Great report Shelley. Keep them coming
.
I didn't know dark doodad was astro related.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shelltree
Hey Patrick, yes I knew that. It's where I got it from because I always found it amusing 
Hence this as well: http://www.demotivationalpics.com/di....php?pid=18421 ... 
And I agree with you about reports, this is the first in depth report I've written and being a bit of a writer I enjoyed describing what I saw. I also know I can look back on my observations and recapture the memories of what I saw and how it made me feel at the time. All part of the fun of visual astronomy! |
Shelley not only enjoyable, but also doing reports at the eyepiece (as opposed to after) makes us actually look for more detail. I have joined the league of people that use voice recorders at the eyepiece and when it came time to write out my report, I realised while listening to the recording, there were a few things that I forgot until I listened to the recording.
I guess one example of doing notes at an eyepiece is when I viewed all six stars in the Trapezium of the Orion Nebula (4 are easy, the other two E & F stars are harder). I didn't know where the more difficult E & F stars lurked and they weren't on my "to-do" list for the night. I voice recorded their exact promixity in detal where they were. One of them was so feint and so close to another Trapezium member I even thought maybe I'm imagining that one (the seeing wasn't the best at the time). So I was thrilled when I was able to confirm my observations.
I have a brilliant observing book titled "Deep Sky Companions - The Messier Object", by Stephen O'Meara (one of my best observing astro books that I would never be without).
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book...essier-Objects.
It is a very useful book for observing as it tells you what to look for within objects. His observations and pictures are those seen through his 4"refractor and in black and white, so we have a better idea of what to expect. He made a point at the beginning of the book by saying he wanted the book to sound as if he was having a conversation with us at the eyepiece.
I should actually do a write up of this book sometime and put it in books & media section in this forum.
