© John Karlsson  This is a sketch using pastel chalks, white charcoal pencil and a wight gel pen on black pastel paper. I did this sketch in the cold late night of last summer. The sky's where very clear and the temperature had dropped to +2C. Cold considering it was +30 that afternoon. The pastel is brushed onto the paper and then smudged in with a blending stump.darker areas are added with a kneed able eraser. Stars are done with the gel pen as well as the white charcoal pencil.

This is a really neat nebula to see with a large instrument from a dark location using some decent equipment. I made the sketch the next day from the field sketch that I did at the eyepiece. It is very hard to work with chalk and pastels in the dark as well as a cool damp environment. So I do a good copy of the sketch the next day in a more controlled area. This is a nice alternative to inverting them in the computer. I did add the sketch info once in the computer before e-mailing it.