PCW Memorial Observatory - Erika Rix | Having fun exploring our universe!

The Astronomical League’s “Astronomics Sketching Award”

•December 8, 2015 • Leave a Comment

The Astronomical League is a valuable resource and provides numerous observing programs for their membership to encourage an interest in astronomy. Just last year, they added the Sketching Observing Program to the list, helping members to hone their observing skills by rendering the eyepiece views.

In addition to the observing programs, they have special yearly awards to recognize members “who have advanced the goals of the Astronomical League.” It’s just been revealed that, thanks to the generosity of Astronomics, a new addition has been added to the awards — one aimed for astronomical sketching!

Astronomics Sketching Award

“This award recognizes the remarkable work of sketchers who patiently depict what appears in the eyepiece.”

“The folks at Astronomics, http://www.astronomics.com, have generously agreed to sponsor this award because they recognize the value in taking time to explore and understand our night sky. Thank you, Astronomics!”

1st place winner will receive $250 and a plaque
2nd place finisher will receive $150
3rd place finisher will $75

Make sure to check out the AL’s Astronomics Sketching Award webpage for eligibility requirements and rules. You must be a member of the Astronomical League to enter a submission. Also, you don’t need to be an artist to sketch at the eyepiece! The Cloudy Nights members are more than happy to help you get started in the Sketching forum.

So what are you waiting for? Grab those pencils and submit your entry. Good luck!

(And as a personal note from this astro sketcher, thank you, Astronomics!)

Posted in Astronomical League
Tags: astronomical league, Astronomics, sketching award

Moon Occulting Venus – Dec 7, 2015

•December 7, 2015 • Leave a Comment

2015 Dec 7 – ingress

2015 dec 7 – egress

Despite the daytime observing session, Venus and the Moon were in full view with the unaided eye. The animation below was created using a sequence of sketches drawn at the eyepiece on black Strathmore Artagain paper and a combination of white watercolor pencil and Conte’ crayon and a black oil pencil. Rough blending was achieved with my fingertips and fine blending with a paper towel.

I photographed the sketches and then used Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 to swap out the black color of the paper for a bluish background to better represent the eyepiece view. Blue paper would have been the better option but I had none none on hand.

The orientation is as seen through my refractor.

Occulting Venus 2015

Posted in Lunar Observations, Lunar Observations 2015, Occultation, Occultations, Sketch Animations, Venus
Tags: Moon, Occultation, sketch, Venus

Messier Observer’s Planisphere by Celestial Teapot Designs

•July 27, 2015 • 1 Comment

Looking for a unique planisphere that includes the Messier objects and a suggested order to view them for a marathon? How about a locator chart for challenging identification areas like the galaxies in Virgo? You might want to check out the KickStarter link below. It’s the Messier Observer’s Planisphere by Celestial Teapot Designs that friends of ours developed. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one!

Messier Observer’s Planisphere

Posted in Astronomy Resources
Tags: Celestial Teapot Designs, Messier, planisphere

2012 05 17 – Prominence sequence

•April 5, 2015 • 1 Comment

May 17, 2012, 13:35 UT – 18:41 UT

This interesting prominence doubled in size and then finally broke free of the limb. The time sequence spanned over 5 hours.

Northeast prominence at 30-degree position angle. Internally double-stacked Coronado Maxscope 60mm H-alpha telescope 400mm focal length, LXD75, Baader Planetarium Hyperion 8-24mm Mark III set at 8mm, 50x magnification.

Sketched with white Conté crayon and pastel pencil, white Prang color pencil, and black Strathmore Artagain paper.

Posted in Sketch Animations, Solar Observations, Solar Observations 2012
Tags: animations, prominences, solar

Solar animations

•April 2, 2015 • 2 Comments

Posted in Sketch Animations, Solar Observations
Tags: active region, prominence, solar animation, Sun

2014 Oct 14-30, Daily Sunspot Tracking

•February 19, 2015 • Leave a Comment

It’s been several months, but I finally had the opportunity to process and animate a 17-day daily sunspot tracking sequence from October. It features AR2192, the beautiful large active region that caused a stir that cycle.

Oct 14 – 18

Equipment used
Celestron 102mm f/9.8 refractor, 7-24mm Hyperion zoom set at 16mm, 63x, Thousand Oaks white light filter, homemade Sun funnel for initial sunspot placements, LXD75.

Sketch media
White card stock, superfine black felt-tipped artist pen, 0.5mm mechanical pencil, processed in Photoshop and orientated so that north is up, west is right.

Oct 19-24

Oct 25-30

Posted in Solar Observations, Solar Observations 2014
Tags: animation, AR2192, sunspot tracking

2011 09 11 – ISS Lunar Transit

•September 11, 2014 • Leave a Comment

I drove to Leander, TX, this morning to catch the ISS lunar transit. This is the field sketch, mirrored and rotated to match standard orientation.

Equipment: 102mm f/9.8 refractor on an LXD75, 16mm eyepiece, 13% transmission Moon filter; Sketch media: black Strathmore Artagain paper, white pastels, white charcoal, black charcoal

The sketch was a quickie compared to the phase sketches I typically do, but I wanted to ensure the ISS wouldn’t be lost in the detail. The ISS crossed the lunar face in less than half a second, starting near the craters Steinheil and Watt. It then passed near Encke before crossing the NW limb.

I re-familiarized myself with the guidelines from Alan Strauss’ ISS solar transit observation in 2011. You can view the report and sketch on his site, Lost Pleiad Observatory.

