What I drew last Night - Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune

[Jim Franklin]

Had some breaks in cloud last night, so I thought I would try my hand at doing Jupiter in colour - it looks better this morning after waking up than it did when I drew it. I managed to find both Uranus and Neptune, so quick sketches of them - not really much to see in my LX90 8" - I can't decide, as marked on the drawing, if what I saw near to Neptune was Triton or a background star - it seemed less than pointlike (as a star appears) but I am aware that at that distance in an 8" scope, Triton will hardly be a disc either - they seemed to move together in the eyepiece, but that could be a visual effect due to the short duration. 

The colours are not 100% for Uranus and Neptune - there was whispy cloud that kept spoiling the view, I would get hints of colour, but these were the nearest I could get. 

Tried to find Saturn - Lots of cloud...gave up. 

I'm enjoying the sketching - should have tried it years ago.

[SwiMatt]

Wow, very nice sketches! I never did much planetary but I envy the richness of details you put down on paper! Keep at it!

7 minutes ago, Jim Franklin said:

it looks better this morning after waking up than it did when I drew it.

This will always be the case, good that you noticed it already

Trust the process!

[MZack]

3 hours ago, Jim Franklin said:

Had some breaks in cloud last night, so I thought I would try my hand at doing Jupiter in colour - it looks better this morning after waking up than it did when I drew it. I managed to find both Uranus and Neptune, so quick sketches of them - not really much to see in my LX90 8" - I can't decide, as marked on the drawing, if what I saw near to Neptune was Triton or a background star - it seemed less than pointlike (as a star appears) but I am aware that at that distance in an 8" scope, Triton will hardly be a disc either - they seemed to move together in the eyepiece, but that could be a visual effect due to the short duration. 

The colours are not 100% for Uranus and Neptune - there was whispy cloud that kept spoiling the view, I would get hints of colour, but these were the nearest I could get. 

Tried to find Saturn - Lots of cloud...gave up. 

I'm enjoying the sketching - should have tried it years ago.

Fabulous. Love the colour attempts too!

[Jim Franklin]

10 minutes ago, MZack said:

Fabulous. Love the colour attempts too!

Thanks, my first attempt was purely HB pencil - but it misses a lot of the details so I thought I would go with colour - definetly captures more contrast differences and subtle colours - I want to do this with Saturn when the Cloud Gods permit - It is a shame that Uranus and Neptune are so distant that no amateur telescope will bring out a lot of detail - if only they were the size of Jupiter!! 😁

FWIW - I did my driving test in Chigwell in 1983 - failed the first one as on our way back I stopped at the Zebra on the High street, let kids go, and as I went to move, a largish lady, talking to a friend, stepped backwards onto the Zebra - wheels and pedestrian on crossing at same time - instant fail - passed the second on a few weeks later - but did that in Wanstead, where I grew up (Rodney Road - off Herman Hill behind what was then Wanstead Hospital)

[mariosi]

A hard work. Beautifully done Jim. 

[MZack]

1 hour ago, Jim Franklin said:

Thanks, my first attempt was purely HB pencil - but it misses a lot of the details so I thought I would go with colour - definetly captures more contrast differences and subtle colours - I want to do this with Saturn when the Cloud Gods permit - It is a shame that Uranus and Neptune are so distant that no amateur telescope will bring out a lot of detail - if only they were the size of Jupiter!! 😁

FWIW - I did my driving test in Chigwell in 1983 - failed the first one as on our way back I stopped at the Zebra on the High street, let kids go, and as I went to move, a largish lady, talking to a friend, stepped backwards onto the Zebra - wheels and pedestrian on crossing at same time - instant fail - passed the second on a few weeks later - but did that in Wanstead, where I grew up (Rodney Road - off Herman Hill behind what was then Wanstead Hospital)

I know it well! Plus the zebra crossing is still there!