What is the best way to catalogue observations

[napaman]

Hi all. 

Firstly thank you to all contributors. I have found this forum a very useful resource over the last 12 or so months. 

The excellent advice has led to me accelerating my observing and finding objects easily. I also Live in South Africa and am very spoilt with choice. 

The problem is I am unsure on the best way to catalogue my observations so that I dont hunt them again. The common messier object etc are easy to catalogue but when it comes to the NGC it becomes difficult. 

Any advice will appreciated. 

 

 

 

[Tzitzis]

Well I'm not the one to speak as I haven't observed in ages and I haven't even started a list. But in my opinion, after completing messiers you could start other catalogues. One other way is to start with constellaitons and track all DSO' in each one of them. It sure is compelling and challenging. I would go down with constellations after Messier and Caldwell catalogue. Then I would start the double stars. 

Something for the end. Why not hunt down an object you've already seen? You are going to have favorite targets for sure, and you will want to revisit them mate. It's a huge universe and many objects may excite you.

Cheers from Greece

[Davesellars]

Look up the Herschel 400 list if you want a slightly more structured way to observe NGC - it's a good place to start.

Once observed write the observation in an Excel sheet for example.  This way it's easy to organise observations and what you have remaining on the list.

[Sirius Starwatcher]

Hi Napaman. This works for me. Red arrow waiting to be viewed. Green arrow = happy and seen

[ronin]

NGC list is going to be fairly big.

You are going to have to sub divide them someway. Either by number (bit too simple), possibly by type (Gal, PN, Gl Cl, Op Cl), Suppose "easy" is by magnitude, then start on the bright ones and work down.

Not aware of anything like an Excel spread sheet of NGC objects that are around and so that you can sort by whatever criteria.

If you want another "Messier" list start on the Caldwell Catalogue, I have seen others around also - could try Arp's catalogue of peculiar galaxies.

The Astronomy League has several observing programs, worth checking out. Also may want a serach through: Skymap Obs Lists

 

[MattJenko]

I would make hand written notes during the session itself, as sessions often deviate from any pre-planned list of objects. During the light of day, you could transpose that into something like AstroPlanner which will then have the record of what you have observed which will be stored in a form which is searchable and listable for planning future observations.

[Putaendo Patrick]

There are several computer programs available for logging your observations, and they certainly make it much easier to track what you have seen and when. Among them are:

Astroplanner, free for basic and fee to upload more databases: http://www.ilangainc.com/astroplanner/download.shtml

AstroByte, free: http://astrobyte.software.informer.com/

TSOL, The Simple Observing Log, free: http://www.davidpaulgreen.com/tsol.html

The C2A planetarium software program also includes a logging facility: http://www.astrosurf.com/c2a/english/

Hope one of these may suit your needs!

[rockystar]

I've found this to be a very good paper based logging resource: http://www.astronomylogs.com/pages/logbooks.html

 

[billyharris72]

I'm definitely a fan of the hand written note approach. I'll usually make a target list before I go out but often deviate. I keep my actual obseravtions in a notebook, where I record (roughly) as follows.

• Date, location.
• Seeing and Light pollution (Antoniadi and Bortle Scale now, previously just a verbal note) plus any other notes (e.g. patchy cloud).
• Instrument used.
• Object and approx time, plus any descriptive notes, notes on finding it (star hopping) if relevant and anything else of interest. Eyepieces used and which was best. Whether I took any images or made any sketches.

Then when I get back I log the observation and notes in the same way using Evernote, but expanding on the object information (Name, constellation, magnitude, distance, age etc, plus anything interesting from books or online research). I also paste in any images (reduced in size) and scans of any sketches so I have a complete record of the session. I also tag the sessions with each object observed.

As for not going back and viewing stuff multiple times (though many things are worth doing just this), you could work through a catalogue checklist. Another option (which I feel is a bit more satisfying) is to work through them on a constallation by constellation basis. No reason why you could not organise by both, of course.

Billy.

[joncrawf]

16 hours ago, billyharris72 said:

Then when I get back I log the observation and notes in the same way using Evernote, but expanding on the object information (Name, constellation, magnitude, distance, age etc, plus anything interesting from books or online research). I also paste in any images (reduced in size) and scans of any sketches so I have a complete record of the session. I also tag the sessions with each object observed.

 

I've considered using evernote for this. But i haven't found a way of creating a template so that obs notes can have a repeatable structure in place before I fill in the gaps. Any idea how this can be done? EN's a really superb piece of software which I use for nearly everything. 

[spike95609]

I got a notebook and my copy of Sky and Telescope, and worked through each constellation in alphabetical order, writing out all the Messiers and NGCs contained within each, subdivided into clusters, nebulae, galaxies, notable doubles, etc. It didn't take quite as long as it sounds, and the result is an easy way of checking what I've seen and what I haven't - I leave enough space to write 10", 15x70 or 10x42 next to each entry so that I know what I've seen them with. By starting at the highest ascension/declination box of the constellation and then scrolling downwards left to right you can thoroughly check you've recorded everything and assemble them in a sort of logical order.

[RobertI]

I use Sky Safari on iPad for managing my observations. I maintain an observing list of objects I have seen - when I activate the list all the objects are highligted in the sky. This is useful as I decide what I want to observe next session by scanning round the area of sky I am interested in in Sky Safari, and can easily see the objects I have already observed as they are highlighted. You can also mark objects as 'observed' in the lists.

Sky Safari has observing lists for just about any catalogue you could wish for. I haven't tried any other planning tools but it sounds like there are some great ones out there.

 

[N3ptune]

On 2016-07-22 at 10:55, billyharris72 said:

 Another option (which I feel is a bit more satisfying) is to work through them on a constallation by constellation basis.

I do that too (: