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Blair
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/07/03
Posts: 1163
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Since I bought my first scope just over a year ago I have been trying to get organized in keeping notes of what I see through my scope. I think I finally came up with a way. I'm using excel and its sheet capability per file. For example the one I just created for Andromeda. I create a sheet per object of interest so I can log multiple observations. Included is this file. Hope this helps. Blair.
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 12565
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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Hi Blair,
Keeping a log is a great idea and an important one. You will find down the road as you look back in your log, you can remember certain observations you made. But the main purpose of the log is so you don't lose stuff.
Keep in mind, 2 or 3 years from now you will have thousands of sheets if you intend to keep a sheet for each object.
I keep handwritten spiral bound notebooks. I've hundreds of pages of notes now. Ocassionally, I'll go thru the last month or two and enter all my double star observations into an xcel masterfile. I keep an index by constellation, for all the other objects. I also keep an index by date, of nights where I recorded comparative info on eyepieces, scopes, binocs, etc. This way I can go to my index and see all the dates in my log over the last few months or year where I have data on binocs or such. I do a lot of this, so this is an important log index for me.
I didn't start out like this, I just kind of morphed to where I am now. You probably will too. But you got the important thing going, your keeping the info.
edz
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Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards.
member#21
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Blair
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/07/03
Posts: 1163
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Thanks for your reply. A thousand objects; probably not. I have tried many scopes up to an 8 inch reflector and have found an 80mm Stellarvue (80/9D)the best for me. I am looking for bright, big objects to visit as the Seasons change. I estimate a 100 or so objects will be on my list.
Edited by Blair (09/07/03 08:18 AM)
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Bob Pasken
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/30/03
Posts: 512
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You might want to download AstroPlanner by Paul Rodmann. It runs on Mac OS-X and all Windows boxen. It has a lot of objects in the basic catalogs (Caldwell, Messier, SAA best 100 etc). You can have it sort the lists by constellation, brightness, RA and DEC limits most any way you can think of. Best of all it has a well organized way of keeping your observations over time attached to each object. So you can add observations of the Eskimo nebula in Gemini everytime you look at it over the years. It also has a field of view window. In this case you pick your scope from a really long list of scopes including the stellarview and the eyepieces you have and it will plot the object and stars for your scope and eyepiece. I've found it quite accurate for all of the scopes I have. You can verify that you are really looking in the right place that way.
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Blair
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/07/03
Posts: 1163
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thanks but if it costs money I've spent all I can right now.
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Just checked;
http://www.ilangainc.com/astroplanner/index.html
it's free but you'll need to register to get it working that's the only catch. Haven't tried it yet but did download it; looks ok
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Blair
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/07/03
Posts: 1163
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Thanks. Will check it out.
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Grizz
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/24/03
Posts: 2172
Loc: Waldwick,New Jersey USA
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Astroplanner will work (the freeware version) but you will be limited to a few catalogs. The $20.00 charge for the full program is well worth it. IMHO  The author is constantly upgrading the program and will incorporate user sugesstions into new releases. Like I said you get alot for your $20.00.
Craig
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Craig
LX200GPS 10" UHTC SMT
ETX90EC
Orion ED80 APO
Meade LPI Canon 10d Meade DSI
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Bob Pasken
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/30/03
Posts: 512
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The freeware version includes all the catalogs that a "small" scope can see. I would be busy most of the rest of my life just carefully looking at all the objects in freeware catalogs. To me some of the prettiest things are those in the Messier and Caldwell catalogs. I've sorted the list of doubles for strongly colored doubles, hard (close) doubles, star party doubles. I've done the same thing with DSO's. I even have a list of things to look at when I'm tired and discourage after a hard day at work (students can be hard to work with sometimes). AstroPlanner also works with all GOTO scopes, so you can have run through your observing list for the night. I used AstroPlanner for a while before I sent Paul $20. I figured that it was cheap and was a program I actually used for observing unlike The Sky or StarryNights. For $20 you get ALL new versions, updates and new catalogs, unlike the commercial programs
Just as a note for me a small scope is something in the 3->8" range, because it seems to me that 11->22" scopes are very common nowdays. I don't have the time to haul out a 22" DOB nor the money to buy a monster like that.
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