nebulae<\/a> and clusters with a pair of binoculars or a telescope, my initial efforts to record these targets were far from exact compared to what I saw.<\/p>\nThis wasn\u2019t because my efforts were inaccurate, but because space is black. Indeed, most of the observed objects were various tones of grey and white.<\/p>\n
I changed my approach to astronomical sketching, and using black paper was a real turning point.<\/p>\n
It opened up the possibility of using white gel pens for stars and soft pastels for nebulous material.<\/p>\n
You can experiment with different media and get familiar with how faint or bright each pen can be when you draw<\/span> a star. The pen\u2019s size, plus how much you press on the paper, can be used to show different magnitudes.<\/p>\nTo do an excellent job of any drawing requires motivation. When you look at open clusters with a massive amount of stars, it can be overwhelming at first, so you need to find an initial starter shape from which the rest of the drawing can grow.<\/p>\n
On a cold wintry night I noticed the Beehive Cluster was rising above a local hill, which provided an interesting aspect.<\/p>\n
M44 looked terrific against the top of the ridge, especially through my 15\u00d770 binoculars. It provided an opportunity for making a sketch, which I did from 19:15\u201320:00 UT.<\/p>\n
Getting started<\/strong><\/h2>\n Use spray fixation to finalise and complete your astronomical sketch.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nI began the sketch by drawing the hill\u2019s profile in pencil on my pre-prepared circle.<\/p>\n
Next, I spent a few minutes looking at the shapes made by the stars that were nearest the hill\u2019s edge. It was noticeable how fast M44 was moving upwards. I added brighter stars first, followed by dimmer ones.<\/p>\n
There is a triangular shape at the heart of M44, which looks like \u2018>\u2019 \u2013 the mathematical symbol for \u2018greater than\u2019 \u2013 through binoculars.<\/p>\n
With five bright stars and a few dimmer ones, this shape makes a good starting point for a drawing.<\/p>\n
Beehive Cluster by Jaspal Chadha, London, UK. Equipment: Altair Astro RC 250TT, Astrophysics reducer, QHY9S MONO CCD, Ioptron CEM60 mount, Chroma Technology filters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nNext I added fainter stars, such as those below the triangle, as it rose up from the hill, where there were two smaller triangles.<\/p>\n
These patterns are helpful as guides to build up a drawing and to add more detail.<\/span><\/p>\nMake sure you always write on <\/span>the drawing the start and end time, in Universal Time (UT), and the instrument used for the observation.<\/p>\nThe drawing was finished indoors by painting black gesso over the hill area to separate it from the night sky.<\/p>\n
Spray fixative was used (outside with good ventilation) to seal the drawing, and the final sketch now provides a permanent reminder of this cluster.<\/p>\n
Tools and materials<\/strong><\/h2>\nBinoculars, 10x50s or larger on a tripod, or any telescope (if using a telescope, its lowest power eyepiece is best)<\/li>\n Red headlight or a clip-on orange LED with a low setting<\/li>\n White gel pens with various size tips<\/li>\n Colour gel pens.<\/li>\n C<\/span>lipboard<\/li>\nA4 black card or strong paper<\/li>\n Black pastel<\/li>\n Spray fixative<\/li>\n Warm clothing<\/li>\n Good sturdy seat<\/li>\n<\/ul>Sketching an astronomical deep-sky object: step-by-step<\/strong><\/h2><\/body><\/html>\nBy Deirdre Kelleghan Published: Friday, 06 May 2022 at 12:00 am Viewing a deep-sky object for the first time can be a rewarding experience. Gazing at star clusters that are located many lightyears away gives us a profound reminder of our place in the Universe. If you make the switch from observing to drawing, you\u2019ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31725,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/how-to-sketch-an-astronomical-deep-sky-object.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/how-to-sketch-an-astronomical-deep-sky-object-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/how-to-sketch-an-astronomical-deep-sky-object-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/how-to-sketch-an-astronomical-deep-sky-object-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/how-to-sketch-an-astronomical-deep-sky-object-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/how-to-sketch-an-astronomical-deep-sky-object.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/how-to-sketch-an-astronomical-deep-sky-object.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Deirdre Kelleghan Published: Friday, 06 May 2022 at 12:00 am Viewing a deep-sky object for the first time can be a rewarding experience. Gazing at star clusters that are located many lightyears away gives us a profound reminder of our place in the Universe. If you make the switch from observing to drawing, you\u2019ll…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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