These sketches, with one exception, were made using a 25cm Newtonian reflector. A 20cm aperture white-light solar filter in a homemade cell was in place over the front of the telescope. The colors of the sketches more or less accurately reflect the color the sun appeared through the filter. South is approximately up. West (preceding) is to the left.
Above left: A sunspot 'close-up' at 19:05-19:30 UT on 31 January 1992. Notice the darker umbra and the surrounding, somewhat lighter penumbra. Above right: The full solar disk at 18:10-18:31 UT on 1 February 1992. Both observations were made at a magnification of 75x. Notice the greatly different image scales in the two sketches despite the use of the same magnification. It's not at all uncommon for observers to depict objects in sketches at apparent magnifications that greatly exceed the magnification actually used with the telescope. This practice sometimes leads the novice to harbor greatly inflated expectations concerning how large an object should appear through a telescope. Much detail is often visible upon careful inspection of a relatively tiny image.
Above left: The full solar disk at 18:55-19:18 UT on 3 February 1992. Above right: The sun at 20:00-20:15 UT on 5 February 1992. Notice the limb darkening around the edge of the sun. This effect was an early indication that the sun generates much of its light from deep beneath its apparent surface. Notice also the two 'belts' of sunspots parallel to the solar equator. Sunspots tend to appear at latitudes of greatest differential rotation. The 'sunspot belts' bear a slight resemblance to Jupiter's equatorial cloud belts. Notice also the lighter, hotter faculae near the solar limb at similar latitudes as the sunspots. These lighter areas indicate active regions where sunspots are likely to appear.
Above left: A sunspot group observed on 29 February 1992 UT using a 25cm Newtonian at 115x. A DeepSky eyepiece filter was used in addition to the 20cm white-light solar filter. Above right: A sunspot group observed from 17:10 until 17:42 UT on 13 July 2000. A properly filtered 13cm refractor was used at 85x for this rough pencil sketch.
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