Chrissyo's First Observation Log Thingy 5/6/05

[Chrissyo (Chris)]

Well, I've never made an observation log before, but there’s a first time for everything. I saw a good number of objects (for me, a very beginner) and even managed to find some thing I’ve never seen before.
Ok, down to business:

Started Observation at 6.30 pm using my 10” F5 Dobsonian.

Went straight to the object I view every clear night – Jupiter. Three of its moons were nicely clustered on the left hand side which I thought looked pretty cool. I didn’t spend too much time on this object as I’ve been observing it for quite some time now.

Next, I moved onto another regular, Omega Centauri. Looked as beautiful as ever, so I moved down to Eta Carina. When I got bored, I had a quick look for NGC 3918, but didn’t find it (I wasn’t expecting to anyway ).

It had been a while since I had searched for M104, so I tried again tonight, and actually managed to find it in record time (under 5 minutes ). Still looks just like stretched smudge. I decided to get familiar with the stars around it so I can easily find it again in the future. It will probably become one of my regular objects to view now.

Next, I decided to have a look for something new. I came back to my computer, opened Tasco Galaxsee (which I got with my 60mm Refractor years ago) and found my next target. I decided on the Ghost of Jupiter (NGC 3242) as it looked like a fair size, and easy enough to find. I decided it was about 1.5 times the distance from Jupiter to Algorab, only obviously in a different direction. Using my finger as a rough guide, I located the general area in the sky and had a quick look around. Using just the 9mm eyepiece, I managed to find what I think is it. It was larger than everything around it, and was in the shape of a round grey blob. Using the 32mm eyepiece, it looked like a tiny blue star. Does this sound right? Or was I way off?

After viewing this, and attempting to take a few pictures with my 35mm camera in long exposure mode through the eyepiece (I am fairly sure it won’t come out ) I lifted my head to see a cool large shooting star. It was an interesting one as the tail was short, but sort of wavy. Less than a minute later, I spotted another one which traveled about half the length of the sky.

End time: 7.30pm.

Anyway, that’s it for my first observation log. Perhaps in the future I will take a small table out and write down everything as I do it so I’m not just relying on my memory. Also, I might like to take up sketching some of the things I saw, to make it easier to visualize.

Hope this hasn’t bored you all to death, thanks for reading . If you have any ideas on what could make any future observation logs of mine better, please tell me.

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Nice report Chrissyo.

Can't confirm if you did find the Ghost or not - but sounds like you were in the right area and there aint too many planetaries around there (none that are easy to stumble across anyway).

You should organise a lift out to Glenore Grove next time we go out. Getting some first hand help is great for identifying things. I think your idea of sketching is great. I was going to do some serious sketching this weekend but didn't make it out to a dark sky so I didn't bother. I did set up in my backyard in Brisbane and had some fun. The seeing was so steady last night I even managed an easy split of Antares (first time for me). The cloud belts on Jupiter were incredibly detailled. I could see the GRS dissapearing around the limb on twilight and there was a dark streak that started about a quater of the circumfrence behind the GRS in the same belt (SEB) and stretched back around the other side of the planet. I'll be curious to know if this feature shows up in some Jove shots from the weekend. The detail was dazzling...shame the GRS was disappearing!

I also noticed just about every time I looked up I saw a shooting star. A one point I looked up and saw one heading north and the about a second or two later I saw another one heading west.

Anyway, good reporting Chrissyo - I look forward to many more

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Good report Chrissyo. You're on your way . It will start to come more natural as you get used to moving around the sky. Once you have a few favourites you'll start to wonder what else is in the area of sky of your favourite, so you'll begin to build up a sizable list of great objects to show everyone.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Chrissyo,

Great report. Not boring at all!

Geoff made a suggestion months ago about making logs easier. He suggests a pocket-size tape recorder. They are very cheap at Deck Smiths etc.

Keep us informed about your viewing.

NOTE: I tried several times to type the name of the shop but it won't let me spell it correctly. It must pick up his first name as a swear word!!! so I had to spell it as Deck Smiths.

[iceman (Mike)]

Nice log, great to read reports like this! I wish more people would get into it!

At only 16 you've got a lifetime of observing to go, great to get into it so young.

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Good on you Chrissyo
Thats what its all about !
I love hunting with my 10" Dob too ... I have found 1/2 the messier catalog so far.
Here is a good link for a list with Pic's to mark off against:
http://www.seds.org/messier/data2.html

[beren]

Good one Chrissyo , enjoy reading observing reports etc....good thing to start wether its general or technical

[ving (David)]

Originally Posted by Chrissyo

Using just the 9mm eyepiece, I managed to find what I think is it. It was larger than everything around it, and was in the shape of a round grey blob. Using the 32mm eyepiece, it looked like a tiny blue star. Does this sound right? Or was I way off?

sounds rightish... but with a 9mm EP in my 8" its still really blue. I think its supposed to be about the same size as jupiter... does that help.


oh and ken, just what is a deck smith?

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

David,

The Site won't let me type D i c k Smith as a name (without the spaces). You try it.

[ving (David)]

ok...

richard smith

your right!!!