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IS THE SKY THE LIMIT?


KenG

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Just reading about Astro_Baby's frustrations with telescopes and observing in another post made me wonder what other forum members look for (pun intended) in this hobby. Are observing sessions planned, researched before or after, or is it a matter of getting the scope out and seeing what can be seen?

I personally enjoy selecting a little piece of sky in my atlas, finding as much out about the area as I possibly can from all my guides, before exploring it for a couple of hours either from my garden, or if I think it merits it, a very dark site about twenty minutes drive away. I select the eyepiece best suited to what I want to look at, and don't change it during the session because I feel that chopping and changing eyepieces disrupts the observing experience. There's always the feeling - a bit like driving a car down random roads - I haven't been here before and just want to take it all in, and when everything's packed away, it's back to the atlas and the guides to check out everything I've seen. If I've found something interesting, then I'll review it at a later date using different powers and filters. As you may guess, from the number of cloudy nights we experience, I've got quite a few "little areas of sky" lined up. Does anyone else observe like this, or do most people work through Messier/NGC objects?

A long time ago I realised that if you go to a sporting event, you either take photographs or you enjoy the visual experience, but you can't do both (discounting "snapshots"), which is why I don't "do" astrophotography, I'm more interested in "looking", and I'm intrigued by the number of newcomers here whose expressed aim when buying their first scope is to take photographs. I'm in awe of the patience and skill evidenced by some of the finished results, but what do you all do with those wonderful images? And what's the ratio of observing to photographing?

Does anyone record variables, hunt for comets, track asteroids?

I know I'm asking sweeping questions here, but it would be interesting to get replies from members on the various ways in which this hobby is pursued. It might even inspire some of us to try something we hadn't thought about, or explore something we hadn't heard of.

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I usually have a look on Stellarium, in Turn left at Orion and in Astronomy Now and make a list objects (Planets, Messier, NGC, Comets etc) I can see and what time is best, for the month ahead. Then I print off the lists ready for the clear skies.

This way if I get clear skies at 7pm I know what I will be looking for and where. But if the sky is not clear til 2am I know what is good at that time. I have the great advantage of doing a job that means I get 3 weeks where I can go out at any time I want on all days, without having to worry about needing sleep for work, yay!

If I get lost when outside I just use Star Walks on my iPod to guide me.

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When a clear spell is predicted on 7timer! for that evening/next morning, I produce a list of targets I want to observe/photograph and work through them. At the end of a session I tend to just 'browse the sky' in the area I have ended and sometimes I stumble across a real gem.

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I always plan a list of targets. I also look at some of the easier ones that I can find off the top of my head as a change from hunting the faint DSO's. If Jupiter or Saturn are up then I always take a look at those too.

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I think if you don't prepare then you don't get much out of your evening

OTOH if you're not prepared to be flexible then with typical UK conditions you'll be permanently frustrated. I have a programme of visual variable stars which is my primary interest but imaging moon & planets can be done in conditions of bright twilight & through thin cloud which makes observation of faint objects impossible.

Yes I'm "prepared" but most of my preparation is having my variable star charts to hand, a notebook & sharpened pencil to record observations & enough knowledge of the sky to know which stars are likely to be observable through the moving cloud holes.

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I'm a bit of a "spur of the moment" observer so I don't plan a great deal I'm afraid. I sometimes decide on a "mission" and focus on that. The current one (along with Moonshane) is to try and visually observe Sirius B - which will be a challenge to say the least !.

If there are planets in the sky I tend to spend lots of time on those as they are more rewarding from my observing location than the fainter DSO's are. I find tight multiple stars challenging and enjoyable as well - though I know they don't "do it" for everybody !

I do agree with brianb that you need to be flexible with the UK weather conditions :)

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I tend to just 'wing it' most of the time. Nothing planned in advance. Like John above, my backgarden doesn't allow for the best deepsky observing experience. So i like to concentrate on the planets from home. No real planning needed other than knowing the optimum time to observe.

And i still plan nothing with a dark sky visit because i'm too busy chatting and gawping to worry about observing lists. It's also been too cold of late to take my gloves off and handle a book.

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I tend to do a little planning - noting down 6 or 8 objects that I want to see using sky at night, TLAO or more recently the astroniomical wonders book.

I always get stumped by at least one object so only get through 6 of them max.

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Ken, that's a very good question because when I was researching the whole idea of taking up astronomy, one of the questions I wanted answering was, "...so you've got your scope but what exactly is it that you 'do' with all this kit?" I didn't know if there were so many objects out there that would take a lifetime to see or whether people specialised and if so, in what? The answer came when I was at Kelling Heath one year and got so many different responses including the Moon, planets, DSO's, variable and double stars, comets, spectroscopy but what ever people chose, most people seemed to go out with a hit list or some plan of what they wanted to achieve. The impression that I got was that being a little organised meant that could separate the evening out in free time, where they would simply keep their eye on the eyepiece and just scan the sky to see what turns up and perhaps read up on what they find later. Also , observing with other people created a nice dynamic to compare kit, eyepieces and knowledge.

To be honest, I think its a good idea to try all of them out as some are easy to do than at other times.

james

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I have to admit when I first started obseving I wasted some nights by not having a plan of what I was hoping to observe and just got side tracked with this or that. Now I am more interested in making more of the nights I am out and making a list of things to view, which, due to the WEATHER, has been pretty rare. :)

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I start of with the "usual suspects", then i basically wander around the universe inside my 30mm EP and wait for a happy accident to happen. I'm easily distracted when observing so i often spot a passing satellite in my EP and follow it. Then i'll see another and follow it.

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I start of with the "usual suspects", then i basically wander around the universe inside my 30mm EP and wait for a happy accident to happen. I'm easily distracted when observing so i often spot a passing satellite in my EP and follow it. Then i'll see another and follow it.

Hi Paul.......you must end up in some strange places!

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As we are just beginning and on the rare occasion that we get a clear night to coincide with some free time we just make sure we get a look at Jupiter and the moon for now. Later once the kids are in bed and if its still clear I will try and look for something different.

My work must be along the same lines as Venus_is_my_friend but the days of staying up all night and sleeping all day are long gone

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Hi KenG,

Enjoyed reading your post.

I admit it--I`m a list checker-offer, and I always have been. For whatever reason, I love the challenge of completing observing lists. When I began observing I had real trouble reading star atlases in the dark--with or without a magnifying glass--and I really wanted to learn the sky anyway, so I decided to memorize the objects' positions. And this is how I`ve always done it. On nights when the moon is present I just learn the objects (however many my brain can handle!) that I want to find during the next new moon. I have to admit it was more challenging before the creation of Cartes du Ciel. Its Telrad feature makes it a lot easier to 'rehearse' finding stuff.

I know what you mean, KenG, about there being so many people wanting to photograph the night sky. The strange thing is, even though I'm a landscape photographer specializing in low-light, I have no desire to do deep-sky photography. Although I do enjoy photographing star trails, constellations, aurora, sundogs...

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I dont have a very wide view of the sky from my garden, combined with the cloud cover and lights in the way I am lucky to get much at all so I go for the quick to find objects in the areas that arent blocked by trees/flats/bright lights.

Specifically thats jupiter (at the moment), saturn when its around at sensible hours ,anything near orion (m42 in particular) and if all else fails I can still see the moon through light cloud :)

I pop over to check how m45 is doing every now and then too. Every single time I have been out with a target in mind the gap I can see doesnt coincide with the breaks in the clouds.

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I get particular sections of the sky that are ideal at the times and seasons I observe so I make my choices based on what's available. Right now I can view Orion, the Twins, the Bull, and the Charioteer very well almost every night. The circumpolar region is obscured by light and haze from a city north of me. The western region of the sky is better later in the evening, except Jupiter which has been observable from dusk. The north and west get obscured both by the setting sun and by clouds and haze coming over the mountains. The southeastern sky has consistently ideal conditions for several weeks now.

I don't often get out to observe before sunrise, but I have been able to observe Venus one morning lately.

So with that said, I can make plans but I can't exactly draw them from whatever book or whimsical notion occurs to me. For the most part, I've been learning star names in the region I mentioned and I have good views of the Orion Nebula, and the Pleides. Sirius is always a spectacular light show. Capella and Rigel are also vivid. I observe the colors of Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, Pollux. Sometimes I try to probe the circumpolar region for what I can make out but the seeing has been bad lately. I don't think I could make out the Dragon if I wanted to, not from my neighborhood anyway.

Just when you're reading about the Crab nebula, look, here comes the moon.

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