M22 - Where have you been all my life!

M22, originally uploaded by geminijk.

I decided to take the 6" Orion out last night as my grab-n-go for a bit of observing since it was so clear. The Intelliscope was dead on, so I decided to hunt some doubles, and then check out some treats in Sagittarius before heading to bed.

I cannot recall ever seeing M22 in all my years of stargazing, how in the world did I over look this beauty! It was fantastic, well resolved and huge even for a 6" scope. I even had to look it up to ensure it was indeed a globular and not a very compact open cluster. I was amazed at how awesome a view it gave. Tonight, going after it with the LS 8.

My favorite globulars so far are M13, M5, and M2, but now M22 ranks up at the top. If you have never tried this globular before, your missing one of the best.

Clear skies.
john

Rookie mistake on my first digital sketches!

My first set of digital images that I was so happy about had brush strokes and artifacts that rendered them completely different then the views on the screen and of course at the eyepiece. You see, when I was at the telescope actually doing the digital sketches, I had set my display settings to the lowest possible brightness and contrast. This change didn't permit me to see some of the lighter brush strokes and tinkering that I was doing to the images. I had chalked up the missing edits to user error, but indeed they were taking place, I just couldn't see them.

So now I have the fixed images in place. DEL CYG looks much better, now actually resembles a double-star and not M51 with severe dew on the objective! M80 was much bigger then I had wanted, I spent a lot of time redoing that to reflect a closer image scale, and added some more details. I like the way it came out very much, and can't wait to sketch more globulars!

I welcome your feedback and questions!

DEL CYG - Sketched At The Eyepiece

The LS 8 put up a text book image IMO of the diffraction pattern, I tried to capture that as best as I could, thought I would share. Seeing was ok, I also tried to capture the "shimmering" effect I viewed. I welcome your comments!

M80 Globular Cluster - Sketched At The Eyepiece

This is my first sketch done at the eyepiece for a globular cluster . Equipment was my laptop, and a Wacom pen tablet. I would recommend using a mouse or touchpad for plotting the stars, then zoom in and use the pen tablet for fine details. Please let me know what you think!

GAM LEO

This is one of my first sketches done at the eyepiece. Equipment was my laptop, and a Wacom pen tablet. I would recommend using a mouse or touchpad for plotting the stars, then zoom in and use the pen tablet for fine details. Please let me know what you think!