Observing goal for life

[planetman83]

Hello guys,

I would like to know how you pick your observing objects, do you keep a journal or something? What is your observing goal this life?

Personally, I pick my objects from several catalogs and keep  an observing journal until the number went to 2000+ objects or something....

So I now own the NGC-IC photographic catalogue. This book is insane. It has about 700+pages with the photographs of every NGC and IC object, so my goal now is to see all these objects, they are over 13.000 of them! So I scan the sky with my map and search for every NGC-IC I haven't yet seen and I note every object as seen.

 

What is your strategy? I would like to know..

[MarsG76]

I bring up "StarMapPro" iPad app and see what out there... write down my targets.. OR just use the tour feature on the GOTO hand controller.....

 

[goodricke1]

My faintest object seen is mag 13.9 so many of those IC fuzzies would be beyond my visual setup. I do like to take DSLR photos of random sections of sky and then examine afterwards to see what has shown up. I've got down to mag 13 galaxies in this way. Occasionally I seek out a specific target with the camera at the prime focus of the 8-inch. The results are not very good but I have identified stars down to mag 15.3 in this way. That's just a magnitude brighter than what Lord Rosse's 72 inch Leviathan was capable of!

[Mr niall]

Full messier list, viewed and drawn. Then Caldwell, then Lunar 100 hopefully.

Planets are in there too of course!

Also looking for a good hit list for showcase doubles - not found one yet though!

[John]

Usually I have a look at the star atlas (Interstellarium or the S&T Pocket Sky Atlas) and also at Stellarium to see what will be well placed for observing then take it from there. I don't tend to have major challenges in mind to keep the pressure off (it's my hobby after all !) but occasionally I will get a bit fixated on something and pursue that.

I was pleased to be able to glimpse the Horsehead Nebula on a few occasions this winter just gone:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/304416-barnard-33-the-horsehead-nebula-at-last/

That target had been a long term goal !

[mark81]

That NGC book sounds like something I would get if I had a big enough scope, but with an ST80, I have to be more than realistic. I use Stargazing and Skywatching by Collins, the Philips sky atlas - which is more for small scopes and of course Turn Left at Orion.

I have printed off some o the challenges from the Astroleague, mainly the binocular ones for the ST80.

[VNA]

No strategy--just enjoy observing anything and everything. Planning is not my forte, I prefer spontaneity!
With AMD iI am thankful that I can still see somewhat and fortunately my lateral or averted vision is not affected!
Should have stayed in Versailles where there is a lot less sun than California!
Although I carry one of the two genes that can cause AMD--did not choose my parents correctly!

[cloudsweeper]

Like @John, I consult Stellarium to see what's on show.  I also keep an eye on my records/log and try to visit new targets.  But I've never set myself any goals in terms of quantities/classes of objects - it's meant to be pleasure, after all, and there is never a shortage of things to enjoy.

Doug.

[Stargazer McCabe]

5 hours ago, Mr niall said:

Also looking for a good hit list for showcase doubles - not found one yet though!

The Sissy Haas Book is a great resource. 

But I’ve also pulled a list together in SkySafari. If you use the App and want the list attached as a text file as a SkySafari list pm me an email and I will send it over

12) double star showpieces.txt

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I do keep a log, and have gone through the Messier list (but revisit them often), I have just a few southern Caldwell's left, and still need to do quite a few Herschel 400 objects. I have also started to make notes of Herschel 2500 objects, and am quite a way through the brightest 100 planetary nebulae list (most of the ones visible from the northern hemisphere). I also go through the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalogue of Bright Galaxies. I aim to get a big dob one day, to hoover up many more of those.

[RobertI]

My main resources are Skysafari, the observing lists are superb, and Interstellarum, which indicates which objects are best for 4", 8" and 12" scopes, plus which filters are best. 

I always carefully choose and research the objects I am going to view for an EAA session, and my main goal is to share what I have viewed with others here on SGL and log in my on-line scapbook (see sig).  

However my visual sessions are a bit random and I find I tend to just end up looking at the old favourites. I am going to try and be more structured about my visual observation in future though; I plan to 'do' the lunar 100 when the moon is around and observe more of the less well known clusters, doubles and nebulae when the moon is absent, perhaps doing a constellation at a time. To help with the deep sky I have just bought a lightweight go to mount with starsense, which I am hoping might improve my sessions.

[Paz]

I do write down all my sessions but so don't keep a tally of how many objects I have seen from any lists.

My aims vary widely, but fundamentally I'm interested in what I'm looking at and the science of it more than I'm interested in aesthetic views.

In the end I didn't make it out tonight but my hit list was just to spot V1357 Cygni which is a nondescript star in terms of the view but it is also the star associated with the black hole Cygnus X1 which makes it interesting.

Reading up on the science of targets before and after seeing them is a something I enjoy doing.

[DHEB]

Variable stars! These stars are fun to observe and follow their variations. It also contributes to science. I make computerized lists of variable stars that I follow before every session.

Also DSO in general, particularly clusters.

Yes, I keep a logbook. I believe it is very important. A logbook can be extremely simple or very detailed as one wants. It will in all likelihood come handy in the future to recall what you observed, when, with what equipment, with whom, problems, joys, etc.

[DeepSkyBagger]

My current LOP (Lifetime Observing Programme) contains 3,885 deep-sky objects drawn from various sources (the list grows organically). I have written records of observations of 1,381 of them, 95% of which I have also sketched. 

I always make a sketch of any DSO I see for the first time. For a couple of years, I simply wrote descriptions of Open Clusters, because they're a pain to draw.

Each sketch goes onto an individual observation sheet and then into one of several ring binders.

I don't generally plan a single session, if it's clear I just scroll my list to the appropriate RA and start working through it.

In addition I keep a journal of my observations, over several volumes now, amounting to 150,000 words. 

I've been keeping records since 1975, but I didn't make observations every year. Sometimes life gets in the way.

For a couple of years, when I didn't really have access to a telescope, so only had binoculars, I made variable star estimates. From that period (late 80s/early 90s) I have 1,230 variable star estimates.

[Paul73]

I wish that I had the discipline to record observations every session. But, I don’t. 

The Messier list was fun.

Does Sky Safari Pro have a facility to ‘Click & Record’ for the objects spotted.?

I need to get cracking on the Hearchel 400. Although the brighter Arp targets have been good for the larger scope.

Paul

 

[paulastro]

My life goal in astronomy is to see the next return of Halley's Comet - I was born in 1955

[Mark at Beaufort]

I had a life time ambition to see Omega Centauri and recently visited the United States with a pair of 12x70 binos in the hope of seeing it. What I did not expect was to be a guest of the Tri Valley Astronomers who gave me access to their 17.5 inch Newtonian on top of a mountain. So to view this GC with a 13mm Nagler using this Newt just blew me away. You cannot believe how large and bright this GC is in a large scope.

Trouble is I now want to see other southern hemisphere objects but I won't have a large Newt to view them.

[S.A.M]

Every time I go out viewing I keep an astronomy log of what I have viewed, sometimes I just view the brighter objects on display.  A few years ago I decided to complete all 110 objects in the Messier list, after that wondered what I could do?  Found a book about the Herschel 400, it took nearly five years to complete that list and now going thru the Caldwell list, some are covered in the 400 list and have about five to do from UK shores?  Was lucky recently to be in Barbados and ticked a few more Caldwell's off the list, probably will not get all of them unless I live south for a few years?

Peter

 

[Ags]

I seem to like revisiting old favorites and show very little sign of aspiring to smaller/fainter targets. I try to sustain a high level of incompetence so that even finding the Pleiades feels like a real achievement! Also I only see a couple of hours (angle) of sky from my home location, and it takes a year for everything to rotate back into view, so by then I have forgotten everything I learnt the previous year. ?

[Rob]

On 17/07/2018 at 18:23, paulastro said:

My life goal in astronomy is to see the next return of Halley's Comet - I was born in 1955

Wow.. lol. 2061!.. I dont recall it in 1985 when I was starting my Astro journey. Loved Hale bopp. That was something

[Ags]

Halley 1985 remains the only comet I have seen.

[Rob]

Agnes Just Google Hale Bopp.. it was stunning!

[Rob]

My life time goal is to soak up as much photons as i can, from as many targets as I can.

Its crazy when I think now of just how may night sky targets Ive seen, but also events. 2 x near full solar eclipse's, 5/6 Luna eclipse's. Jovian moon transits, Jovian moon occultations, Venus solar transit, Mercury Solar transit, Luna Jupiter occultation, Luna Saturn occultation, Hale Bopp, meteors, Fireball Meteor.... it goes on!

 

[Alan White]

I have no list and never will do.
I just enjoy what I get to look at.
No pressure, no failures or self induced issues.
Just plain simple observing pleasure ?

 

[scarp15]

A general goal at present is to actually start to get out again to dark sky sessions, too many other foreseeable circumstances currently, so patience is needed. I gain fresh ideas and incentives from here or CN forum. Scrutinise Interstellarum and use as a reference Reiner Vogel, The Sharpless Observing guide; pdf file. Observing habit is quite random, I like to research prior to an intended session what to observe, yet do not dedicate following specific catalogues. My main goal / quest this season is to explore new remote places to venture into and measure the sky brightness with my SQM-L device.