Observing: Forgive me if this grosses anyone out, but while sketching this one I wasn't seeing a cocoon so much as a bot fly larva. I've half a mind to start calling it that. Only not. Those memories are not pleasant. But I digress. The pair of interacting galaxies was readily picked up at low magnification with the 21mm, and the shape was fairly discernible for 4490. A long isosceles triangle points right to it - to the point of it almost at 4490 itself. 4485 was visible more like an isolated core with a small halo. The 13mm and 8 mm brought out more detail, with the 13 providing more in the way of overall shape for both as well as extent. High power picked up a few more details. Those included a line across the bottom of 4490 as well as the top of the curve pointing toward 4485. With 4485 a darker void was seen in the tapered end pointed toward 4490, almost like a miniature of the Fish's Mouth in M42. There's a brighter spot and I think a foreground star in that darker area. The tips of the two galaxies reached for one another but didn't quite touch. The brighter area of 4490 extended for most of its length, but not evenly. Spending time with both direct and AV seemed to work well for this object. I'm learning to settle the star field first so I can re-adapt my dark vision and spend unbroken time with the target. All joking aside, this was an intriguing observation. On top of that, a meteor streaked right across the pair while I was viewing!
Sketching: White pastel powder on the 80lb Hamilco black card-stock again. Small rounded brush for the main shape of the galaxies and the fine point for the brightened areas. The blue sponge eraser created the little voided area in NGC 4485. Pencil only for the stars as none were that bright. I considered including the meteor streak, but decided against it. Drawing a line across the FOV wouldn't capture it and would likely take away from the image.
Attached Thumbnails
Edited by bphaneuf, 23 May 2022 - 08:51 PM.
