Recap 2011

As far as real astronomy concerned, probably nothing was done this year.

Number of observations were: 4
Dark night outside city observations : 1

Couple of them were with my parents here. They indeed enjoyed Jon's 25" telescope

Overall, I spent 365 days observing our little Pole star: Dhruv..

Recap 2010

Total Observations : 17
Mountain/Dark night observations : 9

Seems like number of observations are same as previous year of 2009.. no improvement.. Wonder why :)?

2010 Events:

- In Jan, Observed Mars for first time. Northern Polar ice cap was fabulous.
- In March, first observation with Aparna in mountains..it was damn cold.
- In April, Jon gifted his APO 102ED as a wedding present. That was mind blowing. He gave me a sweet surprise, by announcing it on Cloudy Nights.
- In April, observation from Grand Canyon. Marvelous.
- In May, Systematic observation of Virgo fuzzies. It was rewarding.
- In Aug, Moved to house in mission valley.. From orange zone to red zone... Damn.
- In Oct, Comet Hartley observations. the impressive part is in one night, over 3-4 hrs, comet movement in the sky can be noticed very easily.
- In Oct, Observed Uranus again. Not that difficult, once you know where to look at i.e. which pin-point star is indeed Uranus.
- In Oct, almost finished all messier objects except M102. M102 is almost set in western skies, so need to wait for 2011. Damn.
- In Dec, Gogol/Ulka :) surprised us, still made our life heavenly.

2011 Events:

- Jon got a new scope.. Obsession 25" F/5. Its massive.
- In Mar, Observed through the big canon. Marvelous views.
- In Mar, Finished all Messier objects. Took almost three years to bag all of them.
- From July onwards, going to miss astronomy for a while :). So I better collect some photons in next three months.

Mar 2011 : Messier status

M1 Crab (6)
M10 (2)
M101 Pinwheel (5)
M102 Spindle (2)
M103 (3)
M104 Sombrero (6)
M106 (2)
M106-4217 (1)
M107 (2)
M108 (3)
M109 (4)

M11 WildDucks (6)
M12 (2)
M13 (11)
M13 GC-6207 Gal (1)
M14 (2)
M15 (1)
M16 Eagle (4)
M17 Swan (9)
M18 (1)
M19 (1)

M2 (2)
M20 Triffid (10)
M21 (2)
M22 (6)
M22-M28 (5)
M23 (1)
M23- M24- M25 (5)
M26-NGC6712 (1)
M27 Dumbbell (8)
M28 (3)
M29 (4)

M3 GC (7)
M30 (8)
M31 Andromeda- M32- M110 (11)
M33 Triangulum (8)
M34 (3)
M35 (7)
M37-M36-M38 OC Triplet (6)
M39 (1)

M4 (6)
M4-GC6144 (4)
M40 (1)
M41 (8)
M42 Orion-M43 (11)
M44 Beehive (4)
M45 Pleiades (6)
M46-M47 OC Pair (8)
M48 (2)
M49 (2)

M5 (1)
M50 (3)
M51 Whirlpool (11)
M52 (4)
M53 GC (4)
M54 (3)
M55 (4)
M56 (2)
M57 Ring (15)
M58 (2)
M58-M59-M60 (1)
M59 (1)

M60 (1)
M61 (1)
M62 (2)
M63 (5)
M64 Black Eye (2)
M65-M66-3628 Gal (10)
M67 (3)
M68 GC (2)
M69 (2)

M7-M6 (9)
M70 (1)
M71 (2)
M72-M73 (7)
M74 (2)
M75 (2)
M76 Little Dumbbell (4)
M77 (1)
M77-1055-1087 (1)
M78 (5)
M79 (2)

M8 Lagoon (12)
M8 Lagoon - 6530 OC (1)
M80 (4)
M81-M82 Gal Bodes Neb (10)
M81-M82-3077-2976 (1)
M83 Seashell (3)
M84-M86 (3)
M85 (1)
M87 (1)
M87-M89-M90 (1)
M88-M91 (3)
M89 (1)

M9 (1)
M90 (1)
M92 (4)
M93 (7)
M94 (4)
M95-M96-M105 (6)
M97 Owl (3)
M97 Owl - M108 (1)
M98-M99-M100 (3)

Recap 2009

Here is the summary for last years observations.

Total Observations: 16
Mountain/Dark Place Observations: 9

Lost the tempo lil bit after June 09 :) and took a while to get back and then again has to leave during nov-dec !!

In 08 recap blog, I mentioned to finish Messier, SAC and RASC list. I wasn't able to.

- Finished almost 75% objects from messier (Details below) and 50% from SAC and RASC.
- First dark night with Orion XTi in Jan 09
- Watched comet Lulin in March 09.
- Managed ~half messier marathon in March 09
- Co-hosted SDAA 22" scope in April 09.
- First "Friday" night dark site observation in April 09 and Sept 09.
- Purchased first Nagler: 17T4 in May 09.
- Purchased iPhone in July 09. Tried the voyager software on it. Definitely helpful.
- Used Virtual moon atlas.
- Sent Celestron 102 f/5 refractor to India in Dec. Sent 35mm, 25m, TMB 6mm EPs and 2x barlow with it.

For coming year,
- Already borrowed Jon's AT102ED Virtual-APO. Jon has switched to TV NP-101 APO
- Already observed Mars for first time. Northern Polar cap is awesome.
- Need to train Aparna lil bit :)
- Will definitely bag all messiers.

Missing Guys: M9, M10, M19, M49, M58, M59, M60, M61, M70, M80, M87, M89, M90, M102.

One time observed guys: M2+, M5+, M12+, M14+, M18+, M21+, M26+, M39+, M40+, M54+, M62+, M64+, M68+, M69+, M71+, M74+, M75+, M77+, M83+, M84+, M85+, M86+, M88+, M91+, M98+, M99+, M100+, M106+, M107+.

M1 Crab (2)
M2 (1)
M3 GC (3)
M4 (3)
M4-GC6144 (3)
M5 (1)
M7-M6 (7)
M8 Lagoon (8)

M10 (1)
M11 WildDucks (4)
M12 (1)
M13 (8)
M14 (1)
M16 Eagle (3)
M17 Swan (5)
M18 (1)

M20 Triffid (6)
M21 (1)
M22 (6)
M22-M28 (2)
M23- M24- M25 (3)
M26-NGC6712 (1)
M27 Dumbbell (6)
M28 (3)
M29 (3)

M30 (5)
M31 Andromeda- M32- M110 (8)
M33 Triangulum (7)
M34 (3)
M35 (3)
M37-M36-M38 OC Triplet (2)
M39 (1)

M40 (1)
M41 (6)
M42 Orion-M43 (7)
M44 Beehive (3)
M45 Pleiades (2)
M46-M47 OC Pair (5)
M48 (2)

M50 (3)
M51 Whirlpool (6)
M52 (3)
M53 GC (3)
M54 (1)
M55 (2)
M56 (2)
M57 Ring (12)

M62 (1)
M63 (2)
M64 Black Eye (1)
M65-M66-3628 Gal (6)
M67 (3)
M68 GC (1)
M69 (1)

M71 (1)
M72-M73 (6)
M74 (1)
M75 (1)
M76 Little Dumbbell (2)
M77 (1)
M78 (3)
M79 (2)

M81-M82 Gal Bodes Neb (6)
M83 Seashell (1)
M84-M86 (1)
M85 (1)
M88-M91 (1)

M92 (3)
M93 (4)
M94 (2)
M95-M96-M105 (4)
M97 Owl (3)
M98-M99-M100 (1)

M101 (3)
M103 (2)
M104 Sombrero (3)
M106 (1)
M107 (1)
M108 (3)
M109 (3)

Recap Year '08 and Plan for '09

Astronomy kicked in Phase II finally. Started serious deep sky observations with 6" and then to 10" personal scopes. With Deep Sky Objects, new sky has opened up.

- Bought Orion XTi 10 Intelliscope.
- Met Jon Isaacs. His help and advice has been proved priceless.

- Total Observations: 16 = 14 documented + ~2 un-documented.

In year '09 :
- Number of observations should double.. atleast 26 !!
- Messier Marathon
- RASC Finest NGC object list
- SAC Best of NGC object list