M1 - Crab Nebula

[DarkerSky]

I have been building up to taking on this sketch of M1 - the Crab Nebula over several nights observing. This one has been tricky for me in the 16" as the amount of detail I can see in the M1 nebula really seems to vary alot with seeing and sky transparency. Also seem to have been blighted by cloud and dew on other occasions when I have thought about sketching it.

Sun night 17th Jan 2010 was the night it all came together. M1 high up in the south, steady seeing, no moon, excellent sky transparency and best limiting mag at 5.1.

Here is the sketch

Eqpt:

16" Meade Lightbridge

Mag x140 (26mm eyepiece + 2x Barlow)

2H and B pencils used

Of note are the 'bays' in the nebula to the south and north - more prominent to the south. Extended wispiness on the south limb and the thrust of slightly brighter material that created a slight protrusion to the E (preceding) edge. Plotted several faint stars around the nebula too.

Overall I am very happy with it, even though cloud / fog rolled in that made me hurry the sketch a bit

[ashenlight]

that is fabulous work, I really admire you for sticking the weather out at this time of the year, your efforts are well worth it that sketch really is superb. All together, how long would you say this took you? From my limited experience of sketching (some lunar and one or two double stars) I find it can vary from 10 minutes to an hour+, depending on my mood, the clouds and so on. Was this a quick job for you, or was it a labour of love?

Great addition letting us know what equipment you used too, just goes to show what brilliant results can be achieved with just two pencils.

[pbyrne]

Love it. I found that it was a challenging object to sketch and required a lot of averted vision viewing to see it properly.

My sketch of M1 took me about thirty minutes or so as I found I was going back and forth so many times when another little detail was seen.

Paul

[Talitha]

The wait was worth it, this is excellent! The structure you were able to detect and draw is outstanding. Did you see any of the 'veins' (for lack of a better word) that we see in images? Well done.

[DarkerSky]

Thanks all.

This really has been a bit of a labour of love tbh. I think I've probably spent about 2 hours at the eyepiece across several nights studying it in various eyepiece and filter combinations before actually starting the sketch. Sounds crazy I know, but I do just love immersing myself in what I see.

The sketch itself took about 45 minutes...lots of trips to and from the eyepiece to the bench on which I have my sketching stuff. The shading on the nebula came together pretty well tbh. There have been times I have had a complete 'mare trying to record stuff. One of the planetary nebulas I drew recently was re-started 3 times on different circles as I just couldn't get the shading right. That took me ages to do!! Thankfully, this wasn't one of those occasions with M1.

In fact the biggest challenge with this one was trying to accurately plot those really faint stars just close in to the top of the nebula.

Anyway, glad you all like it

[DarkerSky]

The wait was worth it, this is excellent! The structure you were able to detect and draw is outstanding. Did you see any of the 'veins' (for lack of a better word) that we see in images? Well done.

No veins as such, but that brightened area that seems to protrude East might be indicative of one. Couldn't say for sure

[stefski]

Well done, Darkersky. This really is a true representation of what's seen at the ep. I have managed to see the veins that Talitha is talking about, but only when the seeing is practically perfect. Mind you, they would be seriously hard to sketch!

Stef