NGC 253 (Galaxy), 2008-10-31
This is one of the most visually impressive galaxies as seen through a telescope. This is another galaxy viewed edge-on. Litebox 15" F/5 Dobsonian, 32mm Erfle eyepiece (60x). Anza-Borrego desert, CA.
NGC 1055 (Galaxy), 2008-10-31.
This is a galaxy viewed edge-on. The dark lane through the middle is a lane of dust blocking our view of that part of the galaxy. Litebox 15" F/5 Dobsonian, 13mm LVW eyepiece (147x). Anza-Borrego desert, CA.
NGC 891 (Galaxy), 2008-10-31.
Much fainter than expected. Dust lane is not visible, except for the hard edge on the W side. Litebox 15" F/5 Dobsonian, 32mm Erfle eyepiece (60x). Anza-Borrego desert, CA.
NGC 2903 (Galaxy), 05-03-2008
9:55 pm PDT. 5" F/5 Litebox reflector, 8mm LVW (240x). Mount Tamalpais State Park, CA. Seeing: 5/10, Transparency: 3/10.
NGC 3115 (Galaxy) 05-03-2008
10:25 pm PDT. 5" F/5 Litebox reflector, 8mm LVW (240x). Mount Tamalpais State Park, CA. Seeing: 5/10, Transparency: 4/10.
NGC 3521 (Galaxy), 05-03-2008
11:10 pm PDT. 5" F/5 Litebox reflector, 8mm LVW (240x). Mount Tamalpais State Park, CA. Seeing: 5/10, Transparency: 4/10.
NGC 4244 (Galaxy), 05-03-2008
11:30 pm PDT. 5" F/5 Litebox reflector, 8mm LVW (240x). Mount Tamalpais State Park, CA. Seeing: 5/10, Transparency: 4/10.
NGC 4449 (Galaxy), 05-03-2008
9:55 pm PDT. 5" F/5 Litebox reflector, 8mm LVW (240x). Mount Tamalpais State Park, CA. Seeing: 5/10, Transparency: 4/10.
M31 Andromeda Galaxy, 10-13-2007
Second attempt at drawing M31. Wide-field sketch made at Mount Tamalpais State Park, CA. Seeing 4/10, 10:43-10:15pm PDT. Seeing 4/10, Transparency 6/10. William Optics Megrez 80 II FD refractor with a 32mm Erfle eyepiece (18x). The sketch was done with regular sketch pencils and a blending stump on Strathmore 400 series drawing paper. I scanned the sketch on a Macintosh and processed it using Pixelmator graphics software.
M31 Andromeda Galaxy, 10-06-2007
First attempt at drawing M31. Wide-field sketch made at Montebello Open Space Preserve, CA, 10:10-10:40pm PDT. Seeing 6/10, Transparency 3/10 (urban light pollution over Silicon Valley was causing skyglow in that party of the sky). William Optics Megrez 80 II FD refractor with a 32mm Erfle eyepiece (18x). The sketch was done with regular sketch pencils and a blending stump on Strathmore 400 series drawing paper. I scanned the sketch on a Macintosh and processed it using Pixelmator graphics software.
Arp 81 interacting galaxies, 08-11-2007
From Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Arp 169 interacting galaxies, 08-11-2007
From Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Arp 23 interacting galaxies, 08-10-2007
From Lassen Volcanic National Park. Tonight's visibility was bad, due to a forest fire that filled the sky with smoke.
Arp 84 interacting galaxies, 08-10-2007
From Lassen Volcanic National Park. Tonight's visibility was bad, due to a forest fire that filled the sky with smoke.
Arp 269 interacting galaxies, 08-10-2007
From Lassen Volcanic National Park. Tonight's visibility was bad, due to a forest fire that filled the sky with smoke.
M 51 galaxy, with su...va 2005cs 07-03-2005
M51 had a guest supernova this night, indicated with the tick mark. The companion galaxy NGC 5195 looked a little off-center, compared to views in photos.
Quasar 3c273 07-02-2005
One of the most distant objects (about 2 billion light years) visible through an amateur telescope. The first quasar ever discovered, and one of the brightest. It looked like a very faint star through the eyepiece.
Stephan's Quintet GXC 11-06-2004
One of the most famous galaxy clusters. Not visible in 32 Erfle, needs magnification from 8mm Lanthanum Superwide (240x) to bring galaxies into view. Initially only the two brightest galaxies were visible. Spent about a half hour studying the cluster in order to produce this sketch. Eventually all five components were detected using averted vision. Averted vision also highlights orientations of galaxy components.
M 101 galaxy 05-25-2003