WRITING YOUR OBSERVING REPORT
I am a huge fan of keeping track of what I have observed.
I try and keep a log of some sort of what I have seen.
But I am at the point I NEED to make better reports.
Pretty..
Nice..
and other such is just not good enough anymore.
Below are some of the items that I have come up with in writing a better report.
Magnitude
I usually use a scale of:
But, I am learning to figure out the magnitude but comparing to nearby objects
- Very Dim,
- Dim,
- Slightly bright,
- Moderately bright,
- Bright,
- Very bright
This is just something that I use. You can come up with something of your own.
Open Star Clusters
- What is the size of the cluster?
- Can you estimate the number of stars?
- Are the stars of equal brightness?
- Or are most of them dim with a sprinkle of brighter stars etc.
- Is there a pattern?
- Are there any doubles or triples?
- Is it loosely scattered or densely packed?
- Are there any colorful stars?
Globular Clusters
- Size?
- Bight or dim?
- Symmetrical (round) other features?
- How close to the core can stars be resolved?
- Dense core?
- Dust or dark lanes?
- Gradual brightening to core or a distinct core with halo of faint stars?
Planetary Nebula
- Size?
- Shape?
- Color?
- Features? (ringed, bi-polar, central star)
Galaxies
- Size
- Shape, N-S-E-W orientation if elongated?
- The three main features of a galaxy are generally referred to as
- nucleus, a core and a disk
- Magnitude, is it bright or dim?
- The three main features of a galaxy are generally referred to as nucleus, a core and a disk, How do they relate to each other?