M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. A 25cm Newtonian at 115x, 200x, and 285x was used. This sketch shows that one can visually see detail similar to that found in photographs, provided one has a dark enough sky and a large enough telescope.
Rough sketches are those made at the telescope. All such sketches are rendered in pencil. Unlike most of my finished sketches, these sketches are not all oriented with south up. Some may even be mirror reversed. This page shows just a few of the many rough sketches that I hope to some day transform into finished sketches.
M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. A 25cm Newtonian at 115x, 200x, and 285x was used. This sketch shows that one can visually see detail similar to that found in photographs, provided one has a dark enough sky and a large enough telescope.
This Jupiter sketch was made at 285x with a mostly homemade 25cm Newtonian. The telescope was on an alt-az mounting. Tracking was done by hand. An 82A pale blue filter was used during the observation on 24 October 1999 at 4:45 to 5:20 UT. This sketch was made after masking the 25cm primary mirror's turned edge.
This is one of my many sketches of Comet Hale-Bopp. This sketch was made with a 13cm refractor at 2:45 UT on 25 March 1997. The various red ink lines, added indoors after the observation, were for computing position angles and/or indicating directions. This sketch is a close-up of the comet's very active inner coma.
"The Lady of Mars." This sketch is shown with north up so as to properly show the reclining lady basking under the Martian sun - assuming the viewer has a bit of an imagination! A 25cm Newtonian was used at 285x under fair to poor seeing conditions. For most of the observation a 23A light red filter was used. The red filter was later replaced with an 80A blue filter and a 15 yellow filter.
Our Moon. Back in January and February of 1999 I made a series of moon sketches using nothing more than the unaided eye. Shown here is a sketch of the waning gibbous moon. You might note the comparison with Mars. It's often possible to see more detail on the moon without a telescope than it is to see on Mars with a telescope.
M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. This is another sketch using the 25cm Newtonian under a dark, rural sky. A magnification of 200x was used. Note the large faint lobes on either side of the dumbbell proper. Under a good enough sky these lobes are not all that difficult to see visually. As with most of my deepsky sketches, I've included the stars that could be seen in the line of sight.
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