2015 highlights / 2016 resolutions - what are yours?

[FenlandPaul]

I thought I'd kick-off the inevitable end-of-year review and prospects for 2016. What were your top 5 astro highlights in 2015 and what are your new year astro-resolutions? For me:

2015 Highlights

-- The solar eclipse, and speaking to 100 6/7 year olds at the local school as the clouds generally obscured what was unfolding overhead (managed to get a decent peek at the late partial phase).

-- A night in May on which I hoovered up around 40 galaxies in Leo / Virgo / Coma with the dob - almost all of which were new to me. I'm genuinely excited about revisiting Markarian's Chain next year.

-- Exploring southern Scorpius and Sagittarius with the bins in really dark skies whilst on holiday in the Charentes, France.

-- Returning with my 7-year old son to some astronomy meetings at the Northampton Natural History Society, which is where I was encouraged in this wonderful pastime 23 years ago, and still seeing some familiar and welcoming faces.

-- Getting a short article on the night sky published in our local rag. I plan to make that a monthly column and encourage people to look up.

2016 resolutions

-- Getting better at planning my sessions. I spent a wonderful couple of hours today poring over catalogues, magazine articles, atlases and books drawing up a list of interesting things for the next couple of months. Taking the time to get to know my target before observing it will add a new dimension to my observing. And what a great way to spend a cloudy evening.

-- Give the moon a chance! Having recently acquired an f/9 frac, I'm determined to get to know our satellite a bit better. The views so far have been lovely. I want to stop regarding Luna as an inconvenience and menace!

-- Get back into double stars. Again, I think the f/9 will help with that a lot.

-- Watch the transit of Mercury in May.

-- Set-up a regular "Gazing on the Green" event, to share views of the night sky with others in my village who would like to take a look.

Paul

[ronin]

-- Set-up a regular "Gazing on the Green" event, to share views of the night sky with others in my village who would like to take a look.

If you set this up post it in the Astro Lounge, might manage to read it then.

If it is in the local sections they get missed too easily I find.

[pipnina]

2015 Highlights:

1. Seeing my first Lunar & solar eclipse.
2. Seeing M33 for the first time.
3. Seeing M31 for the first time.
4. Seeing the milky way for the first time.
5. Getting my first good look (and last until next year I imagine) at the veil & M31 (Saw the first dust lane out from the core & its companions))
6. Catching IC-434 and the witches head in a photograph. Also hints of the heart and soul earlier in the year.

2016 Resolutions:

1. Get a 10" dob, a UHC & Hbeta filter and some nice EPs to go with it.
2. Spy the california neb, horse head, heart/soul, north american, flame.
3. See M51 <-- Favourite galaxy and I haven't seen it yet!

2015 Pitfalls:

1. 98% of the time it's been either cloudy, terrible transparency, the moon has been out or darkness has been mostly nonexistant and at 1AM (Meaning I couldn't use it)

[Astro Imp]

Highlights 2015:-

 1) Finally splitting Izar (have tried in the past without getting a good split)

 2) Improving my star hopping skills(still a novice)

 3) Seeing a hint of the Milky Way through Cygnus from my back garden - this was a night of exceptional transparency back in September.

 4) Making progress with the Luna 100 - only 21 needed for completion but these are obviously all the tricky ones. Not sure that I will complete them all but it's fun trying.

 5) Showing my young neighbours the moon earlier in the year.

For 2016:-

 1) Make the effort and get that 10" Dob. I've been thinking about for too long.

 2) Take full advantage of the too few cloud free nights.

 3) Try to be more methodical and plan my sessions better(I promise myself this every year but it never seems to happen)

 4) Just enjoy my time with my scope(I do this anyway and intend for this to continue)

All the best to fellow SGLers for the festive season and throughout 2016.

[Size9Hex]

Great topic!

As a beginner, everything has been a highlight!

Next year, I think I'll carry on much the same, with the only resolution to get a few trips with the scope to somewhere a lot darker. Looking forwards to a proper look at Saturn in the scope too, which I only caught in binos before it disappeared behind the sun.

Happy Christmas and 2016 everyone.

[John]

Despite the past couple of months being pretty poor, the rest ot 2015 was a pretty good year for me with regards to observing and the hobby in general

I guess my highlights have been:

- At least a couple of sessions with my 12" dob where I've picked up 50+ galaxies that were new to me during one session plus a whole bunch of planetary nebulae of various shapes and sizes.

- Observing the Markarian's Chain of galaxies and seeing at least 12 galaxies in the same field of view.

