First deep sky observing programme

[greglloyd]

I've been into astronomy since I was a teenager, however it's fair to say that I was away from the hobby for the past 10 to 15 years.

I decided last summer to get back into it again and bought myself a Skyliner 200P dobbo. It's really only now that I'm getting a proper amount of free time to put it to good use as we had our first child last year and this made it difficult to get out and observe!

So, my question to you all is this. I'm mostly into deep sky stuff and have no probs finding bright Messier's and some NGC objects for casual viewing. However, I'm looking to get a bit more serious about my observations to tease out the detail.

What would you suggest I start with? Doing a straight forward Messier programme? Or maybe looking at some NGC's along the way?

What do you use for your guide (i.e. what to expect at the eyepiece, etc)? I currently have Stellarium for the PC and Starmap Pro for the iphone. I've been referring to the "Small Wonders" features on Cloudy Nights plus the IAAC website for reading people's experiences. However, I'm looking for a source of detailed observational information about objects such as optimum magnifications, how they look through various scope sizes, etc?

Did you have an observing plan? For example, I'm thinking of starting with Ursa Major, Cvn, Virgo area and letting the constellations come round to me as the year progresses.

I'd be interested to know if you are using books, websites, software, or just making up your own little plan and seeing where it goes.

I've two Televue eyepieces due to be delivered in the next day or two, so once the moon gets out of the way and hoping it is game on!

[robhal9000]

I use astroplanner. It is excellent software for planning and logging your observations on a PC or Mac.

You can setup all your equipment, location, etc. details as resources and then create a plan using a large number of catalogues (Registration is about 30 pounds and gets access to a huge number of catalogues and images. software can be used for free but it is well worth supporting) Images can be used in the finder view to give a very good approximation of the what you will see with different EP, scope, barlow combos. And a great deal more.

AstroPlanner

Get yourself a copy of S@Ts Pocket atlas for about 9 quid and Nightwatch has some nice constellation charts with interesting objects shown if your looking for something basic.

Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas: Amazon.co.uk: Roger W. Sinnott: Books

Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe: Amazon.co.uk: Terence Dickinson: Books

[Nexus 6]

Hi Greglloyd

You may wish to purchase a filter or two to help bring out the detail of the dso's in during your observations.

There is plenty of choice and there not too dear.

Alan

Celestron CPC 925

Moonlite focuser (on the way)

Vixen LV 40

Celestron E-Lux 25

Televue Radian 18

Televue Nagler T6 9

Canon 1000D

[robhal9000]

This thread has a lot of great info and page three has a link to a pdf version

http://stargazerslounge.com/primers-tutorials/81493-object-list-indexed-constellation.html

[greglloyd]

Yes, I've been looking at Astroplanner. I've downloaded it and will give it a trial.

Also been look at an OIII filter for the nebulas. Although I do have quite a good sky here and can easily pick out the Owl nebula on most nights with good seeing.

[greglloyd]

Is there any structure to your observing (i.e. Are you following a particular catalogue, etc)? Or do you just select the objects you fancy for the night whether they come from one or more catalogues?

[mdstuart]

Greg

I have been working through galaxies and I am now at about 270 or so...

I printed off this mag 8.5 star atlas of the web.

8.5 Magnitude Star Atlas

Then I marked up targets using various lists such as the 110 NGC finest.

As I observe them I mark the atlas..

So on a clear night go out look at which bit of sky is accessable and then take out the sheets already pre marked and you are away....but the faint objects do need a more detailed chart from carte du ciel to locate...

Hope that helps...

I also recommend the books illustrated guide to astronomical wonders which lists a few hundred objects with excellent maps and descriptions..

Mark

[greglloyd]

I printed out a copy of TriAtlas last year which is a mag 12.5 star atlas with DSO's. If you do a Google for it you can download and print it off too.

