SGL challenge mug showing their image along with a virtual medal-of-honour for their SGL signature.

Please post entries directly into this thread

--

RULES

All pictures should have been created by you,  by you (no collaborative entries). 
Pictures must have been produced during the challenge start & end dates. 
Multiple entries are allowed but please make a fresh post within the thread.
 

 

[mikeDnight]

Just a quick couple of questions.  Does the sketch need to be current, or could it be a sketch from a past observation? Also, is it just one sketch per participant?

Mike 

[JeremyS]

Excellent: proper imaging 👍🏻

[MartinB]

14 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

Just a quick couple of questions.  Does the sketch need to be current, or could it be a sketch from a past observation? Also, is it just one sketch per participant?

Mike 

If you can do a sketch from memory of an observation that would be OK so long as you don't use aids such as photographs.

You can submit as many entries as you like.

[Moon-Monkey]

Ok firstly what a great competition love it , so to confirm ; can we enter with a sketch and account we have already made and done ie a previous sketch made recently ,or does it have to be a sketch made purposefully now for the competition?  
clear skies 

[Moon-Monkey]

5 minutes ago, Moon-Monkey said:

Ok firstly what a great competition love it , so to confirm ; can we enter with a sketch and account we have already made and done ie a previous sketch made recently ,or does it have to be a sketch made purposefully now for the competition?  
clear skies 

Apologies just saw the rules underneath 🤦‍♂️👍👍

[mikeDnight]

  Forty three years ago when I first cut my astro teeth, sketching was the thing to do. Photography back then was very different from the imaging of today, and a sketch if made well could add quite seriously to our understanding. Even though sketching is nolonger viewed as being of any scientific use by the majority, it remains a highly valuable observing aid, for it has been said that If you really want to see something - draw it. I certainly feel that sketching has helped me to see countless subtle details as seen through the eyepiece that I would otherwise most likely have missed.

  The sketches that follow are special to me for reasons I'll explain as you brows through them. 

The Moon through a 4" refractor:

 If I'm being honest, I struggle with sketching the Moon, as shadows race across its surface at quite a lick, changing a features appearance dramatically in only a few minutes. I screw more paper up while drawing the moon than with anything else, but if something catches my eye I'll try to represent it faithfully. 

Alpine Valley and Elgers Rille.

  I first discovered this feature for myself while sketching the valley back in 2001. I was using a 120mm Helios achromat at the time. I later learned that the fine dark rille that crosses the valley widthwise about half way along its length was drawn on a map by Thomas Gwynne Elger, hence my decision to call it Elgers rille. Also seen as a bright white line slightly south of centre while making the sketch,  was the central rille. Ive found it's often easier to detect the latter when the valley is some distance from the terminator, and even in full Sun.

And speaking of Full Sun. If the Moon is in the sky why ignore it, even if there are no shadows? 

 

Messier and Messier A are the twin impact craters, but the best time to study the rays is in full Sun. Here not only are the rays well represented, but also the undulating terrain and differing shades of the surface.

Gorgeous mountain shadows:

The Hortensius Domes were my sketching target, but I feel the gorgeous shadows steal the glory. Again, as with most of my lunar sketches there isn't a wealth of detail recorded, but enough to give a flavour of the observation. 

 A famous trio:

Theophilus, Cyrillus & Catharina are likely well known to all, and I chose them to sketch because they were in shadow, and I though would be relatively easy to draw. I was wrong! I had to race to try and capture enough detai as accurately as I could before it was gone. You'll notice there's very little detail in the terracing, and the sketch in no way represents the level of complexity seen though the eyepiece. At a quick glance the sketch looks ok, so I'm pleased with the result.

 And finally Rima Ariadaeus:

 

This is one of my favourite lunar sketches as it looks far more complex than it actually is. I chose to draw this because of the double rille running parallel. This was the first time I'd noticed this double rille. Just recently I saw an image indicating it to be so, which gave me a thrill.

Edited February 5, 2023 by mikeDnight

[RobertI]

Beautiful sketches Mike, will hopefully inspire lots of other entires. 🙂

[mikeDnight]

Jupiter & Saturn are dynamic even in a small scope. The following sketches were made using a 4" refractor for Jupiter, and a 4.75" for Saturn.

These sketches of Jupiter show interesting shadow transits. In the double sketch below Europa is seen close to the following limb against the northern edge of the NEB. As the planet rotates you'll note the globe detail move toward the preceding limb and Europa pretty much appearing to keep pace. However in the second sketch you can see the perfect tiny globe of Europa appear as it sits against the limb shading and the blackness of space. 

 

Below is a double shadow transit from the night of August 8th 2020. I forgot to find out which moons were transiting.

 

Here a 4.75" refractor gives a very pleasing though somewhat bland view of Saturn with its ring system almost edge on. However the NEB, NTB, WEB & STB are all easily seen on the globe. Cassini's division was just visible in the following aspect of the rings.

