5 replies to this topic

[Daveatvt01]

Here are some sketches from my nearby darker-than-home preferred site, Ironwood Forest National Monument. It's a great place. Just open desert and dirt roads with mountain views and scattered campsites. 

 

First up is Cygnus Wall- a brighter portion of NGC 7000 (North America Nebula) that fits in the 17.5" dob's FOV. It's a visually interesting area that I find myself visiting often. Magnification is 73x, FOV is 1.1 degrees. 

 

Second is Grus Quartet, a grouping of 4 galaxies in Grus with NGC 7552 at upper left. 7552 was the only one of the four with a visible nucleus that night. The others- NGC7582, 7590, and 7599 were just smudges. Grus Quartet was only a whopping ~11 degrees in altitude. It's been a few years since I sketched this group. Magnification is 73x, FOV is 1.1 deg.

 

Third is M78 and NGC 2071. M78 (left) is the brightest reflection nebula in the sky. It has a defined hard edge along one side. NGC 2017 is towards the right. Magnification is 129x, FOV is 0.63 deg. 

 

Last is the galaxy group Pegasus I. This galaxy cluster contains 13 galaxies, 6 of which were visible and in the FOV. The brightest two in the center are NGC 7619 (L) and NGC 7626 ®. NGC 7617 is the tiny galaxy near 7619, at about 11 o'clock. The others, left to right, are NGC 7611, 7623, and 7631. Magnification is 129x, FOV is 0.63 deg.

 

[Herodotus]

Nice sketches.

[frank5817]

Nice work here Dave.

 

frank

[bphaneuf]

Nice work Dave!  Pegasus 1 was one of my first large galaxy groups, so your drawing was a nice walk down memory lane.  Love your capture of the Grus Quartet, but that one is too far south for me.  That makes your post even more valuable!

Clear skies and dry paper!

-b

[TomC]

Beautiful soft-style sketches with a good eyepiece realistic feeling. That Cygnus wall glow is wonderful!

[Opticsjunkie]

Excellent sketches Dave! I love how you rendered M78!

-Jeroen