Starting an observing list

[SwiMatt]

I got back from a trip just this afternoon and the forecast gave some decent chance to put in a session so I went out and the sky delivered! First time in weeks (one night available in... February), with my balcony giving me access to the Andromeda / Cassiopeia / Perseus portion of the sky. It was also first light for my new TS-Optics diagonal!

After a quick look at Jupiter it was clear that it wouldn't be a night of high magnification... initially my main goal was to hunt down 12P/Pons-Brooks but I had a very hard time to identify any guiding stars in the region due to tons of glare.

Instead, I decided to start using "Stargazing Under Suburban Skies" properly. The book proposes a lost of 100 objects to find in light polluted skies, starting from Andromeda and proceedimg by right ascension. In fact, finding Andromeda was already a challenge (again: poor transparency making even Mu Andromedae invisible). When I found it, it showed as the typical ghost that so disappoints in these skies.

I went on to split Gamma Andromedae, which shows a beautiful color contrast with the brighter component a deep yellow and the weaker companion a grey/bluish tint. Interestingly, at first at 60x the split was not obvious, at 100x it was very neat (and close) and then back at 60x I could see ot very obviously. 

Next up, NGC 752 or C28. I was in the right region of the sky, and I did find a cluster of fine stars that looked somewhat like the picture in the book. I will need to confirm this observation on a night with better transparency! 

The clouds started moving in but I had time to hunt down the next object in the list - Achird aka Eta Cassiopeiae. For me it was the first time testing my skills on a double with such difference of magnitude (haven't done many doubles yet) and it was a thrill to see it split neatly at 60x, and looking even better in the BST at 100x.

In conclusion, this book is an absolute must for any beginner astronomer: the observing list is composed of 100 mostly classic objects (e.g. Messier, Caldwell, bright doubles), with great variety of objects. I really look forward to continuing this observing list, and maybe sketch some objects too...

Edited March 6 by SwiMatt

[Epick Crom]

Nice report @SwiMatt! 

I've always had a soft spot for NGC 752, it's a lovely and underated open cluster. 

[SwiMatt]

12 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

I've always had a soft spot for NGC 752, it's a lovely and underated open cluster. 

Maybe it's underrated because of how faint and sparse it is? It might be one of those clusters that requires really good optics (and great conditions) to appreciate - at least based on what the book said and my observation yesterday night. It didn't "pop" as much as most clusters I've seen... it definitely made me want to go back to it. Sketching it would be great!

[Zermelo]

13 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

Nice report @SwiMatt! 

I've always had a soft spot for NGC 752, it's a lovely and underated open cluster. 

It shows some very nice colour variations.

[jjohnson3803]

I should be more disciplined - I have multiple observing lists and I don't use any of them.  I was thinking the other day that I should bin them to reduce clutter.

Maybe I could ease into it by writing down three targets a night or something.