 

 

In this sketch number of festoons were visible along the northern edge of the south equatorial belt. Not as immediately obvious as those on Jupiter, they become more easily discernible when thinking in terms of contrast rather than hard detail.

 

This was a spectacular night as the northern edge of Saturn's ring as it crossed the planet displayed what I can only call a peppered edge, as if looking through boulders from a great distance. I saw this effect on the previous night also, but on this night it was my observing buddy who exclaimed "Have you seen the edge of Saturn's ring"? At that point I knew it was a genuine feature, and to back it up i recieved a phone call the following morning from another SGL planetary observer saying "Did you see the edge of Saturn's ring last night"? I attempted to draw the effect in the sketch below but was careful not to over exaggerate it. I hope you can see it.

Edited February 5, 2023 by mikeDnight

[josefk]

Oh dear. Well someone has to go next so from the sublime @mikeDnight 🙂 to the ridiculous but it is my first ever crack at lunar and my shoulder's are broad/skin thick so here we go i'll lower the bar a bit:

 

 

Done at the eyepiece just now - Swarovski ATX95 spotting scope at 70x. The moon was rising through quite hazy thin cloud but it was clear enough to have growing moments of clarity as it climbed slightly higher. 

Faber-Castell 101 white pastel pencil & Faber-Castell 101 white artists pen brush on black card.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by josefk
smaller file and corrected white balance

[Knighty2112]

15 minutes ago, josefk said:

Oh dear. Well someone has to go next so from the sublime @mikeDnight 🙂 to the ridiculous but it is my first ever crack at lunar and my shoulder's are broad/skin thick so here we go i'll lower the bar a bit:

Done at the eyepiece just now - Swarovski ATX95 spotting scope at 70x. The moon was rising through quite hazy thin cloud but it was clear enough to have growing moments of clarity as it climbed slightly higher. 

Faber-Castell 101 white pastel pencil & Faber-Castell 101 white artists pen brush on black card.

 

I like ‘em! 👍🏻

[mikeDnight]

3 hours ago, josefk said:

Oh dear. Well someone has to go next so from the sublime @mikeDnight 🙂 to the ridiculous but it is my first ever crack at lunar and my shoulder's are broad/skin thick so here we go i'll lower the bar a bit:

 

 

Done at the eyepiece just now - Swarovski ATX95 spotting scope at 70x. The moon was rising through quite hazy thin cloud but it was clear enough to have growing moments of clarity as it climbed slightly higher. 

Faber-Castell 101 white pastel pencil & Faber-Castell 101 white artists pen brush on black card.

 

 

Thats great and worthy of printing on a T shirt. I love it!

[mikeDnight]

Here are a few sketches that show small scopes can be very capable even on  DSO's and for observing double stars.

The largest scope, a 10" reflector, was used to get a low power view of Venus in the Pleiades.  Although nice, I dislike it because of the spider diffraction.

 

When it comes to a 4" refractor,  many may be surprised at just how well it can cope with deep sky targets. Some of the easiest deep sky objects are the stars themselves, but they are very often overlooked. So here are just a few to hopefully wet your appetite for double star observing, and sketching. The beauty of double star observing at a basic level is that you don't need to be an artist, yet they can be  beautiful as well as easy targets even on a poor night.

 

 

Small aperture refractors are often said to punch above their weight. This is true if you have a steady, transparent atmosphere and are patient. There's often more on view than first meets the eye, and sketching focuses the observers attention on the deeper things,  not just the superficial. Below is a sketch of the Ring nebula M57 as seen through a 4" refractor. Not only does the nebula itself show intricate and subtle differences in brightness, it hints at its structure. And a 4" refractor on a reasonable night when the observer has shielded his or her eyes from any surrounding light, will show the 13.2 magnitude star close to its outer edge. 

The sketch of M57 below was drawn with graphite pencil on white paper as are most of my deep sky sketches, then blended using a cotton bud. Dead easy really!  The observation was made on 9/7/2017 using a FC100DC and a 4mm Nirvana eyepiece giving 185X.

 

Have you ever had the feeling you're being watched? The Owel nebula M97 is a nice target to sketch, as it reveals more than just a bland nebulous disc. The eyes of the Owel can be seen in a 4" scope, but it may take a few minutes before they become obvious. Obvious is not meant to imply easy, as the eyes can challenge an observers visual acuity. Sketching really helps focus the attention to detail.

 

Just because its spectacular, the Orion nebula M42 is a challenging object to sketch accurately.  It was when sketching this object that the black nebula really jumped out at me, presenting itself in layers and giving the appearance of real depth tho the clam shell of gas and dust. I don't feel I caught the visual effect well enough in this sketch, but it does give at least some idea of the dark and bright nebulas contrasting features visible in a 4".

