Tag Archives: Astronomical Drawing

Go Observe Plato

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  Plato – Walled Plain by Deirdre Kelleghan February 25th 2007 – 20:45UT – 21:45UT 200mm/F6/6.3mm – Plossel/193X – 8.19days – 300gm Daler Rowney paper/DR soft pastels/Black watercolour pencil/wooden cocktail stick.   This blog was first published in January 2018. If you read this today January 22nd 2021 you should have no problem finding Plato. Check the link below for Virtual Moon Atlas.  It would be my wish that you would go observe Plato and perhaps draw it. A pencil drawing or whatever medium you are familiar with. This particular version of Plato was sketched back in February 2007 , on an evening when the seeing was perfect. Sometimes our atmosphere can be very unsteady.  Observing the moon when this is happening makes the view very wobbly, therefore not conducive to sketching. When the seeing is steady, moon viewing can be very beautiful. Occasionally the sun’s light can become a momentary master sculptor of lunar features as it touches the … Continue reading →

Go Observe M82 – The Cigar Galaxy

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Drawing M82 M82 pastels on black paper November 27th 2008 – 22:20 UT 22:45 UT some cloud made it longer to do Transparency Poor ,Seeing 6/10 No filters used Meade 16 inch FL 4000mm 22mm Nagler eyepiece = 181X – Co Kildare Ireland Back in 2008, I had the opportunity to draw something with a 16 inch Meade SCT. My friend’s observatory was in a semi-suburban / rural setting. It took me some time to get warmed up to the detail provided by that instrument. I had never seen the cigar galaxy (M82)  before in this way. Then I settled down to draw this long stretched out wonder in the night sky. It was the first time I saw any structure within this object, oh boy it’s great have tracking when sketching. M82 is an irregular galaxy. To my eye, it looked like one nebulous section was pulling away from the other elongated part. The longer part had a curve … Continue reading →

Pursuing the Conjunction Part 2

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Nesting Moon Floating Planets On December 18th there was a lot of clouds around in the south-west. My chances of seeing Saturn and Jupiter were not promising. However, I set up my materials and hoped for the best. I had my 15X70 binoculars on a tripod and my sketching materials. Pursuing the conjunction was still my goal even though the forecast for December 21st was abysmal. The four-day moon looked gorgeous above our pine trees. I waited for the clouds to clear until a handy gap offered me Jupiter and Saturn. The planets appeared like two white blobs in my 15X70 binoculars. This view did not bring me enough detail. Also, it was not dark enough to see any planetary colour or moons. However, it was great to see both planets within my field of view. I wanted something more. I figured Jupiter and Saturn would soon disappear into the cloud bank on the horizon. Therefore, I started a different … Continue reading →

Drawing Active Region 2790

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Drawing Active Region 2790 It was mid-morning by the time I was free to observe active region 2790. That AR was the larger of the two visible on the solar disc. After I set up my chair, drawing equipment and solar telescope, it took some time to settle into the drawing. It is my habit to observe the subject before deciding on how I will deal with it. This was a very dramatic, active area. Swirling fibrils were well defined around the sunspot. Solar drawing is difficult because for me anyway, I have to break the view down into shapes. Then I can draw that shape on my page. However, many references back to the shape and the page must take place for the drawing to be accurate. Sometimes the view is stable for say ten minutes. Then it may deteriorate for a time before becoming crystal clear again. This process can be very time consuming and takes lots of … Continue reading →

Lunar Drawing – Fracastorius, to Madler along the terminator

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Just this week I was sorting out some lunar drawings and this one has always stood out to me as a strong one. Therefore  here is a revisited blog about this sketch. Moon light Many astronomers are less than fond of the moon because its reflected light takes away from deep sky observations. Both the moonless and the moon full renditions of the sky are relished by me for different reasons. The deep dark sky for comets and messier objects, and specifically our moon for its outstanding contrast and detail. My attention is captured by the interaction of sunlight with the rugged landscape. Hence it is  often difficult to choose what feature of the moon to draw when your field of view offers several exquisite potentials. The theatre of the moon is almost impossible to ignore. Binoviewers Yahoo !! Back in May 2007 I had a loan of a pair of binoviewers. This sketch was the result of trying them … Continue reading →

Drawing the Perseids

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Drawing a meteor shower On several occasions in the past, I have drawn the Perseid meteor shower. I am not sure if anyone else has done this ? I might be the only mad woman to have tried. The Perseids are fast and are therefore in my opinion the most fun meteor shower of the year. With luck the sky is clear and the air is warm. You can sit back and be enthralled by the action of ancient pieces of comet debris hitting our atmosphere at 37 miles a second. Video about the method Because it is an enjoyable excercise,  I decided to share how I go about recording the meteors in the video above. The pencil drawings are done on the night in real-time. I use a clip board and an A4 sheet of paper.  The colour version is usually produced the following day. It is difficult to see colour properly in the dark. It is, therefore, more … Continue reading →

