After some months of scanning the skies I spent some thoughts on how to best document all those thrilling sights visible through my telescope. Photography was out of debate, because all the additional equipment would have overstressed my budget, not to mention the entire hassle involved for making long-term guided exposures. The obvious answer was sketching.

I use a white sheet of paper on which I first draw a 70-mm diameter circle representing the visual field of my eyepiece. After I study the deep sky object at different magnifications, I center it in the field. I first draw the stars that surround the object, using a 0.5-mm technical pen. Drawing the stars first helps a lot, in this way you can be sure the proportions of the sketch are right and the field is correctly oriented.

After I have all the stars plotted in their right positions I begin working on the deep sky object. I first draw its general shape, using a soft pencil. With the basics recorded, I refine the sketch by adding details: brighter parts of nebulae, the glittering of stars resolved in globulars, bright nuclei of galaxies, and so on.

When I take the sketches back indoors, I sometimes have to make minor corrections. When drawing under a dim red light you tend to over-enhance subtle contrast features. When viewed under normal light-levels, you may find the sketch as being to bright and contrasty. Do the corrections quickly, so that your memory is still fresh.

Cr – Collinder (open clusters)

• Cr 350
• Cr 399

M – Messier (all types of objects except dark nebulae)

• M 6
• M 29
• M 39
• M 40
• M 42
• M 43
• M 44
• M 63
• M 65
• M 66
• M 75
• M 78
• M 96
• M 103
• M 104
• M 105

NGC – New General Catalog of Nebulae & Clusters of Stars (all types of objects except dark nebulae)

• NGC 129
• NGC 1973
• NGC 1977
• NGC 1981
• NGC 2071
• NGC 2281
• NGC 3628
• NGC 4203
• NGC 4236
• NGC 4494
• NGC 4868
• NGC 4914
• NGC 5198
• NGC 5350
• NGC 5353
• NGC 5354
• NGC 6882
• NGC 6885
• NGC 6939
• NGC 6946
• NGC 7160
• NGC 7662

Pal – Palomar (globular clusters)

• Pal 8

Tr – Trumpler (open clusters)

• Tr 2

Upgren – Upgren (open clusters)

• Upgren 1