Double Cluster Sketch

First Try at The Double Cluster in Perseus NGC 869 NGC 884 200mm/35mm/34X 10/09/07 Conte, Gel Pen. 20:10 UT – 21:00 UT Seeing 2

My plan was to make several sketches of this difficult open cluster; besides this one I managed a pencil on white also on the 16th September. I think the view in binoculars is exquisite so I will have a go at it some lovely cold evening, this winter.
I used my big fat 35mm eyepiece to give me a nice wide but yet full on view.
The thing to notice in these clusters is that one has a bow shape bunch of stars as its main feature like those charity bows. The other has a question mark shape as its main feature.
There are several bright stars close together that have parallel matching stars below to the left in the bow pattern. There seems to be fewer stars around the question mark shape even though both clusters have thousands of stars and are several light years apart.

To start this sketch I looked long into the middle of both clusters to get a good look at the shapes and patterns of the stars. I looked at the background stars to see the general scattering of them. I took a mental note of everything and came indoors to begin.

I used black Cranford paper as it seems to be blacker than the paper I usually sketch on.
Then I grated white conte at a height above the black paper in such a way that it landed in more or less the shape of the background stars in the double cluster. I used a circular metal section of a coffee percolator for a fine grater.

When I was happy enough with this background, less is more, then I fixed it with a light spray from a distance. I used masking tape to attach the paper to a board and went back outside to get my eyes adjusted again. I used a white gel pen to place in the stars, some of which were very striking pin pricks of light. I did my best to place everything in context to each other.
I took a mental note of any color in the stars; this will have to be a written note in future as it’s hard to remember everything when you get indoors again.
Inside, I just over laid color gel pen above the white, for the stars, well the ones which I remembered their color. What a difficult very big set of clusters, one to try again and again and for sure one to try in a dark place instead of suburbia.


Deirdre Kelleghan
www.deirdrekelleghan.com

Dee,

What a beautiful sketch - I can recognise several different star patterns that I remember from the eyepiece. I was gobsmacked by the background detail until I read how you achieved it - excellent work - it makes the bright stars stand out in a way that photographs don't always achieve but is so obvious in the eyepiece.

More, more, more!

Phil.

Fantastic work Dee, my favourite deep-sky object and it looks just like a photograph.

Any more?

That's a great sketch Dee! Would be great to see more sketches on the boards here.

Congrats thats a lovely sketch Deirdre. Like Phil, A lot of the asterisms remind me of the view in the eyepiece. An amazing amount of work must go into these works of art.

Thanks guys, I am hoping to impove the star magnitudes, colours, intensity et cetra next time I have a go at this.

There is a lot to take into account with this kind of drawing, its not easy to see colour on my page under a red light.

Deirdre Kelleghan
www.deirdrekelleghan.com