NGC1160/61 sketched

Here's an observation from earlier in the year that I never posted.

NGC1160/61 1/4/2008 23:00 UTC; Pickering 5; NELM 5.5; SQM 20.7

One quite bright galaxy (NGC1161) with an evenly condensed core ENE of two bright field stars, the other (NGC1160) much dimmer, more extended, and with no appreciable condensation. 1160 elongated NE-SW; 1161 more rounded, but still slightly elongated NNE-SSW.

1161's core appeared mottled at 175x, but not at 260x. Optical illusion?

Sadly, I got clouded out immediately afterwards. Mars was still poking through, but at Pickering 5 not much detail was available.

It was also the first light (?) with my heated motorcycle pants. They worked great, but the session was short enough that I wouldn't want to claim them the bee's knees just yet....

[Ed: having now done 5 or 6 more sessions with the heated pants I'm hooked -- I wouldn't go out in the winter without them. The vest, on the other hand, never worked for me. ]

-- Jeff.

Well now imagine forgeting to post such a nice sketch.
Very well done indeed

Deirdre Kelleghan
www.deirdrekelleghan.com/
Oscail do Shuile D'iontas na Cruinne
Open Your Eyes to the Wonder of the Universe

Thanks, Deirdre!

I only got all my scanned sketches put up on a web server recently, so I've got a couple more to post in the next week or two.

Cheers,
-- Jeff.

Do you do any lunar sketches ?

Deirdre Kelleghan
www.deirdrekelleghan.com/
Oscail do Shuile D'iontas na Cruinne
Open Your Eyes to the Wonder of the Universe

Well done Jeff - nice detail in there.
We don't see enough astronomical sketches on these boards (Dee is the exception), its a great way to train your eyes to see the detail. Even though my sketching was never very good (certainly not postable here) it did help me to stop and examine the detail and help imprint the area of sky in the old membrane. With GOTO now very affordable the temptation is quantity (of objects viewed in a session) over quality of observation, and thats where sketching forces you to stop and observe.

Deirdre --

No lunar (or solar) sketches yet. I think I'd like to try solar, but they both look a good deal harder than deep sky.

-- Jeff.