Before leaving the house, I rechecked the ISS flight path and its central line for passing in front of the Moon. CalSky is a great program for this. On my iPhone, I used GoSatWatch and set alerts for 5 minutes before the pass and another for when the pass began.

The sketch was started almost an hour before the pass. So that the ISS wouldn’t be lost within the abundance of lunar terrain, the majority of detail was omitted from the sketch. Once the first alert went off, I stopped sketching and prepared myself for the pass. My observing partner, Freckles (my dog), was put back in the CRV so that I could focus solely on the view. The transit would last only a fraction of a second and in that time, I wanted to note: where it entered, the flight path, and where it excited; color and luminance; shape, size and orientation; and viewable panels and modules.

The second alert sounded and within moments, the ISS made its transit. I was surprised to see that it was a glowing white color (expected a silhouette) and what appeared to be a shadow on one side of it. It seems I may have caught a module and one of the solar arrays. The shadow was most likely another solar array or the shadowed area of the module. As for the orientation, it was offset a little from its path, but things happened so suddenly that I’m not certain I’ve recorded it accurately. My focus was more on the overall shape and the shadow of the ISS.

With each ISS pass, it’s an ongoing endeavor to improve my observing and sketching skills for the next time!

Posted in Lunar Observations, Lunar Observations 2014, Moon Phase Drawings, Satellites, Transits
Tags: ISS transit, Moon

2014 08 25 – C/2014 E2 (Jacques)

•August 27, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Comet movement during the course of the observation

This long-period comet was an easy spot in the constellation Cassiopeia at 10.7 magnitude. The coma was bright and dense. Its outer edges were diffuse and there appeared to be a very faint elongation to the SSE.

Posted in C/2014 E2 (Jacques), Comets & Asteroids
Tags: comets

2014 08 24 – ISS

•August 26, 2014 • Leave a Comment

It’s always a treat to follow the International Space Station (ISS) through an eyepiece. During a recent outreach event, I even had a line of visitors taking quick turns at the eyepiece while I tracked the pass for the them using the Dob with a Telrad.

During the past few days, my husband and I made a joint efforts to image the International Space station, his by webcam using the 10-inch LX200 with manual tracking and mine through sketches using the 16-inch Dobsonian and a 13mm Ethos. This telescope/eyepiece combination makes it fairly easy to track the ISS while providing a bit of umph for details.

There were two ISS passes on the night of August 23. I used the first one for practice and, from that, determined that a voice recorder was definitely needed for the 2nd run at 21:43-21:46 local time (Aug 24th 02:43-02:46 UT). Directly after the observation, I made a rough field sketch and jotted down notes. A more-detailed, color sketch was completed inside using my notes, voice recording and the field sketch for reference. When the sketch was complete, it was scanned and processed in Photoshop CS6 to better represent the luminosity of the view.

Original sketch from voice recorder and notes

The solar arrays were outlined in bright burnt yellow with deeper burnt orange running through the center of them lengthwise. The module was bright and long on the following end. More details were visible during moments of clarity with smooth tracking, but I failed to describe the view with enough depth to transpose them onto paper. I was able to add what appeared to be the thermal control radiators near the truss on either side of the module as well as a section of the module that runs parallel to the truss on the leading edge.

Equipment: 16-inch f/4.5 reflector on a non-tracking Dobsonian mount, Telrad, 13mm Ethos

Application for passes: GoSatWatch – Satellite Tracking for iPhone

Sketch media: black Strathmore Artagain paper, color pencils, white gel pen, color Conte’ pastels, blending stump and then processed digitally in Photoshop CS6

Related Links

Alan Strauss features a sketch of the ISS transiting the Sun. He explains the technique he used and how he planned for it on his webpage Lost Pleiad Observatory.

Jeremy Perez masterfully captured a series of sketches from a August 2012 ISS pass and another from an October 2012 pass that can be viewed from his Belt of Venus website. Make sure to read his tips on how to try this yourself!

ISS and Shuttle Endeavour in 2008 by Aleksander Cieśla
ISS and Progress M-02M in 2009 by Janusz Krysiak
Plus a few more ISS sketches from ASOD contributors.

Click here for the latest ISS news from NASA.

Posted in Satellites, Space Flight
Tags: ISS, sketching

Solar Balloons

•July 26, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Solar hot air balloons are a great addition to any outreach event. You can purchase one online for as little as a few dollars or make your own using thin trash bags or sheets of polyethylene.

The heated air inside the balloon expands, making it less dense than the cooler ambient air. This causes the balloon to float. While conducting science experiments, kids can learn the basics on how the balloons generate lift, solar radiation, and solar energy.

Most balloons I’ve seen are shaped like long, slender tubes (sealed on both ends), tear drops (your typical hot air balloon) or tetrahedrons (also referred to as tetroons). But don’t let that deter you from making unique designs of your own!

The best time to launch is in the morning on a calm day while the ambient air is cool.

Materials needed for a tube-shaped balloon

5-7 thin black trash bags (0.3-0.4 mil)
Lightweight, strong tape
Scissors
Lightweight string tied to a rubber band on one end, a piece of cardboard on the other

Step 1
Cut away the ends of all but one of the bags.

Step 2
Starting with the bag that has the uncut end, overlap two bags by placing the end of one bag inside the other by an inch or two.

Step 3
Tape the seam. I used black duct tape that I split in half lengthwise. Cellophane tape would have been better because of its light weight. I’ve read where other people use masking tape.