[acey]

Something I found really useful is Stephen O'Meara's book on the Messier Objects (Deep Sky Companions: The Messier Objects Deep-sky Companions: Amazon.co.uk: David H. Levy, Stephen James O'Meara: Books). Apart from being a guide to the objects themselves, it also taught me a lot about what sort of detail to look for, and how to look. An excellent first deep-sky project (that would last at least a year or two) would be to work through the Messiers with this book.

Equally useful to me was (and is) Luginbuhl and Skiff's Observing Handbook (Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects: Amazon.co.uk: Christian B. Luginbuhl;Brian A. Skiff: Books). They describe in detail what you can see with a range of apertures in thousands of northern-sky objects; and again, the book is useful from a wider perspective in terms of learning how to look. I have to say that for myself, after looking at several hundred galaxies, I still consider myself very much a beginner, when I consider what these authors have achieved. It's a lifelong learning curve.

With regard to lists, after the Messiers I would recommend Alan Dyer's list of "best NGCs" (The RASC's Finest N.G.C. Objects List). This is nice because unlike the Caldwell and many other such "non-Messier" lists, it is suited to UK latitudes (it was compiled for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada). There are many other similar lists; links can be found here: Deep Sky Collections and Catalogs

Going beyonds the Messiers, Caldwells etc, the next step for most people is the Herschel 400. I started it and got bored, because my own preference is for lists that are manageable (100 objects or so) and/or historically/scientifically based, rather than just someone's preference. I started doing the list advocated by Mullaney, of around 615 objects belonging to Herschel's catalogue of 2,500 when you exclude classes II and III, nicely described in this excellent guide:

The Herschel Objects, and How to Observe Them: Exploring Sir William Herschel's Star Clusters, Nebulae, and Galaxies Astronomer's Observing Guides : ... and Galaxies Astronomer's Observing Guides: Amazon.co.uk: James Mullaney: Books

But since moving up to a 12-inch I just count my way slowly through Herschel's full list, never expecting to finish. For big, challenging lists the place to go is

Adventures in Deep Space: Challenging Observing Projects for Amateur Astronomers

Something that's feasible with an 8-inch and dark skies is the Arp catalogue: when I started keeping count I found I'd already observed a couple of dozen of them with the 8-inch without knowing, because it includes some Messiers and showpiece objects. Details here:

Arp's Catalog Of Peculiar Galaxies

When I first started out in deep-sky observing I kept notes that were often quite extensive, and made sketches. As I progressed I moved more and more to shorthand, rather like Herschel's system (adopted by the NGC), because you learn to look for specific recurring features (notably the shape and brightness profiles in galaxies: whether they have a stellar core, halo etc). Looking for these details helps you figure out whether you're seeing an elliptical, spiral etc. After looking at lots of small, faint objects at the limit of what you can achieve, the Messiers can seem amazingly detailed.

The best value I've found in deep-sky books is the Webb Society Handbook series. There are 8 or 9 volumes, each on a specific object type ranging from double stars to galaxy clusters. I picked them all up second hand for about a fiver each.

Webb Society Deep-Sky Observer's Handbook by Webb Society, Kenneth Glyn Jones (Photographer) | New, Second-hand, Rare | Alibris UK

For finding objects these days I use Uranometria and TriAtlas C. With the 8-inch I found SkyAtlas 2000 good enough. For planning sessions in advance I use a Philips planisphere so I know what will be well placed at the right time. I keep track of moon phases from the web and time my dark-sky trips around that. My current projects are mostly around the Hicksons and Arps. Doing an exhaustive constellation-by-constellation approach works well for small apertures but as you go larger there can be just too many, even in a small area of sky, so going for specific targets keeps it fun. The Messier and similar lists involve quite a lot of hopping around the sky which can waste time, so a good intermediate approach is to have two or three lists (e.g. Messier, Dyer, Caldwell), go for a well placed constellation, and pick off everything in that region that is in one or other list.

