NGC457 is an open cluster is my favorite cluster in the northern hemisphere tucked away in the constellation Cassiopeia. When I got my first telescope for Christmas in 2010 I had to wait for a while until I was able to get a chance to use it. When I did I think the first couple sessions with is were to view the moon. After that I started scanning the skies not knowing a thing about how to use my telescope and what is visible. I stumbled upon this open cluster and it immediately caught my eyes. I was blown away by the fact that it had a shape and the two bright stars in the cluster looked a lot like eyes. My first thought was Johnny 5 from the movie Short Circuit, but unfortunately it got the nicknames Owl Cluster, and ET Cluster instead. Oh well, it will always be Johnny 5 to me!
 |
| NGC457 the Owl Cluster in Cassiopeia |
This sketch was done on black canson paper with a white charcoal pencil, and a kneaded eraser at the eyepiece. After bringing it inside under better lighting I did some minor touchups, and then added a bit of color with some colored pencils to try to represent what I saw through the eyepiece. The coloring was more subtle visually, but I had a hard time keeping it subtle on the paper while also being visible after taking an image of the sketch.
If you would like to see where this object is located in the sky along with a time lapse of me sketching this at the eyepiece be sure to check out the video below:
Comments