After inspired by the fantastic and very natural looking sketch of Messier 51 from Howard Banich I decided to give it a go with my 27-inch.
I spend three nights with around 6 hours of observing time on the object and sketches it in one overall sketch plus eight detailed sketches, using magnifications between 172x and 586x.
Main problem was to create an overall view of the galaxy with all its details but without to lose the natural effect. This point is nearly impossible and I did it unfortunately not in this perfection Howard does.
From the observing point it was surprisingly easy to manage. The galaxy is clearly structured and it is possible to climb along the spiral arms and (orientated by) the star pattern.
Interestingly I found a favorite position within the galaxy - the clusters within the first arm 1' north of the center. The prominent dark lanes were more difficult to observe than expected. In contrast to that the fainter outer regions, especially north of NGC 5195 were easier to see than I thought. The challenge IC 4277 was steadily visible with averted vision as a very thin, structureless lane of 0,7' length. Frank's 36-inch showed this as a bright, direct vision glow with good defined core.
Hope you enjoy it.
sketch with low resolution (494x700)
M51_27.jpg
link to homepage with sketch and inverted version (mouseover)
link to sketch with higher resolution (1697x2440)
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