tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30935034701994318992024-11-08T10:32:15.219-05:00Adirondack AstronomyFollow me on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/adirondackastro">twitter</a>.Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-16675552125187906922021-04-25T10:15:00.004-04:002021-04-25T12:03:32.030-04:00Sketching Aristarchus and Herodotus CratersOn April 23, 2021 I got out with the telescope for the first time in a month to get a sketch of a couple moon craters. This sketch is of two craters, Aristarchus and Herodotus along the terminator of a 87% waxing gibbous moon. This region is particularly interesting because Aristarchus is quite bright and there is very interesting rille nearby.Aristarchus is bright because it is relatively young Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-2680241310230986032021-04-04T10:30:00.001-04:002021-04-04T10:30:00.206-04:00Sketching M104 the Sombrero Galaxy at the Eyepiece On my night out on March 20, 2021 I went into midnight and started this sketch of M104, in the constellation Virgo, in the first hour of March 21. This galaxy is one I have always seen images of, but I have never pointed my telescope at it, so it was my first observation, and my first time sketching it. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this galaxy through the eyepiece, but I have to Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-50808757495181047412021-03-28T10:30:00.003-04:002021-03-28T10:30:05.987-04:00Sketching M65 and M66 Galaxies at the EyepieceOn the night of March 20, 2021 I wanted to see if I could get all three galaxies of the Leo Triplet in the eyepiece. I was easily able to spot M65 and M66, and I spent quite a while trying to get a glimpse of NGC3628 but I had no luck in resolving this galaxy. All 3 galaxies are around 9th to 10th magnitude so I'm not completely sure as to why NGC3628 was not visible, but I can only assume it hasMichael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-45399859845205175632021-03-21T19:34:00.000-04:002021-03-21T19:34:19.669-04:00Sketching M52, NGC7635, and a Nova at the Eyepiece Recently there was a discovery of a Nova in the constellation Cassiopeia. This nova happens to be located very close to two deep sky object; the open cluster M52, and the emission nebula NGC7635 also known as the bubble nebula. Typically I wouldn't point my telescope to an area of the sky just to sketch a nova, but since there were two other objects of interest that I could fit in my field Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-49428075663062188672021-02-28T10:30:00.001-05:002021-02-28T10:30:08.261-05:00Sketching Copernicus Crater at the Eyepiece On the night of February 21, 2021 I had some clear skies so I decided to get the telescope up and running for my first night out sketching a moon crater at the eyepiece with black paper. I have done a few moon crater sketches in the past, but they were all done on white paper, so it was a bit strange getting used to working on black paper focusing on the light spots rather than the darker Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-16608634844336406642021-02-21T10:30:00.001-05:002021-02-21T10:30:07.314-05:00Sketching M42 and M43 the Orion Nebula at the Eyepiece On the night of February 4, 2021 I setup my 6" Newtonian so that I could get a nice wide field view of the Orion Nebula. To make it an even wider field of view I made sure to use my 32mm eyepiece to see as much as I could. I thought about using the 24mm but it was too narrow of a field, and I found the 32mm to frame it quite nicely. I'm pretty sure I had just about the whole sword of Orion Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-90725068318349788922021-02-14T22:14:00.005-05:002021-02-14T22:56:11.469-05:00Sketching Moon Craters from a Photo This week I decided to try out sketching some moon craters, but I wanted to do some practice before sitting at the eyepiece, so I pulled up an old photo I took. It wasn't the best photo in the world, and it was lacking in some detail, but it was the best I had. I also figured if I was going to sketch from a photo inside may as well make it difficult. Well, it was quite the project. I'm sureMichael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-53209231921408198612021-02-07T10:45:00.001-05:002021-02-07T10:45:02.867-05:00Sketching Gamma Leonis a Double Star at the Eyepiece This is the last object I sketched on the night of January 9, 2021. I didn't have very much time to observe this target, so this sketch is very rough. I was rushing against a thick blanket of clouds that was coming in faster than I expected. Luckily at the magnification I was using there wasn't much in the field of view to begin with. I quickly plotted the primary and secondary stars in Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-64347682516531742742021-01-31T10:45:00.003-05:002021-01-31T10:45:02.204-05:00Sketching