The bees in M44 were reluctant.

Let's see your reports!
Post Reply
User avatar
John Baars Netherlands
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 5
Online
Posts: 2724
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 9:00 am
4
Location: Schiedam, Netherlands
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#1

Post by John Baars »


On April 20, it was nice and clear, a little late getting dark. Daylight savings is starting to be very noticeable now. At dusk I already had the old GPDX mount with my 120mm ED Evostar on it pointed at M44. I was amazed that it was so well visible with that light background. I decided to make a sketch of it. And also try out my new 30mm APM eyepiece with a 2.66 degree field of view. That sketch would give me more headaches than I had in mind.

The biggest mistake I made was not to immediately commit the brightest star members to paper and then later add the smaller stars. I knew that sketching a somewhat larger cluster would present problems with the location of several stars. Stubborn as I was, I decided to wait until dark.

Once dark, the large number of stars turned out to be quite confusing and I didn't get it right several times. Eventually I started over, now sketching only the brightest stars. Later, indoors, I tried to make an orderly cluster of the stars, but even that took effort. In the dark, it is difficult to assign a magnitude to a particular star. After all, indoors, in full light, all the pencil marks look alike. I decided to get Stellarium anyway the next day over coffee to get a better estimate of the magnitudes. Also the positions of some stars turned out to be completely wrong in some cases. Hmmm..... this is not my standard way of doing a real sketch.

The digital processing of the photographed sketch didn't quite go according to plan either. For example, the Iphone suddenly refused to surrender its digital image to the computer. A screenshot had to provide the solution. Nevertheless, it was finished. But it did not sit well with me and tonight I took a new picture of the sketch with my Lumix GX80 four thirds camera. And re-edited it.

Attached are both versions. You may decide for yourself which one you like best.

Iphone screenshot version:
This sketch does a little more justice to M44 during twilight. Click on the image.

M44 final 2 (2).jpg

Four thirds version:
This sketch does more justice to the appearance of M44 later in the night. Click on it for a better view.
M44 final 2 .jpg
Of course it's not like I've just been fiddling with pencil and paper. For example, I enjoyed Izar, a beautiful double in Bootes. M94 galaxy in Canes Venatici, with a softly glowing core. M63 sunflower galaxy , a bright glow near a star and even M51 peeped out above the light pollution. Globular cluster M3 near Bootes took the crown. At high magnification, I could see individual stars from 200X with averted vision--a faintly glowing sugar bowl. An impression that was reinforced even at 300X. At that magnification I could even distinguish individual stars well. Very nice!

Attached as well is an old sketch of M94.
M 94.jpg
M 94.jpg (23.77 KiB) Viewed 1072 times
Chapeau for sketchers of large open clusters!
Thanks for reading.
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
User avatar
Bigzmey United States of America
Moderator
Moderator
Articles: 8
Offline
Posts: 7551
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 7:55 pm
4
Location: San Diego, CA USA
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#2

Post by Bigzmey »


Beautiful sketches John! Sketching a rich cluster like M44 is a big challenge, but you were the right man for the job!
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
User avatar
Unitron48 United States of America
Local Group Ambassador
Articles: 0
Online
Posts: 2748
Joined: Sun May 12, 2019 12:48 am
4
Location: Culpeper, VA (USA)
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#3

Post by Unitron48 »


Great sketches, John. You have the touch!!

Great session also!!

Dave
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
User avatar
messier 111 Canada
Universal Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 9482
Joined: Mon Nov 09, 2020 2:49 am
3
Location: Canada's capital region .
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#4

Post by messier 111 »


beautiful work , thx .
I LOVE REFRACTORS , :Astronomer1: :sprefac:

REFRACTOR , TS-Optics Doublet SD-APO 125 mm f/7.8 . Lunt 80mm MT Ha Doublet Refractor .

EYEPIECES, Delos , Delite and 26mm Nagler t5 , 2 zoom Svbony 7-21 , Orion Premium Linear BinoViewer .

FILTER , Nebustar 2 tele vue . Apm solar wedge . contrast booster 2 inches .

Mounts , berno mack 3 with telepod , cg-4 motorized , eq6 pro belt drive .

“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.”
― Isaac Asimov

Jean-Yves :flags-canada:
User avatar
Thefatkitty Canada
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 0
Online
Posts: 4134
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 4:20 pm
4
Location: Ontario, Canada
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#5

Post by Thefatkitty »


I like them both John; I admire your talents! So many stars I wouldn't even know where to start with that!

Well done, and glad you had a good night :D

All the best,
Mark

"The Hankmeister" Celestron 8SE, orange tube Vixen made C80, CG4 & AZ-EQ5 mounts.
Too much Towa glass/mirrors.

