M42 by Dee

M42 in Orion
The Orion Nebula is part of an extensive gas cloud 1,600 light-years away that covers almost the whole of the constellation Orion.
( The New Atlas of the Stars - A Mellinger, S Hoffmann )

Conte Crayons
Blending Stick
Mitsubishi White Pencil
300gm Daler Rowney Black Paper
Sky Watcher 200mm
Focal Length 1200 mm
Eyepiece Meade MA 12mm
Bray Co Wicklow Ireland
Humidity 81%Temp 6C
Lat: 53:11:44N (53.1955) Lon: 6:06:31W (-6.1086)
Seeing 1
Wind 41Km/hr
Transparency Average


I was waiting all month for an M42 sketching moment; I missed one in the early hours of last Sunday morning, while watching the Leonid’s.
I was in a dark location in the Wicklow mountains scope less.

Thursday night M42 looked doable and the pain of a street light behind my garden had given up the ghost .

It was a bit windy but it did not seem to matter, however this Saturday November 25 the seeing prediction is giving 3. That does not happen very often but lots of wind and rain forecast will most likely cancel that out.

So this is the best M42 I can squeeze out of November. I was temped to use a high magnification and get into the centre of the object but in the 12mm the shape of the nebulous material was so dramatic there was no contest.

Once time last year in Cavan, I had the best look into M42 ever, the conditions revelled dark material like cracks in pottery, in the grey nebulosity rolling toward the trapezium.

I did start a sketch that evening but myself, my scope and all my art materials, were quickly engulfed in a hound of the Baskerville’s type fog, and M42 along with it. So that past vision of M42 will haunt me till I capture it someday.

Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society
www.irishastrosoc.org

Hey Dee - that's really lovely. I'd love to see what you can do with M42 under better sky conditions. There really is something special about sketches over images.

How do you find sketching on the black paper? I's assume its a little more difficult than black on white paper?

And how on earth did you figure out the windspeed?

Thanks for sharing it!

Dave

Thanks Dave

I would also love to see what I could do in a bigger scope in better conditions I am loving sketching on black with various grey tones.

I have bought more red lights as I find I need more using black and greys.

White paper seems to be easier to work on in the dark, but the nighsky is black and I am getting better results using black paper.

I have separated my different greys into different boxes as it is difficult to tell one from the other in the dark. Conte is great to use but very easy to damage so I have to fix it soon as I get it inside. Got some compressed charcoal and look forward to giving that a try soon.

Google for wind speed