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Old 08-10-2013, 06:11 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
kids+wife+scopes=happyman

mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 4,996
Having been involved with astronomy as a hobby for over thirty years, and with my interest in sketching at the eyepiece, these days I sit down & work out which four or five targets to sketch. What I select comes from a variety of sources, some outright spectacular, others obscure. Some spanning several degrees of the sky, others a few arc minutes.

A sketch can take anywhere from 1/2hr to three hours, so I also consider the time of year, & the rotation of the sky to distribute the night's labour. For this i use the humble planisphere to give me the sky at any time of year & then suss out potential targets in the various references I have. Even the scope I use is determined this way. My 4" refractori can get upto a full 5degrees true field of view. For a faint galaxy, like Proxima Australis, then the 17.5".

It's no longer a race to tick off targets for me. It's also low tech. I there to relax and unwind & leave the rush behind me. "Ahhh, the serenity..."

My enjoyment also lies in this planning process. I learn a lot from the reading. This also then inspires what I select to sketch. I can indulge this hobby even when it's blowing a gale outside.

So, for this poll, I'm ticking "other".

Mental.
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