7 replies to this topic

[JMSchwartz]

Hello again all in the forum first & foremost I would like to wish all of you & your Families a Happy Easter may this very special day bring you joy & happiness. After completing the monochromatic version after inversion from the month of February, I had multiple opportunities to revisit This incredible nebula complex In order to obtain the true color & illumination as it appeared on that night  in the eyepiece.

The one night that stood out was March 14th it presented one of the most amazing seeing conditions I have had from my home in Simi valley California.The reason for this was that several atmospheric rivers had consecutively passed through the southern California area proceeded by a severe Santa Ana wind event with wind speeds gusting up to 80 mph for 2 consecutive days at the end of the second day it miraculously shut off presenting some of the best seeing with the most incredibly transparent skies with very tack sharp and steady seeing I have experienced from my location  in several years .I confirmed this when I was floored turning my Fujinon 16x70 binoculars to the close encounter of the Moon paired with the 7 Sisters , I  can't express enough in words  how spectacular this view was so immediately I turned my  superb 12 1/2" portaball with one of the best Mirrors in my collection a stunning  f-4.3  Zambuto primary with a custom  barn door tracking platform  furnished by Tom Osapowski of Equatorial platforms.This view had validated the spectacular conditions the 7 sisters were now 100 sisters with tack sharp pinpoint stars exhibiting diffraction rings in & out of focus and even a beautiful hint of color with a tad of nebulosity around the brightest stars ,this was amazing to me considering the moonlight from the small crescent was blinding. I will present this which is probably my most favorite Sketch at a later date . Now 2 hours have passed like minutes and it is already 10:00 pm so I moved the Portaball  to my next target and studied this view with  the 35 pan  , 21 Ethos, 17 Nikan nav ,12 nag type 5 and the 10 Ethos ,the Trapezium  and the Theta one Orionis region blew my mind not to mention the subtle crystal  blue nebulosity which extended so far out it went beyond the field of view, what seemed like minutes was actually hours as Orion was setting into my ficus tree which prompted me to wrap things up.

So here I present to you my favorite Orion to date !

Thanks for looking and remember keep looking up.

Clear Skies Always Jon 

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Edited by JMSchwartz, 31 March 2024 - 02:08 PM.

[JohnBear]

Wow - Proof that good sketchers that decide to spend their money on a better telescope can often get better memorable results than most AP equipment junkies - And have More Fun doing it! 

 

Thank you for this wonderful Easter Egg!

Edited by JohnBear, 31 March 2024 - 11:41 AM.

[SkyHunter1]

Wow.. Thats a sketch? I thought it was a pic that was trying to simulate what it looks like in the eyepiece. Incredible work

[j.gardavsky]

Phantastic details, and a phantastic presentation!

It is a piece of art!

 

On a side line, my aging eyes get the Great Orion Nebula in bluish teint, as well.

 

Thank you so much for sharing,

JG

[AGrayson]

Truly incredible, great job

[Herodotus]

Absolutely a fantastic sketch!!! Great color and subtle details. Real show stopper Jon

[niteskystargazer]

Jon,

 

Good sketch of The Great Orion Nebula  .

 

CDS,KLIU,

 

 ,

 

Tom

[Nightowl99]

So much detail in that Trap region! I can just keep looking and looking. The texture is just fantastic. It's the "mackerel sky" that Herschel wrote about. Before the storm rolled through So Cal on Friday night we had clouds just like that, the storm's herald as they say, "mackerel sky, not twenty-four hours dry". Well the sky really reminded of the swirling nebulosity around the Trapezium as Herschel described it as resembling "the breaking up of a mackerel sky when the clouds of which it consists begin to assume a cirrus appearance," and you have captured it perfectly here. Beautiful! The color is really nice. Subtle but clear and characteristic of my view on an excellent night from more light polluted skies. The seeing must have been incredible to get all those beautiful pinpoints! Thanks as always for sharing the killer views.