Notes - how do you take yours?

[ashenlight]

I have such a wonderful mental image of Carol, watching something at the eyepiece, talking in 'nature documentary' fashion into her recorder. Wonderful

That is a good idea Carol, I did think about logging observations by constellation (inspiration from Mick's recent object by constellation guide sticky thread)... perhaps this may be a better way to prepare for the inevitable search for objects that I'm sure will happen in the future.

Interesting. I've been taught alot today

[Talitha]

I'm getting to that stage Carol. I'm considering an index of some sort. A pain to do it but once done will be easy to update.

Ok if i air mail you my logs?

[Doc]

Ok if i air mail you my logs?

Point taken

[jgs001]

I take rough notes, less documentary about the specifics, ep, FOV, magnification, seeing etc. More about what I've seen and impressions. Then I type them up on my Blog. I've not noted down how many satellites I've seen specifically, but I did image 14 in one night last summer, all at 55mm... It was sort of a test of my SatCatcher.

[hal2000]

I make notes in a small notebook as the night progresses, before transferring into my logbook. I write mine as a diary, not only noting what I've seen and equipment used, but who else was there, memorable events or observations etc. I let my mate read the last completed logbook a while back, and he spent most of the time saying "Oh yes, I remember that" and "God, I'd forgotten about that" etc etc. It brought it all back nicely for him. I also keep a seperate, more detailed, logbook for my double star observations.

[knightware2]

Searching and sorting is the driving reason to put your observations into some electronic form. The main drawback of course is typing all that stuff into a program of some sort. A side benefit of using logging software is that it guides you to record important things in an observation.

There is a standard for exchanging observing logs that is gaining momentum. It is called OpenAstronomyLog (OAL.) The hope is that astronomy software developers will support it so that you can log observations and not be locked into a single program's log format. Deep-Sky Planner will support this standard and there are some indications that AstroPlanner will too. Others are supporting or working on it as well.

By the way, I use a voice recorder at the scope too. Paper has a way of blowing and getting damp - the voice recorder can hang from the scope or go in my pocket. Notes are transcribed to a more permanent form the next day. I've been logging this way for years!

Phyllis Lang

Author, Deep-Sky Planner

[ashenlight]

Phyllis (and others) the tape recorder way of doing things is really starting to appeal to me. I really enjoy taking notes, but having to pick up the paper and pen so many times in a session can get a bit tiresome after a while. I think I'll look into thevoice recorder. Although I may get more funny looks off my neighbours come the morning.

[Vega]

Im in a bit of a quandry with observing note taking. I would love to have a comprehesive record of what I observe over the months/years but I struggle to have an enjoyable observing session when trying to take down notes. (Its bad enough tripping over cables, stools and thumbling around for eyepeices and caps LOL.. all part of the fun tho). Anyways as a compramise I try to keep a mental note of my session when I update my website but Im sure I miss things out (because of the sometimes irratic nature of my observing).

Maybe one day I will get in to it. I like Talithia's dictaphone method, but I hate the sound of my own voice and the neighbours already think im a nutcase without me mumbling constantly to myself..... hang on ... I do that anyway! lol

Matt

[ashenlight]

I swear at my telescope :/ quietly, of course.

[kev 102 42]

I swear at my telescope :/ quietly, of course.

I get a bad case of Tourettes syndrome every time im out ,i also threaten my scope with a hammer ,....nut case kev:D

[Vega]

Yes.. i've exchanged the odd expletive or two with my kit. All is usually forgiven by then end of the observing session tho (me and my kit have a strong relationship ).

The worst swearing time for me is when I accidently knock the power cable on the tracking mount after spending an hour centering and focusing the DSLR on my target...

Or when I try to record a toucam movie of the ISS through the 250px dob... I swear constantly throughout the whole process here! lol (Its bordering on chain-swearing). lol

Matt

[Psychobilly]

Tape is so old hat...

voice recorders digital, Consumer Electronics, Business, Office Industrial, Jewellery Watches items at low prices on eBay.co.uk

Peter....

[ashenlight]

nice one Peter

[Psychobilly]

560 hours should be enough for anyone

I'm wondering if you could transcribe it automatically using speech recognition... hmmm

Peter...

[albedo0.39]

Good thread and some great ideas in response.

Up to now, I just remember everything I do whilst at the scope

Sounds easy but in fact, I'm sure I'm forgetting loads of the essential elements of the OR along the way. I'm still getting back into the hobby after many many years away so whilst I love the idea of all that "self discipline" I'm not sure I'm fully practised.