 

And here's my most challenging target to date - IC434, and the tiny black nothch representing the Horse Head nebula. As the note on the sketch states, i didnt see the horse head, or at least anything that resembled a horses head, but only a tiny black nothch in IC434 where the HH approximately is. The notch was only visible using averted vision, so accurate placement was near impossible, but it's close.  Finding IC434 from my suburban site was challenging too, as I needed to not only block out ant stray light from my surroundings by using a blackout blanket over my head and eyepiece, but i also had the challenge of keeping Alnitak outside my field of view. It must have taken around 20 minutes before a tiny shard of bright nebulosity extending from a star caught my eye. Only then did I become aware of the jet black wall of dust running parallel to the bright nebula. The longer I observed and sketched what I was seeing, the more I saw. The whole observation took about an hour, but it was very satisfying to have finally caught a glimpse of this difficult object.

 

Low power views of star fields is a small refractors playground,  and if there's a comet to be seen these scopes are simply awesome.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by mikeDnight

[josefk]

...sorry for another moon so soon but there's not much else on at the moment . Icy cold tonight and its definitely quite difficult moderating pastel and ink pen in the cold and slightly damp air...🥶

I was using the same right way up right way round spotting scope as yesterday (95mm APO) at 70x; Faber-Castel 101 white pastel, Derwent white charcoal, Faber-Castel 101 white brush pen, and Sakura Gelly Roll white highlighter. Quite enjoyable paying attention to the western limb and the crater rims lit up against the blackness.

 

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by josefk
magnification added

[JeremyS]

This is turning into a most excellent thread 👍🏻

[Knighty2112]

This is much better than all those other threads showing boring electronically gizmofied images of things that need 50 hours of integrated red, blue, yellow, and infra red data etc that take 5 hrs to process through even the fastest PC known after stacking the best of 50,000 images!  

<ducks and quickly runs for cover!> 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Knighty2112

[Paul M]

4 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

This is turning into a most excellent thread 👍🏻

I agree. I have nothing but admiration for this art. 

But to keep within the rules of not congesting this thread with chat, and seeing as historical sketches are being entered, I'll offer my own😇

Here is a photo of a couple of pages from my log book I used to keep as a boy. This was December 17th 1978 when was 14. I grabbed this attachment from my introductory SGL post in 2013. 

It's low resolution. I think I upliaded it at low resolution intentionally as although I didn't struggle for words or technical parlance I struggled to put it down legibly. So I blurred my writing and my thoughts as a 14 year old.

Still, I'm very fond of my old log. It's brimming with happy memories of my young eyes looking through my old 60mm Prinz refractor under much darker skies than we have now!

I think that's Betelgeuse I've sketched....😂

[Moon-Monkey]

Some beautiful sketches here well done everyone !!,

For some historical lunar sketches to give some content this is the first sketch I ever done . The sketch was made with a tiny tabletop dobsonian a 76mm F3.9 lol many mods to this scope Made but the joy of this scope is the fact that it got me back into astronomy after a hiatus of over 20 years !!! (Yes I can’t believe it either what wasted time ) 

this was done in early 2020 with just an HB pencil I found in the kids pencil case 🤣🤣

so a few more older sketches that were made as follows 

these were both sketched using my second telescope after the 76mm Dob it was a 114p skyhawk again modded as far as it would go this I found far easier as it was now on an eq mount which allowed tracking so was able to run more power and therefore greater detail was gained .

as said above the wondeful thing about sketching is that it forces you to really hone in on those details (not that I have but in general) 🤣 so at this point I had been a member of the ALPO for a year and all my sketches were regularly being sent to the guys at the different sections as I still believe that sketches are a valuable contribution to citizen science I did lots of sketches of various objects and then I got my 8” Stella Lyra Dob , oh wow I was in for a treat !!!

The next sketches are sketches I did with the Dob and although I found the light grasp and contrast vastly superior to my previous instruments I did miss the tracking aspect especially at high power 

 

So that whole year I didn’t sketch a great deal because honestly I was an continue to be entirely obsessed with deep sky objects faint NGC’s and the usual crazy objects bee all love to test ourself and equiptment with 

and then something happened …. 
I bought an ST80 …

at this point I was used to amazing contrasty deep sky views galaxy hunting and planetary nebula searching but then I realised one night when I was trying to observe the rosette that even with a 42mm 2” I wasn’t able to get the whole field in view (not even close) hence the ST80 

So This little scope has been a real little game changer super widefield views now it’s modded and running 2” observes the veil from my backyard with it amazing andromeda dark lane views and then a perfect target for this little grab and go machine arrived and that was comet C2022 E3 ZTF 

I have been lucky as a grab and go scope is perfect for sucker hole astronomy which was lucky as we have had a lot of cloud altogether now … “BOOOOOOO” !!! 
so I haven’t sketched every session with the comet (about 12 sessions now ) but here is a few 

and now having gone through all this journey all this time evenings in the summer and evenings in -6C and loving EVERY SECOND I happened to join this community of which I’m very grateful for all the content and friendships I have gained ,

I happened to see a thread called SGL sketch challenge …. After reading the contest I realised I had to enter a sketch done for the contest itself within the time frame so I thought what better target could I do but the comet with the ST80 !!! So I say all that to say this 

here is my entry to this great thread not my best not my worst but hey we’re all here to have fun that’s the point isn’t it 

 

Thankyou to the SGL team for making this forum a great place to be and Thabkyou to all of you guys and gals who make the forum what it is today !!

clear skies my friends 

Phill 

ALPO

Webb Deep sky society 

[josefk]

that's a great post @Moon-Monkey - i'm in the same boat regarding a lot of the sentiment!

[Moon-Monkey]

45 minutes ago, josefk said:

that's a great post @Moon-Monkey - i'm in the same boat regarding a lot of the sentiment!

Thabkyou my friend nowhere near the quality of your sketches A hobby is just a hobby but to share that hobby with others … that’s a hobby that will make memories lasting a lifetime 🙂🔭🔭

Clear skies 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Moon-Monkey

[mikeDnight]

 Fantastic sketches Phil. I enjoyed looking at your observations so much that my wife asked me why I had a beaming smile on my face. I didn't realise I was smiling until she mentioned it. It's a real pleasure for me to see the observational sketches of others. Many thanks!!! 

Edited February 8, 2023 by mikeDnight

[CraigT82]

2 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 Fantastic sketches Phil. I enjoyed looking at your observations so much that my wife asked me why I had a beaming smile on my face. I didn't realise I was smiling until she mentioned it. It's a real pleasure for me to see the observational sketches of others. Many thanks!!! 

My wife also gets suspicious if I’m smiling in her presence 😂

[SuburbanMak]

I didn't have this thread in mind when I took my 10" GSO Dob out into the garden last night.  Mostly I wanted to test my new 30mm Stellalyra UFF in the Dob and see if it improved the views - it did! I still have some twiddling to do to get perfect collimation but, once everything was properly cooled, I was getting nice tight stars across the centre of the field and a much improved view across the field (over the Baader Hyperion Aspheric 31mm I was previously using).  I enjoyed the new improved views around Orion, the Pleiades, M35 and Double Cluster - marvelling at the absolute brightness of higher magnitude stars in the 10" versus my usual view in a Mak 127/ST80 combo.  

After an hour and a half I was having fun and not ready to stop and, turning to the comet found it easily in a stunning field about half a degree West and slightly South of orangey magnitude 3 Hassaleh (Iota Aurigae). It was then I remembered this sketching challenge.   This gave me the excuse to pop inside for a warm (& perhaps just a nip of Ardbegh Wee Beastie) and pick up my newly assembled sketching kit, complete with Amazon £7 flexi light covered in 3 layers of brown insulating tape!   After congratulating myself that my sketching gear was the cheapest astro purchase I'd made, I then went and bought a Berlebach Cahron chair so that I could sit long enough to use it - its a fabulous piece of kit which, combined with the new improved Dobviews from the 30mm, will see me getting a lot more use out of what's been christened in our house the "FLT" (Farily Large Telescope!), and a lot more sketching. 

So I then sat for maybe a half hour juggling the logistical challenges of Dob-nudging, observe, reading glasses on, try to see pencil marks, reading glasses off, observe, nudge, observe again, glasses on etc...  All this accompanied by the Winchester Cathedral bell ringers who practice on a Wednesday night made for a really special and satisfying session.  The comet was really motoring and moved roughly half a degree North during the time I was sketching. 

I've inverted a photo of the sketch in PS Express and tweaked the field a little and humbly submit the sketch below (I missed off the direction markers, doh!  N is down and W is Left at its a Dob view).  

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by SuburbanMak

[josefk]

Nice sketch @SuburbanMak and nice evocative telling of the making of it - i like the idea of a nip of something mid session and the accompaniment of cathedral bell ringers. Coincidently on Monday for my second moon i was accompanied by the drum & bass of Stamford "yoofs" in the nearby carpark. I recognise the reading glasses juggle!

[SuburbanMak]

5 minutes ago, josefk said:

I like the idea of a nip of something mid session and the accompaniment of cathedral bell ringers. Coincidently on Monday for my second moon i was accompanied by the drum & bass of Stamford "yoofs" in the nearby carpark. I recognise the reading glasses juggle!

Thank you - the nip purely for warmth obviously...

In the interest of balance we have our fair share of drum & bass "yoots" in Winch' as well, there have been sessions where the fumes of their "herbal cigarettes" have been most intrusive! Last night a little more civilised however... 

Edited February 9, 2023 by SuburbanMak