The sketches on this page have south up and west to the left. For the most part, the colors shown were not visible to the eye at the telescope's eyepiece. They were added to give a better idea of the beauty one senses while looking through a telescope.
M45, the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus. This finished sketch, ink on paper, is based on a pair of observations made from 4:30 to 5:30 UT on the 3rd and 4th of November 1996. A 13cm refractor was used at 21x. A painting based on the same observations is on the painting page of this website.
M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra, at 3:45 UT on 6 September 1980. A 20cm Schmidt Cassegrain telescope was used at 290x. Notice the glow within the ring's central region and the brightening along the ring's northwestern extent. This was my first sketch done in colored ink.
M57, the Ring Nebula on 7 October 1986. This is a full-field view with a 15cm f/8 Newtonian at 60x.
The Great Orion Nebula - M42 and M43 on 27 January 1981. A 20cm Schmidt Cassegrain telescope was used. M43 is the smaller nebulous patch, around a star, northeast of the much larger M42. Through amateur telescopes of moderate aperture M42 appears to have a greenish color.
The galaxy M33 in Triangulum and asteroid 15, Eunomia. The asteroid's positions, along the red arrow, are given for 3:20 and 10:20 UT on 15 September 1985. A 20cm Schmidt Cassegrain telescope with telecompressor was used for this low-powered, wide-field view.
M13, a globular star cluster in Hercules, on 7 October 1986 UT. A 15cm Newtonian telescope was used at 60x. From a sufficiently dark location M13 is visible to the unaided eye as a tiny, cloud-like patch on the background sky.
M81 (top) and M82, galaxies in Ursa Major, on 25 December 1986 UT. This sketch was made from an urban backyard with a borrowed 15cm f/8 Newtonian at 38x. Higher magnifications show more detail, but the field of view shrinks too small to observe both galaxies at once.
Solar Sketches-----------------------------------Lunar Sketches
Planetary Sketches-------------------------------Planetary Sketches - page 2
Jupiter-SL9 Sketches----------------------------Comet Sketches
Comet Hyakutake Sketches----------------------Comet Hale-Bopp Sketches
Deep Sky Sketches------------------------------Deep Sky Sketches - page 2
Rough Sketches----------------------------------Paintings
Why make sketches?-----------------------------The Art of Astronomical Sketching
Character Sketch---------------------------------Links to Other Websites
Home-made Binocular Mount-----------------Home