Telescope Reviews: Feb09 CN Imaging/Sketching Contest Poll!

We are very pleased and proud to present the February 2009 Sketching Semi-Finalists in the Imaging/Sketching Contest.

varmint:

Constellations over Sedona Rocks in the morning

Observing Info:
Naked Eye
Feb 18, 2009, 3:30-4am MST in Sedona, AZ.
Transparency was above average
Seeing was average
Temp was about 40 deg F.
Light periodic wind and some thin high clouds wafted through from time to time.
Location was in an empty field off of Highway 89 in Western Sedona.
NELM around 5.3-5.5 at the time of observation. The 1/8th crescent moon had just risen in the east in Scorpius, contributing some light pollution. The

Milky-Way was not visible.

Sketching details: raw sketch was graphite on engineering paper, focus was on the silhouette of the mountains, even in the dark there were two prominent

shadows visible on the main rock formation (Capitol Butte I think is it's name) that I roughed in on the raw sketch. I also focused on star placement of the

constellations. Many constellations were visible, and I focused my effort on identifying most of the visible stars. During the generation of the raw sketch I

just happened to witness a meteor streak through the field I was sketching, so I captured that as well.

Final sketch used Navy Blue acid free cardstock, a combination of graphite and black charcoal for the mountain silhouette (started with graphite and found it

was too shiny, so added a layer of charcoal and used a blending stump to smooth out the silhouette), white charcoal pencil for the stars.

frank5817:

M42/ M43 Orion Nebula and Its Companion

Everyone that has taken a telescope or pair of binoculars outdoors to view the heavens on a clear winter night in the northern hemisphere has seen the Orion

nebula. It is that fuzzy star in the middle of the hunter’s sword. M42 the “Great nebula” is a stellar nursery and emission nebula that shines as bright as a

4th magnitude star while its smaller companion on the other side of the intervening obscuring dust is M43 shining at 9th magnitude. Soon the nebula will be

past the south meridian point before it is fully dark. So now is the time to take your last good looks before it’s too late; spring will be here soon.
On this night I decided it was time to try and make a sketch of this winter gem. I have made a few crude sketches in the past and know this is a tough target

to capture as it appears in the eyepiece. I started by sketching the stars and lightly outlining the bright parts of the nebula with a 2H pencil. After much

erasing and repositioning of stars I shaded in the bright to faint nebula gradually until it looked to be a reasonable match to the eyepiece view. After two

and a half hours I consider the sketch finished. Averted vision helped with the outer faint regions.
It was a slow process but a fun challenge at the same time.

Sketching

Date and Time: 2-15-2009, 1:10-3:20 UT
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian. 21mm Hyperion eyepiece 69x
8”x12” white CCP sketching paper, 2H, B, 2B graphite pencils, blending stump, erasers, scanned and inverted, contrast and brightness were slightly adjusted

at the scanner
Temperature: -3 °C (26 °F), calm
Seeing: very good Pickering 8/10
Transparency: good 3/5

Frank McCabe

markseibold:

After observing a light shaft in the crater Grimaldi Saturday night February 7th 2009 in early evening at Cannon Beach Oregon through my Celestron Nexstar 5i

and rendered a rough sketch in ball point on an envelope while showing it to the public at a restaurant; I imagined standing on the surface of the moon in

that light. I referred to my rough sketch and rendered a scene studied from high resolution photos of the topical view taken of the terminator at or near the

same lunation date.

The ocean air at the Oregon Coast town of Cannon Beach was dead still. Ambient outside temperature estimated at 46 degrees Fahrenheit at 7PM ~ 8PM. The

atmosphere had fairly good transparency.

I then duplicated the eyepiece view above from my earlier rough notes and adding all three craters as seen in the general field of view in the eyepiece. Some

memory of the live observation through the eyepiece of the Nexstar 5i with use of a 6mm Orthoscopic eyepiece at 200X was also an influence to produce this

sketch.

This was the first time I used black Stonehenge paper, very similar to Strathmore Artagain. A sheet of 20" X 25" with use of various pastel chalks, both new

and antique used: Eagle Prismacolor, Swan Stabillo and Sargeant. Also new Rembrandt, and Grumbacher and Schwan Stabilo Carb Othello pastel pencils in various

shades of white..

Mark

Erix:

This was done entirely at the eyepiece. The collage was put together in Photoshop after photographing my sketch (rather than scanning).

2009 Feb 13, 1600UT – 1700UT
Solar prominences in h-alpha, western limb

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
Erika Rix

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell
Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil.

Temp: 3° C, Humidity 60%
Seeing: Wilson 3, Transparency: poor
Scattered, winds 7mph from NNW
Alt: 34.4, Az: 159.2

Approximately 30° inward from the eastern limb, a crescent-shaped plage was seen with a dark dot during my h-alpha observation. No AR was noted in white

light. There were a few proms scattered about to the north and south, but the prominences on the western limb really stood out. At first glance it looked

like two detached proms, but adjusting the outer etalon and increasing magnification, that section of limb came alive with prominence structure.

cildarith:

OBJECT DATA
Object Name: C/2007 N3 Lulin
Object Type: Comet
Constellation: (Leo)
Right Ascension (2000.0): 09h 59.5m
Declination (2000.0): +12° 03'
Magnitude: ~6½
Dimensions: Coma ~15', Tail ~100'

OBSERVATION LOG
Date/Time: 28 February 2009 • 10:15 – 10:45 UT
Location: Rancho Peñasquitos, San Diego Co., California
Telescope: Parks Astrolight EQ6 • 6" f/6 Newtonian Reflector
Eyepiece/Magnification: 7.5mm Parks Gold Series Plössl +2x Barlow • 240x • 13' FoV
Filter(s): None
Conditions: Partly cloudy, calm, 54°F
Seeing: Pickering 8
Transparency: NELM 4.8; TLM 13.7

SKETCH DETAILS
Paper: 24# Cartridge Paper
Pencil: #2 Mechanical, 5mm lead; blending stump
Scanning & Processing: Microsoft Picture It!

Comments: Finally, here is my first observation of C/2007 N3 Lulin after much frustration with uncooperative weather. A quick look at low magnification (30x)

revealed the prominent ion tail, stretching at least 100' sf, while the dust tail was barely detectable as a short, broad fan spreading about 10' or so nf.

Nearby Nu Leonis made a very pleasing scene. As is my habit with bright comets, I then dialed the magnification up to 240x to capture near-nuclear details.

The weather gave me about 30 minutes to record the sketch shown here before the view was swallowed up by an imposing cloudbank. I was impressed by the

sharpness of the pseudo-nucleus and the prominence of the dark shadow following in its wake. I was unable detect more than the slightest hint of the green

color others have reported in this comet.

Please note that voting will conclude on March 8th at Midnight EST.

Many thanks to all who took part in the contest!

*

Which Sketch goes to the Finals?
Users may choose only one (13 total votes)

varmint:

3 23%

frank5817:

3 23%

markseibold:

1 07%

Erix:

3 23%

cildarith:

3 23%