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Here you will find sketches of astronomical objects I made at the telescope. Shortly after starting observing with my telescope I found that simply recording in writing what I saw through the eyepiece wasn't adequate so I started making sketches of the objects I was observing. Sketches are a realistic way of recreating the images seen through a telescope and are comparatively easy to make. I have used nothing more than simple white paper and lead pencils of different hardness (soft, medium and hard) and an eraser.
I start a sketch of any given object by carefully studying it in the eyepiece for at least 10 - 30 minutes, taking in as much details as I can. Then I plot the background stars and the main features of the object, putting in lesser and fainter features as I progress. I write down descriptions of all relevant details as well. In this way, I end up with a rough version of the sketch as well as a written record of the object. The next day I would complete the sketch, working from the draft and written record to produce the final version. To get the realistic white stars on black background feel, I would then scan the image into the computer and make it into a negative.
My observations were all made from a small town in the Netherlands, called Alphen aan den Rijn, which suffers from quite a bit of light pollution. They were made from 1998 through 2001. The vast majority were made with an 8" Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount with some made with a 4.5" Equatorial Newtonian. I have indicated the magnifications used on each sketch as well as filters, where applicable.
To navigate through this site simply click on the blue button to the left of the category of objects you wish to view in the table below. On several of these you will get the opportunity to view only a portion of the objects to speed up the loading times of pages. Alternatively, you can go to the database page and click on each individual object. With each sketch comes a brief list of vital data. Standing on a sketch with your mouse will bring up a written description of the object.
| Make Your Selection | Items | No. Sketches |
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Solar System Objects | 9 |
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Double Stars | 11 |
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Open Clusters | 46 |
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Globular Clusters | 18 |
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Planetary Nebulae/SNRs | 13 |
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Bright Nebulae | 4 |
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Galaxies | 46 |
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Objects Database | |
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Links |
©2004 - 2009 This page was designed by L. J. Moreau. Sketches were made by M. Geldorp. Buttons provided by Flaming Text