NGC2169 an Open Cluster at the Eyepiece On the night of January 9, 2021 I pointed my 8" SCT at an open cluster located in the arm of the constellation Orion. This small open cluster is only around 7 light years across and sits around 3600 light years away. Easily spotted in my 32mm eyepiece, but I wanted this cluster to take up more of my field of view so I put in my Vixen 8-24mm zoom eyepiece and after playing around with Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-71167340903777288872021-01-24T10:30:00.001-05:002021-01-24T10:30:03.144-05:00Sketching M38 the Starfish Cluster at the Eyepiece M38 is an open cluster in the constellation Auriga. This open cluster is around 6.4 magnitude and a distance of 4,200 light years from earth and a diameter of about 25 light years. M38, also known as the Starfish Cluster or the Pi Cluster is estimated to be around 220 million years old.This is a heavily populated cluster even at around 64x magnification. With all the stars in this field of Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-14751600378118761372021-01-17T10:15:00.008-05:002021-01-17T12:14:36.731-05:00Sketching Eta Cassiopeia a Double Star at the Eyepiece The last clear night in December on the night of the 18th. It was a cold crisp night at around 10F with no breeze to chill the air anymore than it already was. I had my 8" SCT setup with a 32mm eyepiece and I aimed the telescope into Cassiopeia, again. This time I went after my very first double star. In the 10 years I have been into astronomy I have never really spent any significant time Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-37131780641739930212021-01-03T10:30:00.001-05:002021-01-03T10:30:07.510-05:00Sketching NGC663 an Open Cluster at the Eyepiece I sat down on the night of December 18, 2020 with my 8" SCT and a 32mm Highpoint Scientific Plossl eyepiece in the diagonal and began to observe the object. This open cluster is about half a degree in size, so it is a tight fit in my field of view. I centered the brightest part of the cluster in my field of view and began sketching. While I've never heard a name associated with this open Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-910643101492430732020-12-27T11:30:00.002-05:002020-12-27T11:30:04.304-05:00Sketching M34 an Open Cluster at the EyepieceM34 is an open cluster in the constellation Perseus and can be found 5 degrees to the northwest of the star Algol. This open cluster is the 6th closest Messier object at around 1500 light years away from Earth.This was the second object I sketched on the night of December 15, 2020, the first being NGC457. As I was sketching this object clouds slowly started to creep in. I did my best to not Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-3369790441565705362020-12-22T20:00:00.001-05:002020-12-22T20:15:59.664-05:00Sketching the Jupiter and Saturn Conjunction at the EyepieceWell I was pleasantly surprised to come across a bit of clearing in the skies on the evening of December 22, 2020. It is the day after the closest approach of Jupiter and Saturn for this conjunction, but there was no chance of me getting this sketch yesterday! This didn't happen without some issues. Again, like in the video where I took images, I had some power issues with the mount. Then I had Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-8169433974499559872020-12-20T10:46:00.001-05:002020-12-20T10:46:01.535-05:00Sketching NGC457 the Owl Cluster at the EyepieceNGC457 is an open cluster is my favorite cluster in the northern hemisphere tucked away in the constellation Cassiopeia. When I got my first telescope for Christmas in 2010 I had to wait for a while until I was able to get a chance to use it. When I did I think the first couple sessions with is were to view the moon. After that I started scanning the skies not knowing a thing about how to use my Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-16114892537175377362020-11-21T16:56:00.001-05:002020-11-21T16:56:31.166-05:00Sketching M45 the Pleiades at the EyepieceShortly after the clock struck midnight and we started a new day on October 12, 2020 I sat on a step ladder at the eyepiece of my 6" Omni XLT Newtonian telescope with the 32mm eyepeiece to get a view and sketch of the open cluster M45. This beautiful open cluster shows some brilliant blue stars at the eyepiece, but from my light polluted skies I was unable to make out any of the nebula you most Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-42007519462053993262020-11-09T19:10:00.003-05:002020-11-09T19:10:43.226-05:00Sketching M31 the Andromeda Galaxy at the Eyepiece On the night of October 11, 2020 I pointed my 6" Newtonian towards the constellation Andromeda to get a view of the Andromeda Galaxy, or M31. I used my 32mm Plossl eyepiece to allow