The Veil Nebula really starts coming into its own as aperture increases. With the 17.5” scope, the filamentary structures within the nebulosity begin to resolve. Mottling, or variations in density of illumination, are easier to pick up. And wispy, soft extensions of the ends of the nebulous cloud seem to keep extending on and on.
The Veil looked to be ablaze! The filament structures give movement to it, as they twist and wind, streak and surge through the cloud. The true bubble nature of the object begins to achieve a 3D look to it as the fainter and softer less dense material of the ‘inside’ of the ring starts to show itself with its own set of concentrations of material. It really beings to show itself as the smoky bubble it is of the aftermath of the cataclysmic explosion that created it.
I am sure that it would be even more splendid when it is higher up in the sky. I can only feel that this first look at the Veil is really just a tease of promise to what it can totally show – just like a veil serves to tease us with its haunting semi transparency…
I hope I have succeeded in giving a good depiction of this majestic structure. I felt like an adolescent, with their quirky physical awkwardness, and handling a precious and mercurial gift, and not being sure just how to handle it. The Veil really left me awestruck.
Alex.
Object: Eastern section of the Veil Nebula
Scope: 17.5” Karee push-pull dob
Gear: 23mm Celestron Axiom LX, 87X, & NPB filter
Date: 15th August, 2015
Location: Linville, Queensland, Australia
Media: Soft pastel, charcoal & white ink on A4 size black paper
Duration: Approx. 2.5 hrs.
Last edited by mental4astro; 19-08-2015 at 04:48 AM.
Wow Alex, absolutely beautiful capture of the veil. I observed it every night for 3 nights over this last weekend under very dark skies, and you have managed to do a very faithful sketch with so much detail.
I sketched this under very dark and transparent skies and it's incredible how much detail you can see under those conditions, especially when M8 was up near zenith.
Here's my sketch of comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina), 22 Aug 2015, using a 4.5" scope and 21mm eyepiece (43x). Funny how through the eyepiece it looked nothing like it is currently photographing! Despite the growing moonlight there was a large very faint outer coma that I could make out to about 8' in diameter, a small brighter inner coma and a bright central condensation that was visible in averted vision. The coma appeared elongated roughly to the east and also to the east was a short subtle brightening that was probably the dust tail. But the latter was so indistinct that it was impossible to assign a P.A. with any certainty.
Nice piece, Rob. Comets are amazing creatures through telescopes. They can either benefit from a large aperture, or other times a smaller aperture at low power can be best to observe them with. And then these little buggers can change their stripes in a matter of days just to keep things interesting.
~x.X.x~
I’ve been able to steal a few moments over the last couple of weeks to sketch Sol.
This is turning into a wonderful journey for me with the Sun. I am not just marvelling at its ever changing surface. It has also spurred me onto learning so much about our parent star. I never thought nuclear fusion could be such a spectacular topic!!!
August 18 gave me a very active limb and chromosphere quarter section. The chromosphere (surface of the Sun) was riddled with fine filaments (prominences seen over the surface), plages and sunspots. The limb had an assortment of prominence types – arch, platform arches, & a pyramid. Also a lovely long spicule.
Yesterday was a race to beat the approaching clouds and rain. The race became more intense as the Sun had two wonderful areas of activity on the go, but on opposite sides of the disk. As things turned out, I was only able to complete only one of the two sketches I hoped to accomplish. Better something than nothing…
The second sketch presented here shows two different stages of prominence development. The brighter part on the lower right shows mature platform prominences. They are called platform as they exhibit a flat, table like roof where high energy plasma is racing through the magnetic fields on the surface of the Sun. There are two platform prominences here, with a smaller & brighter one underneath the taller but thinner one above it. The larger top prominence stretched out into an ever diminishing ribbon, to then frazzle out into shredded pieces. A really lovely spectacle to follow through off fine details.
It is the disintegrating stages of a coronal mass ejections that we see on the upper left. We see just the remaining columns of plasma that is being held in place by the weakening magnetic fields. When I started this sketch I had been able to spot some of the plume of escaping plasma being launched off into space. I should have sketched this section first, rather than the platform prominences, for when I returned to the CME, that plume was too faint to see through the incoming thin cloud. Oh, well, lesson learnt…
Both sketches were done using the same equipment:
Scope: ED80 f7.5 refractor
Gear: Daystar Quark, 25mm plossl, 101X
Dates: 18th August & 3rd September, 2015
Location: Sydney, Australia.
Well my sketches arn't quite as cool as you guys but here is my contribution of my solar sketch today 45 minutes drawing time it was a bit windy which made it quite difficult grrrr but it was a beautiful day
Sorry it's sideways it's the first time I have posted a pic on here with my phone
You're selling yourself way short Jen, that sketch is brilliant!
