World renowned Howard Banich on Sketching at the Eyepiece.

Since 2008 I've become increasingly interested in making high resolution astronomical drawings of selected objects in order to capture every possible detail. This process 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. 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 will suggest 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?