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Deep Sky Objects and Their Observation
by kt4hx

To begin this article I will pose a couple of questions. Have you ever observed deep sky objects (DSOs) and perhaps been at a loss for words as to how you can adequately describe its appearance in your notes? Similarly, have you seen a feature that perhaps you didn’t fully comprehend its true nature?...
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Excellent article Alan. Thank you for writing this up.

Cheers,
JT

Very nice article Alan! Thanks for taken the time to put it together.

I would like to encourage everyone who observe to take notes or sketch what you see. Not just for sharing it with others (which is very rewarding already) but also because describing what you see makes you focus on the details and see more as a result.

Granted, many targets particular in small scopes will be just faint fuzzies, but even then you can describe the shape, size and relative brightness. In brighter targets with some practice you can pick quite a few details. For instance go on the hunt of star forming H II regions in the spiral arms of the Triangulum Galaxy.

JayTee wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 12:57 am Excellent article Alan. Thank you for writing this up.

Cheers,
JT

Thanks JT. I hope that it helps some folks during their observations.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:03 am Very nice article Alan! Thanks for taken the time to put it together.

I would like to encourage everyone who observe to take notes or sketch what you see. Not just for sharing it with others (which is very rewarding already) but also because describing what you see makes you focus on the details and see more as a result.

Granted, many targets particular in small scopes will be just faint fuzzies, but even then you can describe the shape, size and relative brightness. In brighter targets with some practice you can pick quite a few details. For instance go on the hunt of star forming H II regions in the spiral arms of the Triangulum Galaxy.

Thank you Andrey. I am glad you brought up the subject of keeping a log. I can relate to this issue very closely. For a long, long time I failed to do so. Only later in life did I see the true error of my ways. While I do have some memory of observations made way back, a good part of that has been lost to the ravages of aging and memory loss. At the time I simply did not seem to grasp its importance. Which when I think about it makes no sense. Since I was involved in shortwave radio listening and eventually amateur radio, in which I did keep logs of my receptions/contacts, that same mindset simply did not extend to astronomy.

Needless to say I deeply regret not keeping a record to which I could refer back, knowing what I observed and how I saw objects back then in various scopes. I have had to re-observe a lot of stuff subsequently when I did finally begin keeping a record. Not that its a bad thing to go back and revisit, but I feel I lost some of myself by not keeping a record from my earliest activities. So I too implore everyone to keep a record of some sort. It doesn't have to be exhaustive, but at least know where you've been and what you've observed.

Excellent article Alan! Thanks for your time and effort in sharing this valuable information with us.

10538 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:37 am Excellent article Alan! Thanks for your time and effort in sharing this valuable information with us.

Thank you Ed. I appreciate you taking the time to read my submission and commenting.

Alan.
A great and informative article.
Thank you for publishing it.

Peter802 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 8:36 am Alan.
A great and informative article.
Thank you for publishing it.

Thank you Peter. Glad you enjoyed it.

kt4hx wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:47 am Needless to say I deeply regret not keeping a record to which I could refer back, knowing what I observed and how I saw objects back then in various scopes. I have had to re-observe a lot of stuff subsequently when I did finally begin keeping a record. Not that its a bad thing to go back and revisit, but I feel I lost some of myself by not keeping a record from my earliest activities. So I too implore everyone to keep a record of some sort. [...]

Since I got back into the hobby a couple of years ago, I've been keeping an observation log. Most of my early notes are just lists of what I was able to see with very few details since I didn't want to drag a notebook, pens, red light, etc. scopeside.

More recently I discovered the utility of the Voice Memos app on my phone. Since I use Sky Safari, I have my phone out anyway and it's easy to transcribe detailed voice notes into my log, sometimes many days after the observing session. I'm vaguely aware that SS has logging capabilities of some sort, but I prefer a written record since things can get lost on upgrades and such. FWIW.

Ourstanding Alan!
Thank you for this wonderful resource.

Wonderful article Alan - thanks for posting it!

pakarinen wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:09 pm
Since I got back into the hobby a couple of years ago, I've been keeping an observation log. Most of my early notes are just lists of what I was able to see with very few details since I didn't want to drag a notebook, pens, red light, etc. scopeside.

More recently I discovered the utility of the Voice Memos app on my phone. Since I use Sky Safari, I have my phone out anyway and it's easy to transcribe detailed voice notes into my log, sometimes many days after the observing session. I'm vaguely aware that SS has logging capabilities of some sort, but I prefer a written record since things can get lost on upgrades and such. FWIW.

I know many folks use a recorder, or type in their notes on a laptop or tablet in the field, or make written notes at the scope. Whatever way one chooses, the main thing is to keep a record. Had I the foresight to make even a simple list of all the things I observed decades ago, that would have been beneficial. Thanks for your input.

Don Quixote wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 2:53 pm Ourstanding Alan!
Thank you for this wonderful resource.

Thanks Mark, and I truly hope you are able to apply some of the things I mentioned to your observing.

helicon wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:58 pm Wonderful article Alan - thanks for posting it!

Thanks Michael. I know in some cases I am sort of preaching to the choir because we have some very skilled observers within our ranks. But even if some of my points serve merely as a reminder to things some already have thought about, then I consider the effort well worth my time.

Thanks very much Alan. Very useful for me. I bookmarked it.

Michael131313 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 11:29 pm Thanks very much Alan. Very useful for me. I bookmarked it.

Thank you Michael. I hope you find that it helps in your pursuit of DSOs.

One aspect that is addressed here Alan is the way we describe what we see. Your commentary on this for each type of DSO is very helpful to me as I want to communicate in the most understandable way to others what I have observed.

Although at this time interest in AP seems to be eclipsing visual astronomy everywhere I am most comfortable with visual astronomy.

Your article is important to me and I am sure to others who like myself are relatively new practitioners of this art.

I will most definitely be put to use the things you have taught me here.

Thank you again.

Спасибо вам за ценную информацию! Поделился ею со своими друзьями: https://vk.com/@openastronomy-klassifik ... nabludenie

Kos wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:22 pm Спасибо вам за ценную информацию! Поделился ею со своими друзьями: https://vk.com/@openastronomy-klassifik ... nabludenie

Спасибо Кос, и я надеюсь, что это полезно для вас и ваших друзей.

Great article!
Thanks for posting

Always a pleasure to read what you write Alan, and this was of course no exception! Thanks for that; if anything, it'll at least keep my frustration level down some

But of course, I hope to and will get more than just that from it

Thanks again and all the best,

Gordon wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2019 11:01 pm Great article!
Thanks for posting

Thank you Gordon and I appreciate having the ability to contribute to the community.

Thefatkitty wrote: ↑Sat Oct 12, 2019 12:14 am Always a pleasure to read what you write Alan, and this was of course no exception! Thanks for that; if anything, it'll at least keep my frustration level down some

But of course, I hope to and will get more than just that from it

Thanks again and all the best,

Thanks Mark, I appreciate your comments. I sincerely hope that it helps you in some small way to get more from your pursuit of DSOs.