The Caldwell Objects

Let's return to our cloud and look at it. Select one
cauliflower head or bright rim and study it
carefully. What do you see? You should see more
than you did with your first glance, perhaps
some delicate shadowing effects. You are starting
to define texture, a layer of complexity. Take your
eye away from the cloud. Relax for a moment,
then return to it anew. This time, do not look at
the cauliflower head or bright rim in its entirety,
but look hard at one tiny section within it. You
should start to see even more details — and
details within details. If someone were to ask you
now to draw that cloud, you'd have to decide
how much detail you want to show, for you
wouldn't be able to show everything you'd seen.
You'd have to be selective and try to create an
accurate, though representative, drawing of what
you'd seen after such prolonged immersion. It is
this kind of visual voyage that you want to take
through your telescope.
In this book I've striven to make the drawings
as accurate as possible, to represent what I
saw through the telescope. I did not attempt to
draw all the stars in open or globular clusters,
and some nebulae might tend to show a
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stylized flair. You see, as with the clouds mentioned
in the paragraph above, what I'm trying to
capture is the essence of what I see — not only
what my eye sees but also what my heart feels.
That too is why I like turning some clusters into
whimsical creatures. That adds a level of fun to
the observing experience. But don't worry; if it's
precision you seek, you've got the photographs of
each Caldwell object to help you out. Don't worry
if you don't see exactly what I see at the eyepiece.
No one can do that — just as I can't see exactly
what you see, even if we were to observe side by
side with identical telescopes. We're all different.
And that's what makes this hobby exciting. This
is how we share. Sit seven artists in front of a tree
and ask them to draw it, and not one rendition of
that tree will be the same. In fact, each artist
would probably buy the other artists' works,
finding them more beautiful than his or her own.
It's no different with drawing deep-sky objects.
So go out, I say, into the night with the eyes
of a child and look upon these objects with
unrestrained innocence. Put to paper not only
what you see but also what you feel. And relive
the joy of discovery.
Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects