Sketching at the telescope: Stephen James O’Meara’s Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock

on Thursday, May 13, 2010

Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock (1983d) sketched by Stephen James O’Meara using a 10-inch reflector at Prospect Hill Observatory in Somerville, Massachusetts, May 7, 1983. The top sketch shows the comet at 3:50 UT, and the bottom one shows 5:30 UT. David J. Eicher library

Today’s installment from a newly found cache of astronomical drawings (which had resided in a box in my basement for the past 20 years) features a sketch by Astronomy Contributing Editor Steve O’Meara. Everyone who observed the sky in 1983 remembers the crazy large, fast-moving fuzzball Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock. Steve’s drawings capture its inner detail exceedingly well.

To learn more about astronomical sketching, Astronomy magazine subscribers can access my Astronomy.com video "Sketching from the telescope" and read Glenn Chaple's Observing Basics column "Sketching 101."

See the rest of the Sketching at the telescope series.

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Sketching at the telescope: Stephen James O’Meara’s Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock