What did you see 2022 and what are your plans for 2023?

[josefk]

In the bird spotting world we keep lists for everything - life lists but also county lists, country lists, and crucially yearly lists. I appreciate astronomy is a bit more of a long game but after consolidating birding lists for 2022 over the holiday period I took a look at my astro observations in a similar way and i wondered if it would be fun to start a post along these lines?  I always enjoy what everyone posts in the “what did you see tonight?” forum.

In 2022 I enjoyed:

• 49 nights (or mornings) of observing activity (counting these triggered by another thread today on clear nights)
• 306 unique objects observed
• ~100 sketches
• ~500 observations in sum (it’s a bit subjective how i count this)

Top five 2022 highlights:

1. The parade of five planets in a single sweep of the bins on the 25th June and again 28th June. Just awesome in the quiet early morning on the 25th and i had the pleasure of sharing them again with an old gent biker on the Bilbao ferry the morning of the 28th (he was on deck at 04:00 having a smoke - even though he was in his sixties he had never knowingly seen the planets before and sharing the bins view with him seamed to make quite a deep impression. His ‘wow” reaction at Jupiter in particular made a big impression on me).
2. Orion region through more aperture and using more elaborate kit than i’ve had use of before so really getting repeatedly knocked off my observing stool by the endless detail available in this dramatic area.
3. Jupiter in dawn blue light early August. For a tiny fraction of a second (out of a total of 45 minutes) it looked like a slice of pristine marble worktop. A Europa shadow transit was a bonus.
4. The Lunar/Mars occultation - i enjoyed this immensely (far more than i expected). Solar system clockwork indeed.
5. Getting the habit of picking out super tiny nearly stellar PNe at inappropriately low magnification. This "sport" tickles me no end. More fun than doubles (possibly)!

2023 plans:

• Sketch 90% of my observations (not including open clusters)
• Finish the Astro League double star programme (almost certain)
• Finish the Astro League PNe programme (probable)
• Get to 50% of the Herschel 400 list (hopeful)

Anyway please share your own turn of the year reflections here if you wish.

Happy New Year all.

Joe

[jjohnson3803]

2022:

• 2022 was spent trying out different combinations of scopes / mounts / tripods and a small amount of cellphone astrophotography. 
• I did get a fair number of open cluster and lunar observations in - too much light pollution here for most faint fuzzies. 
• Caught a huge fireball while camping at a dark site 300 miles from home.
• I did not make it out to either of my club's dark sites at all.
• Caught the recent lunar eclipse but the Mars occultation was clouded out.

2023:

• My new 72mm ED refractor has been sitting almost completely idle since I got it in early December due to garbage weather.  I want to get that thing fired up and see what it can do on the moon and some double stars.
• I'm still pondering selling my ST120 and my 102ED - maybe this year.
• I want to get out to my club dark sites at least once a quarter and go camping with a scope at least 4 times over the season.
• I want to start observing two or three long term variables regularly like R Leo and Chi Cyg and maybe start a double star program.

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by jjohnson3803

[SuburbanMak]

2022: 

• 51 Sessions noted in total with around a dozen at my darker spots. Tailed off in the second half of the year. (Lots of additional solar and quick peeks not recorded). 
• Added 20 to the Messier tally with some (for me) tough multi-night hunting for a few, notably M76 The Little Dumbell, M33 and the UM galaxies (of which M109 and M102 still elude!).  
• Did quite well at using all my various 'scopes, still mastering the art of the 10" Dob and often motivation fails and I take out the Mak 127 instead. 

Standout sessions: 

• Stunning Binocular session on holiday in Cornwall at a good Bortle 3 - M33 which had been so hard to track down just popped and the Milky Way was superb!. 
• A cracking summer night on the South Downs sticks out - saw M6 & M7 plus thrilled by M104, The Sombrero Galaxy along with a crop of the summer Messier's. 
• 2 fabulous nights on Orion & other doubles in perfect seeing early in the year with Mak 127 & Towa 339 80mm f15. 
• The Dob on the Globs. 
• Mars, generally. 

2023: 

• Finish the Messiers - 15 to go & a mixture of very seasonal and very dim objects left (Galaxies M77, M74, M83, M109, M102, M88 & M91 presenting the biggest challenges bar being in the right place on the right night!). 
• Explore the next tier of NGC objects - especially seek out new clusters and brighter nebulae. 
• Documenting what can be seen through my lovely old Clarkson 3" F15 - this deserves a sketched record in keeping with its Edwardian vibe!
• Take better notes, looking back to write this reminds me how lazy I've become in this regard. 
• Write more observing reports on SGL rather than just a quick note on "What Did You See Tonight?"
• Equipment plans: Upgrade ST80 to DS Pro ED 72 and mount alongside Mak 127 on a new AZGTiX.  Buy a pair of IS Binos. 

Happy New Year and Clear Skies all! 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by SuburbanMak

[josefk]

That sounds great @SuburbanMak - the dark sky stuff especially. I have north Norfolk about 90 mins away and i *i think* this would get me to Bortle 3 (or at least rural rather than semi rural) but i haven't made the effort yet with anything other than binoculars; i will this year.

Per the tricky Messier I have a shortlist on sky safari pro of things with a "difficult" reputation (not only Messier objects) or targets i have already myself found difficult and failed to see at least once. I attempt a few on this list first on the darkest nights but only a few - one slight frustration is it it can become a series of failed observations even on the darkest nights so i don't flog it to death. I finally bagged M74 from this "dark nights" list in December but I found it very difficult from the spot i was at. 

Cheers