Many years ago I started to sketch objects in space as seen through my telescopes. Many of these will be deep sky objects - things outside our solar system, but some might be planets or other solar system objects.

Fireball!

Usually when I think of an astronomical drawing, I think of an object seen through a telescope. But on some occasions I've been moved to do other wise.

In this case, I was dumping the trash. It was 6 July, 1981. I was on the USS America, an aircraft carrier. I had taken a bag of trash to the back of the ship to a small platform, like a patio, that we called Sponson 6. When the ship was more than 50 miles from shore and planes weren't flying off the flight deck, far above the sponson, this was the place were you took trash to throw it over the side.

It was a very warm and humid 90 degrees the ship was at 20 degrees north in the Indian Ocean and about 7:15 in the evening. After stepping through the door onto the sponson, I tore open the bag of trash and tossed it over the side. Even before doing this, I had already looked up. The ship was heading east, so I was presented with the pretty scene of a glowing red twilight sky, Jupiter and Saturn, a young Moon, a very bright Venus low, against the horizon.

The scene was pretty enough that was worth hanging around for a couple of minutes. After dumping the bag, I backed off and took in the scene, including the hum of the machinery of the ship, the swooshing noise of the water passing 15 feet below, not to mention the smell of the trash.

WOW! A bright meteor streaked across the view! It only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was white in color and about the same brightness of Venus. It left a nice trail with little sparks coming out of the tail near the fireball.

A few minutes later, I used the back of a page from my astronomical logbook and some different colored pens to make the sketch. Over the years, I've seen many fireballs. But, because of this sketch, this is the one I remember most. Today, I only have to glance at it, close my eyes for a second and can recall the scene in my mind's eye. If this isn't a good reason to make, even simple drawings, I don't know what else is.

Comet Halley from Alabama

By the fall of 1985, Comet Halley fever was all the rage. While those in the know had a firm understanding the comet wasn't going to be the best, it was still the event of a lifetime. It was also clear the comet would be best viewed from lower latitudes.

So, I took some time off from college and drove to Lillian, Alabama to stay with astro-friend Marshal Holman for a couple of weeks. In those days, Marshal's backyard, near the gulf coast, was dark enough for some pretty good observing. So it was December 30, 1985, that I recorded these field drawings of Halley through Marshal's 20-inch dobsonian and my own 4.25-inch f/4 RFT at 17x. On this evening, Halley and it's narrow tail was clearly visible to the naked eye. The tail had brightened, just over the past 24 hours.

I had found Halley to be underwhelming. Visible for only a few minutes during twilight, the excitement for the evening was soon over and it was back to the real business of time for me, finding faint galaxies.

During January, 1986, Halley slipped behind the Sun to reappear in the morning sky, somewhat better and with a longer tail. Perhaps my most memorable Halley observing session was a fine cold morning at a site near Mansfield, Ohio with plenty of friends and wonderful skies and I even managed to shoot a nice color slide of the comet.

But by far, my most memorable Halley event was helping to staff an early AM public viewing session at a park, south of Columbus, Ohio. Cars were lined up for miles, heading both directions on a narrow, two-lane country road. Just outside the gate to the park, I stood in the middle of road, umbrella in hand, explaining that it wasn't going to be possible see the comet in the pouring rain.

My faith in comets were restored by the great pair of the 1990's, Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp. Sure would be nice to have a comet that those again!

Early Saturn

Many new comers to amateur astronomy get to marvel at the amazing sight of Saturn and it's glorious rings. But in the summer of 1980, Saturn was tilted so the rings appeared edge on from Earth. Thus, this very early drawing of a planet, though the 3-inch refractor shows only a ball with a dark line - the narrow shadow of the rings and two moons.

While the 3-inch only showed the shadow, in the observatory, the very fine 32-inch f/15 cassegrain reflector showed the rings as a hair thin line that appeared to streak across the field of view. Shortly after this observation, I would join the US Navy and spent most of the next five years ship board. I observed from the ship, but only at low powers. It would be several years before I finally got a good, high power view of Saturn in all it's ringfull glory.

These observations were made with a borrowed telescope and eyepieces... "fancy" 25 and 18mm Ramsden lenses that had come stock with a Criterion Dynascope RV-6 reflector. Today, few amateurs would consider using such an eyepiece, but really, they were quite nice.

Another early lesson here. Don't try to draw in pen!

Ringing in the tail - NGC 4038/4039 (Arp 244)

One of the fun things about observing off a predetermined numberical list of objects is that you stumble across the occasional gem without realizing it. Clawing my way through the Arp list while at the Winter Star Party in 2001, I worked my way to this pair of galaxies. My first thought was, what a nice bright - oh, pair - of galaxies. And look, they actually LOOK like they are really interacting - there is a faint bridge of material connecting them.

After making the sketch, I called over old Ohio observing buddy Bill Burton, who was set up nearby, for a look. Always willing, Bill made the climb up the tall ladder of my 20-inch f/6 dobsonian, and announced loudly within a second of glancing in the eyepiece, "the Ringtail galaxies!". Of course! I thought... yes, I've seen these objects before, both in photos and in the eyepiece!

This is a fine, fine set of objects to look at, even with smaller telescopes. Veteran observer Bill Ferris has seen both galaxies and the connecting bridge with a 10-inch reflector and estimates a visual magitude of about 10th. This drawing was made with a 20-inch f/6.4 reflector using 12mm (260x) and 20mm (170x) eyepieces. I recorded the seeing as a perfect 10 out of 10 and a 7 out of 10 for transparency. While many people might think seeing - the steadiness of the atmosphere - is not all that important for deep sky observing, this night taught me different. Even through the skies were somewhat bright and with drifting clouds, the extreme steadiness allowed the use of higher powers and allowed one to better glimpse those faint details that might other wise been washed out.

M-77 through a 31-inch telescope

In September of 2000, I managed some time on the huge 31-inch f/7 Newtonian reflector at Warren Rupp Observatory near Mansfield, Ohio. During the evening observing session, I made this drawing of M-77, the bright Seyfert galaxy in the constellation of Cetus. M-77, discovered by Pierre Mchain in 1780 has proven to be fertile ground for researchers. It was one of the first galaxies to be recognized by Lord Rosse to be spiral shaped, to have strong spectral emission lines that suggest rapid outflow of material from the core and to be a strong source of energy in the radio spectrum. Today, it's believed all of this is powered by a central supermassive object, almost a small quasars.

M-77 is a high surface brightness object that is easy to see in small telescopes. It is worth examining M-77 at high powers, even in smaller telescopes for hints of the spiral detail.

M-45 from the Caribbean sea, November, 1983

On 27 November, 1983, I was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS America, which at the time was steaming in Caribbean, conducting training exercises. For more than two years, I had been successfully observing from the ship using small, wide field Newtonian telescopes mounted on photo tripods.

This night was very clear and the sea state was very smooth. Various other issues combined to allow a wonderful night looking at a number of objects. Taking advantage of a position of only 20 degrees north, one area of study that night had been the Fornax galaxy cluster.

But the gem of the night occurred after pointing the 4.25-inch f/4 reflector at M-45. With a 24mm Brandon eyepiece at 17x, the seven sisters were a dazzling sight, inter-weaved with veils of nebulosity, including wisps around Merope, Alcyone, Electra and Maia. Not too surprisingly, the nebulosity around Merope was the easiest to see; it is the brightest of the bunch. But more impressive was the combination of all the bits of nebulosity and the fine detail visible - the dark areas - between them. Today, in 2006, I can't claim I've had a better view of M-45. Be it expensive rich field refractors, or large dobsonians; from suburban skies to dark skies from remote locations in the United States.

M-51 and SN2005cs, July 3, 2005 from near Pasco, Washington

I had slowly worked my way through the list, deciding to save M-51 for a night, when something fun was happening or I was observing with a telescope other then my 20-inch.

On July 3rd, 2005, that happened. While observing from the Mansperger farm near Pasco, Washington, I pointed my 12-inch f/5.4 suite case telescope "Ellie" towards M-51 and captured this rendering of the Whirlpool galaxies along with a visitor: Supernova SN2005cs.

SN2005cs was discoverd by Wolfgang Kloehr, Schweinfurt, Germany, on June 28, 2005 in a series of CCD images. Chance would have it that Wolfgang caught the SN on the rise, as it was still brightening. By July 3rd, when I pointed Ellie, it was easy to see in the 12-inch scope at 120x. Here the SN is marked by the four "cross" pencil lines.

I also like this drawing because it represents, for me, a common view of M-51. Early, pre-Lord Rosse, drawings of M-51 often show the larger half of M-51 has having a "ring" around the nucleus of the larger galaxy. Ever since Rosse disclosed the true spiral shape, it's been easy for visual observers to read into their minds the spiral. But I think it often looks like a ring.

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