4", 67x: I have mixed feelings about this drawing. I drew the skeleton of the starfield into the sketch at home because the Vela set not much after the Sun so I didn't have much time for this and I had to draw quickly. Plus the Pencil Nebula was not my most desirable target. And I knew it was faint but I was hoping I would see it. Under the sky in Namibia I found the field and started to draw the stars. There were no signs of the nebula but this is natural. Then I finished the stars and stared at the deep black background for half an hour. But the nebula didn't show up. Then I gave it up and went to the 16" Dobsonian.

16", 75x: Suddenly there got to be 3x as many stars in the field and the nebula is smiling at me. It is relatively bright but doesn't show much structure. Its northern part is brighter and the southern part splits into two. Its SW side is diffuse. A few days earlier we took a look at it with the 24" Dobsonian and probably an OIII filter. It was very bright in the great Dobsonian. We could easily see the veil right of the "Pencil". And the whole nebula showed filamentary structres.

This drawing was made using two telescopes. And I drew some stars into the sketch from Guide before and after drawing under the sky.

Comparison with the photograph

The photo on the left, courtesy of Gábor Tóth was made using a 10" Newtonian astrograph at the Isabis Farm in Namibia. The original image has been rotated to get closer to the orientation of my drawing.

The visual impression of the nebula in the 16" telescope lags behind the photograph. Neither the filamentary structure nor the fainter veils were visible (the drawing was made without a filter). The look in the 24" telescope resembled the photo much more. But the colors were of course missing there as well.