Well, 2011 has come to a close and it is time to take stock of my endeavors in this hobby. I think it is useful to look back at the year and review what was accomplished. This is an exercise that I find very helpful to understand where I am going in the hobby and to assist me in setting direction and plans for the new year. Just like the resolutions we declare in our New Year celebrations, my plans I set out at the start of the year can sometimes fall along the wayside as the year marches on. However, planning is an integral part of my professional life and it has permeated into my recreational life as well. So how did I do on 2011? Well let's review...
I had a total of 21 observing nights in 2011. This is a 25% increase over 2010. I split these nights just about evenly between my local dark site and the three star parties I attended in 2011. With the exception of the star parties, It looks like I average about once per month observing at my local dark site.
In April, I attended the
Hodges Garden Star Party hosted by the Baton Rouge Astronomy Club. While I would not describe the skies as extremely dark, the laid back and friendly style of the hosts and the beauty of the gardens is enough to place this party on my schedule this year, and with any luck I will be accompanied by my wife, Cindy, for her first star party attendance.
May 2011 brought the the
Texas Star Party. This was my third trip to dark skies of Fort Davis Texas. This is usually the premier event for the year, however, the cloudy skies and area grass fires made the observing the poorest of my three trips out there. I am not one to be discouraged as this was certainly an "outlier" year for TSP and I plan on returning in April of this year. Hopefully the earlier time and wetter winter conditions will be more conducive to observing.
The highlight of the year had to be the
Eldorado Star Party hosted by the Austin and San Antonio clubs. I was able to observe four out of the five nights I was there. The skies for two of the nights were near perfect. This party is quickly becoming one of my favorites as the skies are usually really good and the drive is tolerable. It is on my schedule for October this year.
My log book shows that I logged 250 objects in 2011. This is an increase of 65% over 2010. So with only a 25% increase in the number of observing nights, I conclude that I am being more efficient with my observing time. I owe some of this to the
voice recorder that I started to use last year, and some of it to the use of setting circles on my Dob. I am finding it easier to find objects now. I expect to see another increase in productivity in 2012 with the
CPC800's GOTO capabilities.
I logged 94 Herschel 400 objects in 2011. This brings me up to 40% complete on my H400 project. I suspect that with the CPC800, I may be able to double this number in 2012. With any luck I should be 75% complete by the end of the year.
Galaxies made up 40% of the objects that were observed in 2011. While galaxies held a lot of interest for me in 2011, I find that I am being drawn more to the beauty of globular clusters and the peculiarities of planetary nebulae. It will be interesting to see the distribution in 2012.
2011 also brought the opportunity to give a couple of presentations to my local club.
Beyond the Messier List was a presentation to introduce novice observers to additional observing lists like the Caldwell and Herschel lists.
The second presentation was entitled
Halton Arp - Challenging Paradigms. This was a discussion of some of
Arp's observations of peculiar galaxies and the uncomfortable theories he has espoused regarding the origin of red shift and the non-expansion of the universe.
So what will 2012 bring? Well I am looking forward to observing with the CPC800. I think that this will bring a whole new level to my observing by providing me with more time to observe as I will be spending less time "finding"
What about Zoe, my 10" light bucket? Well there is still room for her in my heart. I see a special place for Zoe in observing those fainter galaxies, galaxy groups and clusters where aperture and field of view are king. Just as a golfer has different clubs in their bag for different situations, so does the serious amateur astronomer need different scopes for different situations. Cindy might be a little concerned with this analogy as she knows how many clubs are typically in a golf bag and I am certain she would bristle at the suggestion that I needed more scopes to adorn our living room!
Happy New Year and Clear Skies!
rw
Seeing that I was observing from the backyard under less than ideal conditions, I decided that I would take the time to sketch this wonderful object. Sketching is a fantastic way to make the observer to take their time in observing the details. Case in point, I spent about an hour observing and sketching.
