29 January 2016
Some cruising around the web during the week lead me to a site call Astronomy Logs, which has a stack of pdf files that are really nice log sheets that have maps and diagrams with spaces for recording observations. I've already downloaded the Messier catalog and a moon atlas and will return for the other catalogs on offer.
To my surprise Friday night cleared up beautifully after a rainy day, so I printed out a couple of charts and took Dobby out on the front step.
I started observations at midnight with Orion high in the sky, so naturally went to M42 first. The seeing was good and I enjoyed using the 30mm ep with and without the Barlow to view the nebulae.
That becomes my first Messier object officially ticked off using these new log sheets.
I then tried to find M41 (the little beehive cluster) in Canis Major, but kept getting lost trying to star hop up from Sirius using the log chart. I'm putting that down to being out of practice, so I spent some time on Stellarium the next day practicing.
Then it was time to move on to Jupiter as it had emerged from behind the peach tree and I wanted to spend some time on it before it disappeared behind the front bushes. (the pitfalls of front yard observations)
Great transparency and good seeing was an awesome way to welcome back the big guy for the first viewing since last winter. Using the Barlow and my 17mm ep I could see four distinct bands and the four moons neatly lined up to the right of the disc. Even had the pleasent surprise of seeing a satellite pass through the field of view as I was looking through the 25mm. Couldn't make out the GRS, either it wasn't showing or the viewing conditions were not quite right.
I then observed through all my colour filters to see what would bring out better detail. With the following observations:
Filter - Notes
---------------------------------
80A The blue improved the bands
21 Not a huge improvement with this red
58A Bands were quite well defined
25 Waaay too red
12 The yellow helped define the bands
56 This green was ok
----------------------------------
As Jupiter slid behind the bushes it was getting on for 2am, and I had some hopes of coming out again at 5am for a quick look at the line of planets, moon and stars that is occurring this month so I backed it in and went to bed.
I then slept through my 0500 alarm, but a quick look outside at 0630 showed that some high level cloud had come over during the morning, so there probably was nothing to see anyway.
That's my first proper entry for 2016. My intention is to observe, log and make an entry at least once a month for the rest of the year.
Woot!
Some cruising around the web during the week lead me to a site call Astronomy Logs, which has a stack of pdf files that are really nice log sheets that have maps and diagrams with spaces for recording observations. I've already downloaded the Messier catalog and a moon atlas and will return for the other catalogs on offer.
To my surprise Friday night cleared up beautifully after a rainy day, so I printed out a couple of charts and took Dobby out on the front step.
I started observations at midnight with Orion high in the sky, so naturally went to M42 first. The seeing was good and I enjoyed using the 30mm ep with and without the Barlow to view the nebulae.
I then tried to find M41 (the little beehive cluster) in Canis Major, but kept getting lost trying to star hop up from Sirius using the log chart. I'm putting that down to being out of practice, so I spent some time on Stellarium the next day practicing.
Then it was time to move on to Jupiter as it had emerged from behind the peach tree and I wanted to spend some time on it before it disappeared behind the front bushes. (the pitfalls of front yard observations)
Great transparency and good seeing was an awesome way to welcome back the big guy for the first viewing since last winter. Using the Barlow and my 17mm ep I could see four distinct bands and the four moons neatly lined up to the right of the disc. Even had the pleasent surprise of seeing a satellite pass through the field of view as I was looking through the 25mm. Couldn't make out the GRS, either it wasn't showing or the viewing conditions were not quite right.
I then observed through all my colour filters to see what would bring out better detail. With the following observations:
Filter - Notes
---------------------------------
80A The blue improved the bands
21 Not a huge improvement with this red
58A Bands were quite well defined
25 Waaay too red
12 The yellow helped define the bands
56 This green was ok
----------------------------------
As Jupiter slid behind the bushes it was getting on for 2am, and I had some hopes of coming out again at 5am for a quick look at the line of planets, moon and stars that is occurring this month so I backed it in and went to bed.
I then slept through my 0500 alarm, but a quick look outside at 0630 showed that some high level cloud had come over during the morning, so there probably was nothing to see anyway.
That's my first proper entry for 2016. My intention is to observe, log and make an entry at least once a month for the rest of the year.
Woot!
