Telescope Reviews: Logging Time behind the Eyepiece

Barry,
After I moved to SoCal, where to do observing requires long drives to mountain or desert sites, my observing has been confined to one or two all nighters a month, or perhaps 8-18 hours a month depending on season, or 100-180 hours per year.

Nonetheless, I started keeping a log in 1982 when I had a 6" scope. At first, the log was a way of telling me what objects I wasn't interested in re-visiting.
Upon obtaining an 8" scope in 1993 and thinking it would be my "lifetime scope", I started keepin a a log in earnest. My goal was to see everything visible in an 8" in my lifetime. I prepared a list of about 20,000 objects I thought MIGHT be visible in an 8" under the darkest skies at my site.
I had just under 9300 objects in my log in 2004 when I upgraded to a 12.5" dob but I had barely dipped into UMA/CVN/COM/VIR/HYA galaxy groupings. A lot of those objects were tiny little galaxies and not particularly fascinating, but there were literally thousands I hadn't viewed.

I quickly realized that the number of objects visible in a 12.5" dob would be larger than I could view in a lifetime (in excess of 30,000 objects, for sure). So the idea of logging every object visible in the scope went out the window. Instead, I decided to concentrate on particular constellations to see how many non-viewed objects I could view. Today, my log has barely passed 11,000 objects, so I have not been systematic about logging new objects. I spend a lot of time with old favorites or pursuing an object that's eluded me for years or getting sidetracked looking for details in an object, even though I've looked at it before.

And for the last couple years, I've been concentrating on creating a list of the 500 best DSOs for beginners moving beyond the Messiers (you can send me you email in a private message and I'll send it along). I think I viewed many of those objects for the first time in decades and "rediscovered" some very nice objects. Along the way, I got sidetracked viewing Hickson groups, PK planetaries, Abell planetaries, carbon stars, etc, so it's been good for my observing.

I still have quite a number of objects in my printed list that I have yet to view, and the thing that keeps me looking for new objects is that out of every 25-30 new objects I view for the first time, I find one that is REALLY nice and would be added to my "Favorites! Revisit! Nice!" list of really interesting objects I was formerly unaware of. The idea that there might be something I've never seen that would impress me as a spectacular or very interesting object keeps me looking at new objects I've never seen.

Maybe some day I'll get to the point where every object not yet viewed is a tiny galaxy 350 million light years away and more, but before that happens, I'll probably be long gone.

So don't feel bad, ever, about not spending enough time with the hobby--it's about quality, not quantity.
One of the things you can do to enhance your observing skills is to try sketching the objects you view. Trying to fill in small faint details will help you see more. I refer you to the drawings here on CN by Eric Graff (Cildarith) and Jeremy Perez to see what can be ferreted out in smaller scopes. It's amazing.

And I attach the observing log page I use. If you answer all the questions, you will have a fairly complete observation. Sometimes I forget to use the log and sometimes I forget to record an important feature in my observations. That's an excuse to go back, eh?