- The SGL star party and eclipse observation plus some clear nights with good friends

- Observing my 1st quasar and my most distant object to date: 3C 27S in Virgo at around 2.4 billion light years away. 

- Observing stars down to 14th magnitude from my back garden - I didn't know I could go that faint !

- Discoving that I could see a nebula in another galaxy - NGC 604 in M33.

- Observing the central star in the Dumbbell Nebula and getting hints of the central star in the Ring too.

- Observing Barnards Star for the 1st time.

- Observing the brightest moons of Neptune (Triton) and Uranus (Oberon and Titania) for the 1st time. I found that I needed and could use 400x or more for this purpose.

- Joining an astro society (at last !) and discovering the joys of showing the Universe to others

Still on the "to do" list are many things but seeing the Horsehead Nebula visually is still right up there

My kit has remained pretty much the same during the past year as well, which is a bit of an achievement for me

Actually it's been good to think about the above because the plus points have far outweighed the minus ones so thanks for starting the thread Paul

[Paul73]

2015:

1/ Observing the Miky Way during the eclipse.

2/ Spotting all of the planets in one night.

3/ Completing the Messier catalogue from my back garden.

4/ SGLX

5/ Getting into Solar viewing.

2016:

1/ Recording my observations.

2/ Lots more galaxies.

3/ SGLXI

Paul

[LukeSkywatcher]

2015 highlights for me were the Solar eclipse and then the Lunar eclipse.  Thats about all i managed in 2015 apart from the Perseid meteor shower back in August..........which wasnt very good.

I really did enjoy the solar and lunar eclipse. Due to clouds i only got the last 40 mins of solar eclipse but felt its effects (drop in light and temp) from the start. lunar eclipse i experienced the whole thing pretty much.

My only new year resolution............give up smoking.

[estwing]

The weekend at Elan in April with Swampthing...M101 M51 and Galaxies hidden in Leo were unforgettable...more of the same pls!

[FenlandPaul]

Great topic!

As a beginner, everything has been a highlight!

Next year, I think I'll carry on much the same, with the only resolution to get a few trips with the scope to somewhere a lot darker. Looking forwards to a proper look at Saturn in the scope too, which I only caught in binos before it disappeared behind the sun.

Happy Christmas and 2016 everyone.

You won't be left wanting by Saturn, Paul. In 2016 it will be quite low down from the UK, but it's still a fantastic sight and bear in mind it will only get better!!

Merry Christmas

Paul

[Paul73]

My resolution.

Not to let the clouds get me down...... Or anything else for that matter!

Happy Christmas.

Paul

[spike95609]

2015 Highlights -

1) Seeing 5 of Saturn's moons at a very low angle with only a few minutes to do it in due to tree interference.

2) Picking off Messier and NGC galaxies in Virgo and getting a sense of the sheer power of my scope despite my sky limitations.

3) Watching the solar eclipse, with my scope of choice being just two pieces of card and a pinhole - talk about bang for your buck!

2016 Resolutions -

1) MARS!!!

2) Bother to check for all S&T Pocket Sky Atlas listed DSOs in a constellation as it turns out I can see more than I thought I could.

[jason.p]

It hasn't been a brilliant year. Due to health and weather most of my plans never came to much.

Highlights were.

Getting patio pier set up and aligned

Comet Lovejoy

Solar eclipse

Getting out for the first time in months at the beginning of November and visiting some old favourites.

I certainly plan to get out more in 2016. On my list at the moment

Splitting Rigel and the double double. (I persuaded myself I'd done these before. I just want to make sure!)

Getting in amongst the Virgo clusters.

Comet Catalina

Continue with my Messier quest (51 so far)

Well, that's the plan anyway! !

Merry Christmas and happy stargazing to all

Jason

[neural]

Great topic - I don't often go back through my observing notes just to reminisce. Glad it's not just me who had a big gap in the autumn!

Highlights of 2015...
Jan: first naked-eye comet (just) - and from back garden in south London! (sadly I don't remember Halley and wasn't interested enough for Hale-Bopp at the time)
Apr: M24 and the Veil in 16x70s from a rooftop in La Palma (http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/243688-a-night-in-the-canaries-with-binocs/)
Sep: first lunar eclipse since getting into astronomy
Nov: first visit to Southern Hemisphere - not a very dark site but was great to see LMC/SMC and eta Carinae
Dec: acquired my second ever scope (it was bound to happen sooner or later), a C9.25 - shortly followed by worst moment of the year when I took it out for first light, went inside for five minutes and when I came out again it was covered in rain...