Go Observe C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE ) it may your last chance

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Naked eye On July 20th I was well set up to go observe C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE). My eight-inch dob was ready with a 32mm eyepiece. My LX90 was set up with a set of binoviewers. I was hoping to see more detail around the false nucleus and draw it. My set of filters were also at the ready as some of them claimed to enhance detail in comets. Alas, the seeing was terrible, a muted view under magnification. However the naked eye view was still very good, and the comet was dangling over Clare Island some seven kilometres away from me. Even post-midnight orange and pink tones were hugging the rugged edge of the island. The comet looked more vertical than I expected. It mimicked an exclamation mark with the head of the comet playing the dot. Perhaps an exclamation of the last time I might see it. Because my view has been only clouds, and fog since. July 19th … Continue reading →

Solar Art Exhibition in Hawaii

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                Exhibition in Hawaii Some time ago a painting of mine won a prize in the My Sun My Star Contest. This was a solar art competition involving photographs, drawings and paintings inspired by the sun. The contest was run by The National Solar Observatory in Boulder Colorado. One of the aspects of the prize is that my painting X-Ray Sun (above) will go on exhibition . On Friday September 20th if you are in Hawaii (how exotic) one of my paintings and in addition one of my solar drawings will be on show. Since the prize came my way I was asked if another work of mine could be included in their exhibitions. NSO requested one of my solar drawings. That sketch it is called East Limb Proms. The venue is The University of Hawaii – Institute for Astronomy, it is on the island of Maui. The event is an open day … Continue reading →

Experimental sketch goodbye – Active Region 2738

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April 16th On April 16th Active Region 2738 was heading towards the limb, looking very dramatic. I decided to try an experimental sketch using just pencil to capture the action around the giant sunspot. I used a very black pencil called a Conte de Paris Carbone B, which was deeply black. For the sketch I also used some silicone tipped brushes, these were perfect for drawing with and allowed some good flexible movement to be developed.  There is always massive movement  in the area around sunspots. A kind of disturbance caused by the huge magnetic activity in the sunspot itself. The light bridge and umbra had changed since a previous observation on  April 10th. It was clearly visible in my h-alpha view  however the seeing was soft not as sharp as I would have liked. A well shape filament would have been nice to observe but none developed as I viewed. April 18th On April 18th another opportunity to view … Continue reading →

Drawing Active Region 2738

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  Massive sunspot It was great to have a new huge active region to observe recently. This massive area of magnetic disturbance heaving its way across the solar disc was fascinating to watch. The weather smiled on Ireland, several days of sunshine in April is unusual to say the least. Active region 2738 boasted the largest sunspot in several years. Its diameter is three times that of the Earth. Across the center of the umbra is a light bridge circa  20,000 km long and circa 800 km wide. !! Drawing Active Region 2738 is a challenge indeed but it  is also an opportunity to try some new ideas. At 12:36 UT on the 10th of April,  a very bright plage flare erupted from the base of two dark filaments. Then one of the filaments got very long very quickly. Then the flare subsided. It’s the yellow part of the drawing. The umbra was very dark and the surrounding penumbra seemed … Continue reading →

Comet – C/2017 S3 (PanSTARRS)

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Comet observation details Comet – C/2017 S3 ( PanSTARRS) Sketch July 18th 2018 00:00 UT Camelopardalis Louisburgh Co Mayo Ireland South is up. Dob / 1,200 mm FL, 32 mm eyepiece, Magnification 37X DC 6, Mag7.5 / 8 Coma symmetrical Seeing poor No colour visible No tail visible No filters used Pastel and gel pen on black card Observing and drawing Comet C/2017 S3 (PanSTARRS) In Ireland we are having the best summer weather in over 40 years. Days of continental heat,water restrictions, dry ground , struggling plants and animals. Ironically despite the clear daytime skies the sun itself has been almost devoid of drama. My more recent focus of attention has turned to a new kid on the block. Comet –  C/2017 S3 (PanSTARRS) on its first visit to our solar system.  An icy comet oozing gasses from within itself as it heads toward the sun.  Perihelion is on August 15th, many think it will not survive past this … Continue reading →

Sun Pillar – Sun Drawing Ireland

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We had a winter of record winds, freezing temperatures and darkness. However this week, it seems the summer has finally arrived in Ireland. On May 21st I noticed a developing sun pillar on the horizon. As it progressed I took several images, each equally beautiful.  The pillar of light  interacted with the sky and the sea, altering colour and bringing drama as it peaked and faded after sun set.  Beautiful to watch, it seemed to pierce the clouds just above the suns departure point.   Sun pillars are shafts of sunlight  glinting off ice crystals in our atmosphere. This phenomenon is explained well here on this wonderful site Atmospheric Optics    On May 23rd the sun offered an active region for drawing. OK now the atmosphere was not the steadiest I have ever seen, but it was hot and the sky was blue. The active region was small and complex, the challenge to draw the sun in h-alpha with my  … Continue reading →