Skip to content
Vatican Observatory
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
    • FAQ
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Tours
    • Castel Gandolfo
    • U.S.
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
      • FAQs
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
  • Shop
  • Calendar
    • View our Event Calendar
  • Donate
    • Donate Now
    • Smart Ways to Give
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
    • VO in the News
    • Press Kit
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
    • FAQ
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Tours
    • Castel Gandolfo
    • U.S.
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
      • FAQs
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
  • Shop
  • Calendar
    • View our Event Calendar
  • Donate
    • Donate Now
    • Smart Ways to Give
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
    • VO in the News
    • Press Kit
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact

Naked Eye Orion Sketch from Ireland

By Deirdre Kelleghan  |  19 Mar 2021

Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

Orion a naked eye sketch - by Deirdre Kelleghan

Naked Eye Orion – a sketch by Deirdre Kelleghan Pastel and Gel Pen on Black Card A4

West of Ireland Sky – first published March 2017

Recently I have spent some time in the west of Ireland. It’s been stormy, with icy rain and sideways  hailstones battering the landscape. The winds have been epic in this wild place where the ancient potato drills shout evidence of our ancestor’s ribs bursting the Earth. Still hungry after all these years. Most evenings, I have stepped outside to look up at the night sky while listening to the Atlantic roar its salty roar at stars too far away to hear.

Occasionally the clarity of the sky has been impressive but short-lived. However, on the evening of March 23rd, on opening the door, I was met with what I can only describe as a crisis sky. Every familiar constellation was buried in the galaxy. It is sometimes said that there are more stars in the night sky than grains of sand on all the worlds beaches. That sky was the epiphany of that statement.

Milky Way

I sat on a stool to try to absorb the visual data before me. My eyes adapted to the complexity of my observation. I realised that to capture this or even part of it on paper required a total rethink of method and approach. Suburban drawings were a lot simpler. This was total readmission to the sky at night.
The Milky Way offered an amalgam of innumerable dots. Layers of varying density, colour, nebulosity and even dark fissures among its clumpy twisting display. Before me was a unique opportunity to attempt a drawing. Orion was my choice because Betelgeuse was glowing with colour. M42 was shapely even to the eye. Orion’s hunting bow was the clearest I have ever seen it.

There was so much to notice that had not come to my attention before. It is a magnificent constellation, a dramatic pattern of mature stars, young stars and baby stars. Betelgeuse is nearing the end of its star life, which, when that eventually happens, will be a spectacular supernova. That would be the ultimate Orion drawing; however, nobody knows when this might occur. Some scientists’ jobs involve watching this star very closely to possibly predict its exact demise.

Stellar Nursery

To look at M42 in a telescope is splendid, but to sit and look at it by eye, knowing that it is a stellar nursery, is remarkable. From our eye view on Earth, we can look at this massive molecular cloud and ponder its decisive action. There being nothing but our atmosphere and 1,344 Light Years between us. Within its immense gaseous bowl, energy we can barely imagine works toward creating new future suns. Baby stars that might one day be hosts to families of orbiting planets, a continuum of energy, more opportunities for life to take hold. My drawing is far from perfect, but I am glad I left my telescope aside to just lookup. Pleased that I tried to capture what my eyes witnessed in a place almost free from anthropogenic light pollution in the wild west of Ireland.

Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

Sacred Space Astronomy

The Vatican Observatory’s official digital community and online magazine.

Become a Member

Recent Posts

Corkscrew Prom

By Deirdre Kelleghan  |  21 May 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

From the Vatican Observatory Faith and Science pages (Younger Readers) — Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas

By Faith and Science  |  21 May 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Nuns Helped Map Close To Half A Million Stars In The Early 20th Century After The Vatican Recruited Them

Chip Chick  |  20 May 2025  |  Press

Visit of Br. Guy Consolmagno S.J.

Pluscarden Abbey  |  19 May 2025  |  Press

Archives

      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • August
      • June
      • March
      • January
      • November
      • October
      • December
      • November
      • April
      • May
      • January
      • December
      • September
      • May
      • March
      • December
      • November
      • February

More Posts by
Deirdre Kelleghan

Corkscrew Prom

By Deirdre Kelleghan  |  21 May 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Crescent Moon and the Pleiades meet up

By Deirdre Kelleghan  |  7 Apr 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Earth Focus

By Deirdre Kelleghan  |  16 Feb 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Islands on a sea of gas

By Deirdre Kelleghan  |  8 Feb 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Orion Nebulae all over the classrooms

By Deirdre Kelleghan  |  27 Nov 2024  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Last Naked Eye View of C/2023 A3(Tsuchinshan ATLAS)

By Deirdre Kelleghan  |  8 Nov 2024  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

View More

Newsletter

Upcoming astronomical events, scientific breakthroughs, philosophical reflections… just a few reasons to subscribe to our newsletter!

Vatican Observatory
  • About
  • Telescopes
  • Tours
  • Latest
  • Podcast
  • Education
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Donate
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
Privacy Policy  |   Cookie Policy  |   Disclosure Statement  |   This website is supported by the Vatican Observatory Foundation

Podcast:

  • Apple Podcasts Listen onApple Podcasts
  • Spotify Listen onSpotify
  • Google Podcasts Listen onGoogle Podcasts
  • Stitcher Listen onStitcher
  • Amazon Alexa Listen onAmazon Alexa
  • TuneIn Listen onTuneIn
Made by Longbeard