Do you plan your viewing? How???

[vaztr (Andrew)]

Hi All,

I've been an 'on and off' stargazer for the past 4 years or so and am now getting back into it with a vengance (with some new goodies on order!!)

What I'd like to know from some of the more 'advanced' gazers is...
Do you plan your evenings viewing? Or do you (as I do) point your scope at an interesting 'thing' and then work out exactly what you've been gazing at? Or do you do a bit of both???

I find my 'point and shoot' approach OK for casual 'I'm not sure how long I'm going to be out here' viewing, but I'd like to make a concerted effort to go through the BAM600 over the next few years/rest of my life and I'd like to know what sort of timeframes you guys 'allow' per object.

I guess what I'm really asking is, do you go out with a clear plan of viewing a list of x objects in n hours or is it more 'freeform' where you have a list of x objects but if you only view y of them then you're happy.

And does this number of x objects change due to you having a 'goto' or the temprature or 'seeing' conditions?

And do you have a 'backup plan' if the bit of the sky you want to view has a stinky great cloud in the way??

And if you don't have a 'goto' or something similar, how do you plan your evening viewing? I'm guessing you don't slew halfway across the sky between objects, that it would be more of a "from object 1 go 2' west and 1' up to find the next" (I have a Dob)

I'm certainly not looking to knock off the BAM600 in a 12 month period by viewing 20 objects each night, I'm just wondering if you guys get so 'in awe' of an object that it completely scuttles your nights activities? I think I'm likely to be in the latter category where all my plans will be put on hold when I see something that takes my breath away.

Looking forward to your comments

Thanx

VAZ

[The_bluester (Paul)]

I am a very casual observer and I am not aiming to observe any/all objects on any particular list so most of the time I simply aim at what takes my fancy at the time. I would probably do poorly getting through any sizeable list as I tend to observe objects for a fairly extended period to see what detail I can tease our rather than the "Seen, tick, move on" approach.

[Varangian (John)]

I'm doing the Messier list through ASV and aim for 5 objects per viewing night, usually whatever is around at that type of year. But yes I do pick my targets and star hop my way theoretically using a planisphere beforehand. I wouldn't say (as mountaineers put it) I am peak bagging my list, I may spend an hour on each one. I also plan for my dark site, checking skippy sky, local weather conditions etc. and plan all of this around the new moon. A big dob, card tables, eyepiece case, astro chair all packed ready to go, it is a full car, lucky it's a station wagon

[Astro_Bot]

I plan by generating a list of candidates and then view on an opportunistic basis during the evening. GoTo certainly streamlines things - there's a penalty in setup time but less frustration (IMHO) for the remainder of the evening. Seeing, light pollution, haze, cloud etc. are potential obstacles, but I work around those as they occur. As for a backup, I simply move on to the next object on the list.

There are resources online that can help - my favourite is Tonight's Sky, which will generate a viewing list for you based on parameters you enter.

Tonight's Sky is fairly easy to use, e.g. select:
(1) Lat/Long
(2) Horizon obstruction
(3) Timezone, viewing start time and duration
(4) Difficulty (e.g. select everything up to and including "easy" at 8.5 mag)
(5) Object type(s)
... then click the big red button to generate your viewing list.

You can further sort or edit the list before printing it out.

Having a play with Stellarium can also help orient you to what's visible on the night you will be viewing.

[Ric]

I tend to plan my imaging nights so I'm not bouncing around the galaxy trying to decide what to choose.

For a visual night, I just do an alignment then pick out interesting objects through the software.

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

I don't do a great deal of observing, but for the nights that I do expect to head out, I get Skytools 3 to generate observing lists for me. Check the software out at http://www.skyhound.com/skytools.html well worth the price.
This way I can choose a few favorites and a few new objects, and spend some time looking for the fainter objects when they are on the meridian.
Never disappointed!

Cheers

Chris

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

The only time I really do visual is when I'm showing someone else the night sky. So I stick to the brighter objects. That being the case, I generally just look up to see what's on show at that time.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

I have 2 types of sessions.
"Quickies" where I have limited time (under 2 hours) and so tend to look at a few highlights that are around especially if the seeing is good as M42 and the like are fantastic when conditions suit. I also will round off with a few other objects such as globs and galaxies that are available.
For longer sessions or star parties I try to plan a bit. As a minimum I will identify possible constellations to explore and then use the Deep Sky Observers Guide to pinpoint some possible targets. I also often use Les Dalrymples column from AS&T as a starting point.
My other strategy is to try working my way through come of Steve O'Meara's guides, which is why I am looking forward to his Southern Skies guide coming out later this year.

Malcolm

[GraemeT (Graeme)]

I was a "let's find something easy tonight" viewer but recently decided to change to a goal oriented approach. So I've started with a list of the Messier catalogue and seeing how far I can get. It gives much more purpose, challenge and satisfaction.

[WadeH (Wade)]

I always try to plan and observe at least 5 or so new objects a session that also test my skills (chart reading, interperating the actual sky and my equipment) then fill the remaining time, and my patience with old faithfulls