I think that with an 8-inch you might find TriAtlas C too detailed, unless you stick to lists of what to look for (and what not to look for) because most of the galaxies on TriAtlas C will be beyond your aperture. Even with SkyAtlas 2000, I found that if I tried to go for everything marked on the map with the 8-inch, I spent a lot of time not seeing anything - and that gets boring. A chart like TriAtlas C is good where you need to find the exact field of an object in terms of neighbouring faint stars, but I suspect the B atlas (which I've never used) might be more appropriate to your aperture. I can certainly recommend the field edition of SkyAtlas 2000, whose large, thick-paper, unbound charts served me for years and survived dew, mud, and occasionally being blown across a field in the wind.

Andrew

[greglloyd]

Thanks for the write up Acey. Great info.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Over the last couple of years since i also came back to astronomy (on a more serious level then i ever had been before) i have tried to plan my nights observing with the aim of locating and observing a different object each night...........using star charts and books, but once i get behind the scope or bins.....................all that seems to fade away and i end up simply scanning the sky very slowly with a widefield EP and stopping when i find something that looks interesting (not bog standard stars). I then slowly zero in on those objects by increasing the magnifiction until i am at my scopes limit.

I know i am NOT gonna find many DSO with a 32mm EP................so if there is something i really want to have a look at i will use a structured method (star hopping).

I just like the idea of a casual walk through the night sky and take a few stops along the way to investigate certain things up close.

Perhaps this is a very lazy and unfruitful way of doing things but when you do come across a little gem in the sky it makes it very exciting.

[RikM]

I bought Stargazing with binoculars a couple of years ago. It gives a months by month guide to the biggest and brightest objects. Not very detailed, but now I use the monthly constellation guides from the book for inspiration, and deep sky lists indexed by constellation to plan targets for each obs session.

Rik

[johnkirkpatrick]

I use astroplanner. It is excellent software for planning and logging your observations on a PC or Mac.

]

I just downloaded the free version and it only seems to be for America. is there a UK version?

[Doc]

I use the Messier List, Herschel list and Caldwell list to find objects to look for. Also have a look at my thread on objects to find.

http://stargazerslounge.com/primers-tutorials/81493-object-list-indexed-constellation.html

[Sam]

I started with the Messier list and now just go after whatever CdC throws at me in the area I'm looking at.

[robhal9000]

I just downloaded the free version and it only seems to be for America. is there a UK version?

you just set your location in the 'resources' option in the 'edit' menu and it calculates from that location. Set your main location as default. I only ever used v2 currently in beta but I don't think that option has changed or is locked in the 'free' version.

[m.tweedy]

I have just caught this thread.

this link is very good. you set your co-ordinates and difficulty and then get a plan that can be inverted when printed to save ink.

http://tonightssky.com/MainPage.php

[Chris H]

I like to go one constellation per observing session plus a few high-lights. Doc's objects list by constellation is excellent and I also use a book called 'The Observer's Sky Atlas' by E. Karkoschka. The book lists Nebula, Stars and Binary stars for each constellation with charts.

[pvaz]

As you, I pick a well located constelation and go through all the objects there. I use this file I compiled to filter the objects by that constellation, print lists of the objects I'm planning to see and keep track of what I've seen.

http://stargazerslounge.com/primers-tutorials/95672-dso-checklist-messier-herschel-400-caldwell-colored-doubles.html

To actually find the objects I use pocket sky atlas, the printed list and a telrad finder on the scope.

I don't know any program that shows something similar to what you'll see. I google the name of the object + "sketch" and more often then not, I get an accurate sketch of it.

[Bizibilder]

You may like to try this site that I found recently:

David Paul Green's Free Astronomy Software Site

It is an American site that includes some free software for Messier and Caldwell catalogues that you can either print as a pdf or download as a free-standing database for you to fill in as you go. Each target has a chart with Telrad circles for the object superimposed on it. There are also charts predrawn for you to use to do your own sketches or insert photo's etc. Its simple and straight forward to use and can, of course, be updated at the eyepiece on the obsy laptop if you have such a device.