I must admit that I did accomplish some of the things I set out to do, maybe not to my best ability, but I tried very hard. Last year I made a pact to myself to observe more (which I did since I discovered Solstice Canyon in Malibu, almost every new moon when the weather cooperated...and I did 4 runs out of the 6 to Pinos...good record), to get my 10" dob out to dark sky sites (which I did on two occasions to Mount Pinos thanks to our new Mazda5!), to sketch new objects (which I also did, although not as many as I would have liked, but still I did), to try to spread the joys of stargazing (which I did through friends and via selling beginner scopes on the internet), to try out more scopes (which I also did), to write more on my blog (which I tried to at every opportunity I got) and to dabble in astrophotography (which I did through afocal methods, wide field and also CCD camming).
So what's in it for me this coming new year. Lets see the list looks pretty similar to last years list, but I want to do MORE MORE and still MORE. I am going to break it down into points so I can really check off this list of TO DO's:
- Get my 10" out at every available opportunity, not just for runs to Pinos. That means using it at the mouth of Solstice Canyon Park.
- Plan my observing runs better. That means reading more and making list of objects to look at. No more random hopping around .
- Sketch at least 5 new objects at every session I get at Solstice Canyon (and Pinos in season). No excuses now since I have a tracking GOTO mount.
- Do more scope review articles and shootouts if time and money allows.
- Try out a SCT or Mak....if the opportunity arises and does not overstretch my budget.
- Look out for more good scope deals (got some excellent deals this year from Costco, Orion and Walmart!).
- Blog more (which I have been diligently doing anyways...its fun to be able to share my experiences with other like minded people).
- Use all my scopes equally....also hard when you have faves. And my current fave scope is my Celestron 102GT for the ease of finding stuff, plus it helps me sketch as it tracks..I need to use my C6 more frequently!
- Get my Meade DSI I color to work properly. No excuses anymore as I can use my Celestron 102GT for short exposures for stacking and I now have a Orion 0.5x focal reducer...have to get cracking on that one. I am still pretty much a visual observer by nature and it is really hard for me to get into the imaging mode when all I want to do is look and drink in views.
- Most importantly NOT avoid the moon but observe it, and the planets as well and not just DSO's!
I don't really have any astro resolutions for 2013, but it would be nice if I could do the following:
ReplyDelete1) Get to at least 600 DSO's observed, logged and sketched using my 4.5" and smaller aperture scopes. Should be doable without having to use my bigger scopes.
2) Start using my equatorial mounts. They came with my Starblast 4.5EQ & Astromaster 130EQ scopes, but that doesn't mean I have to use these 2 scopes on my EQ mounts.
3) Go observing with Darren, Matt and possibly others more often.
4) Do more astronomy/telescope presentations at my Santa Monica Amateur Astronomy Club
Those are resolutions! Getting 600 should be doable if you don't limit yourself to just galaxies. I personally don't like EQ mounts. They are too much of a pain to use. I rather use my dobs or my Vixen Porta mount.......simple stargazing is the best
ReplyDeleteThose are resolutions! Getting 600 should be doable if you don't limit yourself to just galaxies. I personally don't like EQ mounts. They are too much of a pain to use. I rather use my dobs or my Vixen Porta mount.......simple stargazing is the best
ReplyDeleteYes, I guess they are resolutions. So these are my New Year's resolutions for 2013. For DSO's, I need to get to 600 using my smaller scopes of 4.5" aperture and smaller. My bigger 5.1" and 5.9" scopes will be used mainly to re-observe objects I already spotted in my smaller scopes, but in greater detail and resolution.
ReplyDeleteI really need to familiarize myself with using an EQ mount - so far I haven't done any star-hopping with it yet. Only then will I decide whether it's worth using them in future observing sessions or not.
As mentioned previously I love my alt az mount and would not trade them for EQ mounts period ;)
ReplyDeleteI just passed the 500 DSO mark over the weekend. The last 100 was mainly open clusters - I'm running out of galaxies to observe that are bright enough for my small scopes!
ReplyDeleteI also started using the EQ mount on my Starblast 4.5. Can be awkward to use, especially for objects close to the horizon. I can see why you don't like using them.
Having said that, it's nice to be able to track objects with just a simple twist of the RA cable. So I'm thinking of getting another EQ-1 mount for my Short Tube 80A (the astronomical version which I have comes with tube rings).