Stargazing Observation Book

 I'm by no means a professional or seasoned stargazer. It is a hobby (another one) I took up recently. My observations are done with binoculars that I have mounted on a tripod. I do star hopping to find my targets and generally  just enjoy the process.

Recently I decided to start tracing the constellations. Because I can. 

That required me to have a way to record my observations. I looked around online and came across quite a lot of resources. Everybody seems to have their own ideas on how to or why to record your observations. What should and what should not and what type of book to use etc. etc. etc.

Me? I like my own way.

First of all, I had to get some star charts, because I'm no astronomer. I happen to wander across this website that has a complete set of star charts, free for you to print.

Check.

I am, however, someone who likes to scribble, and a loose leaf is just too flimsy. Enter Amazon packaging.

I cut the sleeve that they use for small packages just larger than a printed start chart and glued a chart to either side. Bit of support for scribbles and does make it easier to turn a page.

Problem sorted.

What else do I have in the binder?

Well, for starters. The Greek Alphabet. Yes, I am an engineer. And as an engineer I know quite a lot of these, but sadly not all. So, right in the front cover she goes. And page 1? Well, the guys at Skymaps.com publish a monthly evening sky map, complete with monthly highlights and things to look out for. That is next in my book.

What else?

Well, need to record observations, don't I. So I found this observation log from The Astronomical League. I like it. In it goes. In fact, a couple of them.

And then, last but not least, a seeing and transparency guide. There are so many opinions on this, and I am terrible at making a judgement call. I like this one (and I cannot remember where I got it) because it uses the visibility of the stars in Ursa Minor as a guide. That works for me.

In she goes.

And now we are ready to gaze at the stars. 

Now we are just waiting for the clouds to give us a break. You can't win all of them.

For the next instalment I will take you through my process once I have completed a night of observation. Don't hold your breath now. The weatherman says...