myself to fit the whole galaxy in the field of view. Unfortunately light pollution washes out much of the dimmer parts of the object and you're left with the bright nucleus and inner core of the galaxy. Also I Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-65447953452738167782020-11-09T18:59:00.004-05:002020-11-09T18:59:40.571-05:00Sketching M103 an Open Cluster at the Eyepiece The night of August 19-20, 2020 I aimed my 8" SCT telescope towards the constellation Cassiopeia to find the open cluster M103. This open cluster was relatively bright in the 24mm eyepiece. During observing this open cluster I noticed it sort of reminded me a bit of the Pleiades, or even a little dipper with the patterns some of the stars formed. One of the important things when it comes toMichael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-9799665451361833722020-11-09T18:41:00.001-05:002020-11-09T18:41:07.325-05:00Sketching M75 a Globular Cluster at the Eyepiece On the night of August 19, 2020 I pointed my 8" SCT to the constellation Sagittarius to get a view of the globular cluster M75. This globular cluster was very faint between a mix of the light pollution in my southern skies, and the fact that this is a small, distant, and faint globular cluster to begin with. M75 in my 24mm eyepiece had hardly any resolvable stars in the globular cluster, Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-82755680617004025242020-11-09T18:25:00.004-05:002020-11-09T18:25:39.221-05:00Sketching M8 the Lagoon Nebula at the Eyepiece On the night of August 19, 2020 I aimed my 8" SCT at the constellation Sagittarius to get a look at the object M8, also known as the Lagoon Nebula. I used my 32mm Plossl eyepiece and the Orion Ultrablock filter to pull out the nebulosity as this object is in the southern sky which is heavily light polluted from my backyard. M8 is a large gas cloud in our Milky Way Galaxy which is hard Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-74888139566863746612020-11-09T18:16:00.001-05:002020-11-09T18:16:21.775-05:00Sketching M52 Open Cluster at the Eyepiece In the early morning hours of June 18, 2020 I aimed my 8" SCT towards the constellation Cassiopeia in order to located the open cluster M52. With my 8-24mm zoom eyepiece set at 24mm I began observing and sketching. I must make a note here that there is no associated nebula with M52, but in my observation, and represented in my sketch there is almost a slight appearance of nebula. I'm not Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-2220242924752608452020-11-09T15:24:00.001-05:002020-11-09T15:24:56.932-05:00Sketching M39 Open Cluster at the Eyepiece In the early morning hours of June 18, 2020 I aimed my 8" SCT into the constellation of Cygnus to get a view of the open cluster M39. This open cluster was too big for my zoom eyepiece so I had to switch out to my 32mm Plossl eyepiece to fit all the bright stars in the field of view. This open cluster is around 824 light years from Earth and a diameter of 7 light years. It is estimated thatMichael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-4094557446735106982020-11-09T15:16:00.003-05:002020-11-09T15:16:45.629-05:00Sketching M56 Globular Cluster at the Eyepiece On the night of June 17, 2020 I pointed the 8" SCT towards the constellation Lyra to get a view of globular cluster M56. This globular cluster lies around 32,900 light years away from Earth and has a magnitude of 8.3. This small faint fuzzy patch of stars has a diameter of 60 light years, but given its distance seems relatively small in the sky. The stars of the cluster were relatively dim Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-88477062130697683312020-11-09T15:09:00.004-05:002020-11-09T15:09:33.890-05:00Sketching M29 Open Cluster at the Eyepiece In the early hours of June 17, 2020 I pointed my 8" SCT to the constellation Cygnus at the open cluster M29. This cluster lies roughly 4,000 light years away with a diameter of 11 light years, and contains very few stars. The brightest stars of the cluster form a quadrilateral while another three bright stars form a triangle.M29 Open Cluster in CygnusThis sketch was done on black canson Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3093503470199431899.post-78808835306490842222020-11-09T15:02:00.001-05:002020-11-09T15:02:25.803-05:00Sketching M16 the Eagle Nebula at the Eyepiece In the early hours of June 17, 2020 I had the pleasure of aiming my 8" SCT at a popular nebula, the Eagle Nebula, or M16 in the constellation Serpens. This nebula is well known as the Pillars of Creation for it's star forming region. M16 is around 7,000 light years away and spans an area of the sky of 70x55 light years. When discovered the nebula itself was not seen and the star cluster Michael Rectorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07130504478736454395noreply@blogger.com0