H/A - PST stage 2 mod with a Baader 90mm ERF on a Celestron XLT 102 (thanks Mike!)
Ca-K - W/O 61mm, Antares 1.6 barlow, Baader 3.8 OD and Ca-K filters with a ZWO ASI174mm.
W/L - C80-HD with Baader 5.0 & 3.8 Solar film, Solar Continuum 7.5nm and UV/IR filters with a Canon EOS 550D.

Oh yeah, and Solar Cycle 25 :D
User avatar
Lady Fraktor Slovakia
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 9863
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:14 pm
4
Location: Slovakia
Status:
Offline

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#6

Post by Lady Fraktor »


Wonderful sketch John, both are lovely.
Good that you could get out and enjoy :)
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
The only culture I have is from yogurt
My day was going well until... people
Image
User avatar
helicon United States of America
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 585
Online
Posts: 12280
Joined: Mon May 06, 2019 1:35 pm
4
Location: Washington
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#7

Post by helicon »


Great sketch of the Praesape John! I could never come close to that, and also congrats on the VROD for the day!
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
User avatar
davesellars
Pluto Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 465
Joined: Fri May 31, 2019 1:02 pm
4
Location: UK
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#8

Post by davesellars »


Great sketch and report John! You have a lot of patience to sketch a large open cluster like this.... :)
SW Flextube 12" Dobsonian.
Starfield ED102 f/7; SW ED80; SW 120ST
EQ5 and AZ4 mounts
Eyepieces: TV Delos 17.3 & 10; Pentax XW 7 & 5; BCO 32,18,10; Fuyiyama Ortho 12.5; Vixen SLV 25.
User avatar
Unitron48 United States of America
Local Group Ambassador
Articles: 0
Online
Posts: 2748
Joined: Sun May 12, 2019 12:48 am
4
Location: Culpeper, VA (USA)
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#9

Post by Unitron48 »


Congrats on another well deserved VROD!

Dave
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
User avatar
turboscrew
Inter-Galactic Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 3233
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2020 9:22 am
3
Location: Nokia, Finland
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#10

Post by turboscrew »


I saw the M44 first time a week ago, and I think the latter looks better.
They are all good, though.
BTW, congrats on the VROD!
- Juha

Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5

I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Image
User avatar
Makuser United States of America
In Memory
In Memory
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 6394
Joined: Mon May 06, 2019 12:53 am
4
Location: Rockledge, FL.
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#11

Post by Makuser »


Hi John. A very nice pair of M44 sketches from you. I enjoyed viewing both of them but I think the second one has an edge on clarity. Thanks for sharing your artistic astronomy work with us again John and congratulations on receiving another TSS VROD Award.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
User avatar
John Baars Netherlands
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 5
Online
Posts: 2724
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 9:00 am
4
Location: Schiedam, Netherlands
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#12

Post by John Baars »


Thank you all for your nice comments. I appreciate it.

From another sketcher on a Dutch forum, I learned how to edit astro sketches in GIMP to some extent. I ran the sketch photographed with the Micro Four thirds camera through it again. Background was darkened and then stars brought back with a little cosmetic improvement. This version looks "cleaner" to my taste, but loses some of its sketchy origins. If you think anything of it, please let me know.

Here it is:
M44 Gimp final .jpg
Click on it for a better view.
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
User avatar
turboscrew
Inter-Galactic Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 3233
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2020 9:22 am
3
Location: Nokia, Finland
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#13

Post by turboscrew »


I think I like the four thirds version better.
- Juha

Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5

I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Image
User avatar
OzEclipse Australia
Moderator
Moderator
Articles: 2
Online
Posts: 2329
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 8:11 am
4
Location: Young, NSW, Australia, 34S, 148E
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: The bees in M44 were reluctant.

#14

Post by OzEclipse »


John,

Nice work and I love your sketch of M94. It reminds me of some of the sketches in a 1970's Messier Objects book!
Congratulations on the VROD

Joe
Image
Amateur astronomer since 1978...................Web site : http://joe-cali.com/
Scopes: ATM 18" Dob, Vixen VC200L, ATM 6"f7, Stellarvue 102ED, Saxon ED80, WO M70 ED, Orion 102 Maksutov, ST80.
Mounts: Takahashi EM-200, iOptron iEQ45, Push dobsonian with Nexus DSC, three homemade EQ's.
Eyepieces: TV Naglers 31, 17, 12, 7; Denkmeier D21 & D14; Pentax XW10, XW5, Unitron 40mm Kellner, Meade Or 25,12
Cameras : Pentax K1, K5, K01, K10D / VIDEO CAMS : TacosBD, Lihmsec.
Cam/guider/controllers: Lacerta MGEN 3, SW Synguider, Simulation Curriculum SkyFi 3+Sky safari
Memberships Astronomical Association of Queensland; RASNZ Occultations Section; Single Exposure Milky Way Facebook Group (Moderator) (12k members)
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in

Return to “Astronomy Reports”