But actually I also like your High Power view! Always suspected the Sun had a big smiley face coz my grandkids draw it all the time - and they've got better eyes than me!
That's a fantastic sketch Jen, so much detail. I'll tell you, looking at it makes me want to get a solar scope. I do some white light observing, but I think a Ha would be the business.
That's a fantastic sketch Jen, so much detail. I'll tell you, looking at it makes me want to get a solar scope. I do some white light observing, but I think a Ha would be the business.
Good stuff.
thank you Allan the solar scope is one of my fav Astro purchases watching the forever changing proms on the sun is very intriguing
I'm happy to see you taking up a pencil and paper to the Sun. The PST is a wonderful instrument. Shows a hell of a lot of detail,eh! I was fortunate to have had a PST lent to me by a fellow IISer a couple of month's back. I had it for about a month - ooooh, it is a really nice beastie! The surface texture of Sol is an interesting one to reproduce... something I'm working out.
Here's a sketch I managed through gaps in clouds on Sunday. Right now if it were not for my Quark, I would be sketching nothing! Two brilliant proms, both very detailed and subtle, and both very different in structure. Transparency wasn't great on Sunday, but better than nothing.
Thanks Alex that looks really cool what sort of equipment did you use, an orange pencil/pen ? I wouldn't mind going for a bit of color next time I'm solar sketching it's good fun but the proms I find are difficult to draw I need more practice
Jen, I essentially have blended the Mellish technique for DSO's and what I do with the Moon to work the Sun. I use a bight orange soft pastel to develop the disc segment first, and fix it with a fixative (hair spray in my case). I redo the disc again, and again fix it, to get a more uniform and dense coverage of the orange. Once the fixative has dried (couple of minutes), I then use an orange soft pastel pencil to develop the proms. The softer details are brushed out using a small soft paint brush to brush out the soft pastel pencil. I sometimes use yellow soft pastel pencil to highlight the more intense/dense prom. details as the orange pencil alone can only yield so much density/intensity.
Omega Centauri is one of my favourite deep sky objects, an........areas devoid of resolvable stars. It appears as if you are looking through them and into the core of the cluster.
That is an enormous amount of stars you have drawn!
A very big effort this must have been.
I also like the crisp way you draw your stars.
Jen, I essentially have blended the Mellish technique for DSO's and what I do with the Moon to work the Sun. I use a bight orange soft pastel to develop the disc segment first, and fix it with a fixative (hair spray in my case). I redo the disc again, and again fix it, to get a more uniform and dense coverage of the orange. Once the fixative has dried (couple of minutes), I then use an orange soft pastel pencil to develop the proms. The softer details are brushed out using a small soft paint brush to brush out the soft pastel pencil. I sometimes use yellow soft pastel pencil to highlight the more intense/dense prom. details as the orange pencil alone can only yield so much density/intensity.
Wow Alex I would love to see you draw one of these pics one day ( do you go to any Astro parties ? ) I reakon you should come to snake valley and do a few demos hehehe it's hard to wrap my head around how you get it looking so cool I can't even make my hair look nice with hairspray let alone use it on a drawing hahaha it would be one big mess lol do you use a special hairspray or just any type will do
Jen, the hairspray I'm using I nicked from my mum 25 years ago! Hairspray is essentially a type of quick drying varnish. I cannot recommend which hairspray. Just be aware that hairsprays contain more additives than dedicated fixatives. These additives may react with the paper over time. If the paper is white, this may be obvious. Black paper much less so, if at all noticeable.
~x.X.x~
If it were not for my Daystar Quark and the Sun, I would have nothing much to show for the year.
This morning I set up my solar gear for a Captain Cook. I was greeted with an amazing vista!
3/4 of the Sun had no significant activity. But one quarter sector had not just a sensational Arch Prom. straddled by a pair of sentinel pillars, and also a string loop of sunspots - something I had never seen before.
You'll find a more extensive write up on this spectacular apparition in my blog - link in my signature.
I've added a couple of 'accidental' photos of the sketch. While photographing the sketch, I accidentally selected a multiple exposure setting that takes pics using different effects. Two of these effect pictures show the chromosphere features of my sketch more clearly than the straight colour photo does. So I've included these 'special effect' pics for this reason.
but here is my contribution of my solar sketch today 45 minutes drawing time it was a bit windy which made it quite difficult grrrr but it was a beautiful day 
Hairspray is essentially a type of quick drying varnish. I cannot recommend which hairspray. Just be aware that hairsprays contain more additives than dedicated fixatives. These additives may react with the paper over time. If the paper is white, this may be obvious. Black paper much less so, if at all noticeable.