If I make written notes at all, it would also include something to remind me how I felt when I saw the object - after all, the plain detail would not make for much interesting reading in 100years time, but perhaps if it had a few personal comments, then It might make more in Antuiques Roadshow 2109

[i do however like the idea of a voice to text device which self loads onto a twitter / blog / push-to-HTML system using VOIP. ]

[James]

I always mean to take notes but never quite get round to it . I can usually remember the sights I have although a few times I've seen something special but forgotten to note down what it was...

I use Astroplanner with my setup and the Mac version has voice control so there's been some bemused questions from Kate: "Who were you in the back garden with last night?" and so on.

I get a bad case of.....

Kev - despite having Tourettes, I and most similarly afflicted don't go around swearing all the time

[ashenlight]

I use Astroplanner with my setup and the Mac version has voice control so there's been some bemused questions from Kate: "Who were you in the back garden with last night?" and so on.

I get something similar off my family, they think I am actually talking to someone, when in fact I am talking to my scope. I say this in such a matter-of-fact way, it makes them worry about my sanity Add to this my Mum noticing me giving the scope a pat as I walked past it yesterday I am now known as the 'nutty professor'

James - btw - did the Baader LPRF filter arrive OK?

[kev 102 42]

Kev - despite having Tourettes, I and most similarly afflicted don't go around swearing all the time

Sorry James, should have put im a fowl mouthed beeping beeper when somthing don't go my way:icon_salut:......kev

[Talitha]

Everyone hates the sound of their own voice, but you get used to it. One thing for sure, it makes you appreciate being yourself, and not someone else who has to listen to you.

One of the best things about the recorder is the voice activation feature.. you speak and it records, no button pushing in the dark. But it sometimes picks up things you don't intend it to, like what happened during the Leonids a number of years ago. Watching the Leonids is a long vigil done in pretty cold weather where i live, so observers traditionally lay inside of a sleeping bag on a lounge chair. After settling down and watching the meteor shower for about an hour, the battery light went dim on the recorder and i needed to go inside to change them.

That being done, i turned it back on before going outside, just in case there was something sailing overhead as i walked out the door. It's usually not a difficult operation laying down on a lounge chair, but things get a bit complicated when you need to settle yourself on a sleeping bag and then reach down and grab the zipper pull at your feet and zip yourself back in. What happened next was classic.. and definitely comic enough to have been in a Marx Brothers movie. The lounge chair folded up around me like a taco shell not once, not twice, but three times within a few minutes. I felt like a turtle on its back, and missed about 5 minutes of the meteor shower because my eyes were filled with laughtears.

And yes, i still have that recording.. absolutely priceless!!

[ashenlight]

Great story Carol does that mean said voice recorder would record the occasional expletive... ?

Would make for an interesting write up the next day..

[Talitha]

Yes, i wrote it up the next day.. it's buried in the archives of a small Yahoo group somewhere. TBH i don't even recall the name of the group.

And yes, if you're prone to blurt out expletives, i suppose the recorder would indeed pick them up. It activates pretty quickly when i cough or clear my throat, but never quite catches the beginning... not quite sure what the lag-time is between the sound being made and the recorder actually turning on. It stops after 5 seconds of silence, which is nice because there are a number of times per session that it gets activated by small sounds. It's a bit boring sometimes when transcribing the recordings because you have to wait through all of those little blurbs, but it's still better than writing everything down during the session.

[acey]

I find that looking back through notes is one of the great pleasures of this hobby - your notebook becomes a diary, and also a way of keeping track of how your observing skills improve over time.

I keep a pencil attached to my notebook with string, so it won't disappear in the dark. A small LED reading light (red filtered) clips onto the book.

[Starobserver]

For years I've been trying different ways to make and order my notes, and right now I use my Ipod as a voice recorder. I transfer my recorded notes to my computer (into iTunes) and I can type them out later, when making my final report.

To get a little structure in my observation I made a kind of "Question Card" that I laminated for outdoor use. This question card is divided into two main components. First I have to answer some general questions about the instrument used, the observing location, condition etc. Then I move on to the object-specific questions. To show you what I mean, I attached the card I use as a word-document.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know!

Clear skies

Math

00 Definite Question-card.doc

[mdstuart]

I use this attachement. You need to change the ending back to xls to open it. Its in excel so you need that as well to open it.

Mark

Sketch templates.txt

[Phil Fargaze]

I always keep a log of my observing, since the year 2000 that is. I used to keep a log when I was a lad but somehow I lost them. I wish I still had them though, because they would be something to treasure. I always read back on my recent entries and have begun to sketch what I see. It`s good to reflect upon the view of transient objects such as comets. I use the `Society for Popular Astronomy deep sky report form` for my log and compile them in a folder using the see through plastic pouches.