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Hi all, I am a graphic designer recently laid off due to the virus. Because of this unfortunate event, I am now working on my portfolio that I kind of neglected in recent years. But, to make the work fun as well as useful, I thought I would do something related to astronomy. I have decided to create a set of 12 info graphics (that can be used as a wallpaper), displaying the brightest and most easily observable deep sky objects (three for each season for now). I want the images to be most useful for kids interested in astronomy and possibly beginner astrophotographers who are just starting out in the hobby and looking for easy targets. I plan to cover the Northern Hemisphere as I live there, but I am open to adding Southern targets in the future. I am drawing each season with a different background art and color scheme to make them pop while keeping a consistent layout. I have created two prototypes that you can find here: Fall - Andromeda Winter - Pleiades As for the targets, because I aim for helping kids and beginners, I would like to include mostly bright, easily detectable (with the naked eye or a small telescope) objects that are also above 30 degrees altitude (measured from an average 45 degree North latitude). My criteria for picking targets is the following: - High brightness so it might be visible with the naked eye - High altitude so it is easier to spot and photograph - Has interesting features that make it a good target to view or photograph Based on the above criteria, I have chosen the following targets (I am also thinking of including the milky way as a bonus in the summer, which was suggested by the folks over at CloudyNights): Fall: - M31 - Andromeda Galaxy - M33 - Triangulum Galaxy - Double Cluster in Perseus Winter: - M42 - Orion Nebula - M45 - Pleiades - M1 - Crab Nebula (haven't decided yet; maybe too faint) Spring: - M81 - Bode's Galaxy - M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy - M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy (haven't decided yet; maybe too faint) Summer: - M13 - Hercules Globular Cluster - M16 - Eagle Nebula - North America Nebula or Swan Nebula (haven't decided yet) This list, however, is by no means final! And that is actually why I am here. If you have any suggestions for better targets (or for the project as a whole), please let me know! I welcome any suggestion, comment, or constructive criticism.  Thanks for reading it! |
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Hi Gergely, sorry to hear you were laid off...  The links don't work, can you double-check? |
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Szia Gergely, I wouldn't say M51 is a faint objects, it's good for beginners. M81 without M82 is not so exciting, they aren't too large or bright on their own. Maybe with a not so beginner telescope it would make sense, otherwise not really. M16 and the swan nebula are both almost southern hemisphere objects, so from a sky with light pollution they are not ideal objects. |
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@Salvatore, I have uploaded them to Flickr. Hopefully they work now. @Adrien, thank you for the input. I really rely on people with more experience then I, and you definitely seem like one. |
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With the help of the guys and gals over at Cloudy nights, I think I may have a list that I make peace with (the columns in order are: designation, name, apparent magnitude, apparent size, peak altitude, peak month, type, is naked eye visible, and notes): Fall: Messier 31 Andromeda Galaxy 3.4 190' × 60' 86° Oct Barred spiral galaxy yes Caldwell 14 Double Cluster in Perseus 3.7 / 3.8 60' 78° Nov Open star clusters yes Messier 33 Triangulum Galaxy 5.7 71' × 42' 76° Oct Spiral galaxy yes Winter: Messier 42 Orion Nebula 4.0 65' × 60' 40° Dec Diffuse nebula yes Messier 45 Pleiades 1.6 110' 69°. Dec Open star cluster yes Barnard 33 Horsehead Nebula 7.3 8' × 6' 43° Dec Dark nebula no (Magnitude is for IC 434 behind it.) Spring: Messier 81 Bode's Galaxy 6.9 27' × 14' 66° Mar Grand design spiral galaxy no Messier 101 Pinwheel Galaxy 7.8 29′ × 27′ 81° May Spiral galaxy no Messier 51 Whirlpool Galaxy 8.4 1′ × 7′ 88° Apr Grand design spiral galaxy no Summer: Beta Cygni Albireo 3.1 / 5.1 N/A 80° Aug Double star system no Messier 13 Hercules Globular Cluster 5.8 20′ 81° Jun Globular cluster yes Messier 16 Eagle Nebula 6.9 6' 31° Jul Open cluster no N/A Milky Way Bonus |
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I am done with the first version. Go and take a look if you have a few minutes to spare: https://www.behance.net/gallery/97147971/Celestial-Objects I hope some will find it useful. |
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I would choose the brightest objects in each season, which can be seen even with naked eyes or with a small binocular, so it can be a target really for everyone. From that perspective Fall ok, Winter ok, Spring ok, however they are rather for small telescopes Summer could be North America Nebula, Lagoon/Eagle Nebula, Summer Triangle, Milky Way, Btw it is a nice initiative If you are in HU, you can contact our local facebook group macsnet.hu, I'm sure they will be glad to know about Br, Péter |
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Szia Gergely, The slides look very appealing to me. One can see that you are a professional designer. What about making a short movie with slide effects? Kids may like that :-) Cheers Robert |
