Venus and the Pleiades - 04/04/20

[Thefatkitty]

Good morning, afternoon and evening all, just pick the greeting that fits your time zone...

Been kinda quiet here. My T3 camera took its final shot on Thursday, and that was of AR2759 on ol' Sol. I took it inside, unloaded all the pictures, and went back out later to shoot the daylight Moon. Yeah, well, that wasn't to be.... I guess 67,446 pictures was enough for it

Now I have two Canon T3 bodies that don't work, and a bunch of accessories. As soon as things get better (!), I'll be on the hunt for a Canon camera body. For now, I'm fine doing visual.

Friday was a bust here for the weather, so I missed the Venus/Pleiades conjunction. Yesterday was much of the same, so when I stuck my head out the door at 9PM last night, I was surprised to see clearish skies. Nice view to the west, especially.

I went downstairs and grabbed my little "Towatron". It's the objective from a Tasco 55VTE in a cut-down Astromaster 60mm tube. It makes for a fun little 60mm f/7 scope that takes 1.25" accessories. I have it on its Alt-Az mount; the whole kit weighs in at just under 6lbs (2.5kg).



I used my made-in-Japan Celestron star diagonal and a Fujiyama KK 18mm ortho with it. Not the biggest field of view, but very sharp to the edge of the FOV and good color too, especially for what the scope is.

I was thinking of all the sketches I've seen on here recently. I am no artist, but I thought to give it a try. Going back downstairs, I got some paper and, using a compass, drew a circle on 3 sheets. I got my red light flashlight and went back out.

I focused the little scope on Venus, and got most of the Pleiades in view. I began to sketch what I was seeing.

This is more difficult than I thought. Using an Alt-Az mount probably wasn't my best choice. Also the fact that I wear glasses for reading. Take them off, look through the scope, put them on, draw, repeat...

So after about 15 minutes I finished. I had a look at Orion and area, but that was rapidly setting and the clouds obviously saw what I was up to and put an end to all that.

And this is the result. I scanned my drawing and flipped it to a negative image. That thing that looks like the Moon is supposed to be Venus...



Well, I did have a good time. I also have a new appreciation for those on here that do this on a regular basis. It ain't easy, least for me.
Next time I try this the scope goes on my CG4. It isn't motorized, but with a polar alignment it would make sketching much easier; just have to tweak the RA knob every so often.




That was my brief night. Tonight is supposed to be clear, and if it is I'm probably going to take out my Jason f/15 80mm and my orange f/11.6 Celestron C80 and do a comparison. I've been wanting to do this for some time.

Hope you're all well, stay safe and have a good rest of the weekend!

All the best,

[Bigzmey]

Nice sketch, well done Mark!

[Makuser]

Hi Mark. Sorry to hear about the T3 camera. However, you still came away with a very nice sketch Venus in phase and the Pleiades. Thanks for putting this work up on here for us to enjoy Mark, and the best of wishes for better skies.

[John Baars]

Nice sketching! Thanks for sharing.

Sketching open clusters at the telescope is very difficult indeed. I always struggle with the positions and interstellar distances. I always make a rough sketch with notes (which I can hardly read in the dark myself) and make a new one inside the house, without the notes and other scribbling. Didn't many painters do the same? A statue should be made for those who already know how to make such a final sketch in the field. They exist you know..

[mariosi]

Very nice sketch Mark!

Marios