Resolutions for 2016...
Use new scope! ... first job is learning to collimate it, then excited about visiting Mars/Jupiter/Saturn (so to speak)
Do some serious variable-star observing - I've done my homework and have a list of targets, but I really need to put in the hard yards and get some light curves going.
Maybe even get into lunar this year?

 Happy 2016!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I also started solar observing in 2015. Thats been another highlight (dare i say a whitelight highlight).

[mikeDnight]

Some of the highlights from this last year were:

Seeing more belts on Jupiter better through a SW ED Equinox 80 than through a Equinox 120 mounted side by side.

Buying my new Tak FC100DC and having the consistantly best views of jupiter and the moon I've ever seen.

Seeing the most detailed views of the Pleiades nebulosity and the most spectacular views of the Orion dark nebula in M42 so far, despite the small aperture of the scope.

For 2016 I'm going to take every opportunity to put my little frac through its paces. It's really surpassed my expectations so far, so the future is going to be exciting whatever happens. Detecting the horse head is something I want to try for but I need a transparent night for that. Also, to aid with dark adaption I intend to change my run off roof for a dome. If the clouds clear, I also want to observe the transit of Mercury across the sun. In 2003 Mercury's transit was first light through my FS128, now my little Tak is getting all excited in expectation. I haven't the heart to tell it that Mercury transits aren't that spectacular.

Mike

[Mark at Beaufort]

2015 Highlights

• Organising the SGLX + Public partial solar eclipse event - clear throughout also a live interview on the BBC Radio explaining the event
• Observing in Yosemite National Park, California (dark, very dark) and viewing the lower parts of Scorpio and Sagittarius
• Visiting the Lick Observatory, California and being able to chat with the astronomers
• Total Lunar Eclipse - again clear throughout
• Seeing the California Nebula for the first time
• Having my review of the Orion VX8 published in the November issue of the Sky at Night mag

2016  Resolutions

• Transit of Mercury
• To complete the Herschel 400  list - nearly there
• Viewing C/2013 US10 Catalina in my Orion VX8 rather than binoculars
• Finally hoping that SGLX1 has clear skies - hopefully seeing the Horsehead Neb again

In the meanwhile Merry Christmas everyone and hopefully clear skies in 2016

[Pig]

Comet ISON was making the headlines approximately 12 months ago and turned out not to be the comet of the century. However, it did give plenty of thrills

2015 has flown by so fast for me that I am struggling to think of anything that really stood out other than the SGL solar eclipse event organised by Mark. The last quarter of this year has not been the best in terms of weather for both solar and astro but there has still been a lot to enjoy.

The contents of my eyepiece case has completely changed throughout 2015 and as a result is full of XW's

2016's weather is probably going to continue like 2015 is ending so I wont hold my breath..... But we can keep our fingers crossed and wait and see what happens. My eyepiece case contents will not be changing again but may see a new addition if I am lucky 

[LukeSkywatcher]

2016  Resolutions

• Transit of Mercury
  

I didnt know about this. May 9th. I'll look forward to that now i have a proper solar observing setup. 

[Piero]

@Paul (in Fenland): "Gazing on the Green event". It seems a very nice idea to me . I might pop up some time in Spring when snow clothes are not required and daylight is still acceptable.  

2015 Highlights:

- spotted / viewed / observed about 200 deep sky objects with a 60mm refractor and realising that there are still many more targets to see with this little telescope;

- learning from SGL and hopefully being helpful to other members with good posts. This is a starting point rather than 1 year achievement.

2016 Resolutions:

- I still don't feel the need to plan my sessions, but I want to continue spotting and observing targets with my 60mm and, occasionally with my dobson 200mm when in Italy, as I did in 2015;

- finalising a first stable version for AstroJournal, a little application I wrote for formatting astronomy observation reports.

[DaveS]

Highlight from 2015, getting a believable Ha / [NII] / [OIII] image of the Rosette with only 8 hours data

Resolution for 2016? None, the weather is too dire to make any resolutions with any hope of fulfilling them. I *may* try another go at the Rosette with a better framing to get it all on the sensor, and I still want to complete images of M27 and NGC 281.

[Stub Mandrel]

2015: Discovering just how much it is possible to see and photograph!

2016: making more gadgets and getting some really decent pics, photographing Mars properly and now I find I need some solar film so I can photograph the transit of Mercury!