Astronomical Drawing presentations

Video by Bill Basham

My presentation, Astronomical Drawing, was given to the Eugene Astronomical Society on February 19, 2015. I gave the same talk to the Rose City Astronomers of Portland, Oregon exactly one month earlier. The presentation is about

my increasing interest in making high resolution astronomical drawings of selected objects the past few years. This sparked an ongoing investigation into the drawings made by professional astronomers before the advent of astrophotography, both for their motivations and the methods they used to create their drawings. I wondered why many drawings of the same object looked so different from each other, not to mention compared to what we see and draw today.

This brought up fascinating discussions about subjectivity, biases and the reliability of human vision pushed to its limits, which apply not just to drawing at the eyepiece but to the entire experience of visual observing. My presentation highlights these topics, and suggests a broader perspective toward observing that's informed by historical and personal experiences that may be helpful anytime you face the question "did I really see that?"

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The "NightSky45_DrawingintheDark" PDF file posted below is a similar presentation but is more about the process of drawing an astronomical object. I gave this presentation to the Night Sky 45 Salem Oregon club in June 2018.