Yes, I am going to try and blog a bit more this year on this site. I began a while back putting up my observations as they relate to objects shown on the Uranometria atlas, all sky edition. So I might revive that project, which is nearly endless, like observing the night sky itself. But for this post, I will merely glance back on 2023 and review some of the highlights of my observing year.
First of all, it seems that actual amateur observing at the eyepiece continues to be in its declining years. This is due to many factors, including light pollution becoming worse each year, people losing touch with Nature in general due to living in large cities, and to the growing world of astro photography, which is finally in reach of amateurs who are not good with high tech gadgets. Each day we get more and more photos published everywhere that are astounding, yet repeating over and over what has already been accomplished. I am curious as to have many (good) amatuer photos are available on the internet of the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, and nebula in Cygnus. It is likely an astronomical number. We won't even discuss the Messier list being photographed. Where some astro photographers are doing some fun work is among the less known and fainter nebula. To this day I am often underwhelmed by a telescope view of many nebula, mostly reflection type. So when a good photo becomes available of some of these visually poor objects, it is indeed a revelation. However, to this observer, no photo ever comes close to a visual look at M42 in a 12" telescope, or M11 in an 8" scope, or any of hundreds of open and globular clusters and double stars seen through a telescope eyepiece against a dark sky background.
These days I must travel far to get to a decent dark site. Currently, when there are no construction detours, my drive is 38 miles one way to a site I use. It takes 50 minutes. Even so, the northwest sky is unusable (Detroit/Windsor). But the south sky is quite good, even down below -35 degrees for doubles and clusters. I observe from 42 degrees north latitude. During 2023 I managed over 101 hours at the eyepiece on 34 separate outings. I observed objects mostly in Canis Major, Coma Berenices, Serpens Caput, Ophiuchus, Hercules (mostly overlooked double stars), Capricorn, Aquarious, Cetus, and Perseus. I use a 12" Dobsonian scope. I am able to keep the telescope assembled and in the car for the two weeks per month it is used. It fits easily into my VW Golf wagon, and dark sky set up takes about ten minutes, plus collimation (our roads are quite bad and bumpy where I live). Collimation takes anywhere from 1-3 minutes each time.
I keep at least one constellation prepped per season, and usually two. In the field I take Uranometria and my prep sheets. Each side of the sheet has about ten objects on it, both deep sky and double stars. I will often begin and end a session with some planetary observing. This past year Jupiter has been splendid most nights!
Here are some highlights from my year. First light for 2023 was February 12th. Conditions were excellent, and the temperature was mild (32 F). I began in Perseus, where I observed two fine nebula, gn 1579 and gn 1491. Oc 1528 was also fun to observe, being large and scattered but totally filled with bright stars. This is likely a real prize for a 6" scope. Later that night I worked in Canis Major, observing mostly clusters. However, I did seek out eg 2267, and at -32.5 degrees it becomes a challenge even to see it. It is also involved with two stars, making it even harder to discern from my location. A better galaxy for viewing is eg I. 456, located just below -30 degrees.
February 13th was also clear! In Perseus, triple star Epsilon (45; Stf 471) was an eye popping beautiful sight! Stf 426 also made a superb object to view. Other Perseus highlights that night were oc 1342, and enormous pn 1514 (it's in Taurus but easy to access from Perseus).
February 17th I was back in Perseus, enjoying views of oc 1545 and oc 1513, among several others. Oc 2362 really stood out, a lovely sight at 86x! The central star here is a colourful triple. And speaking of colourful, don't miss out on H 3495, an orange and blue pair that will remind viewers of Beta Cygni!!
In March I sampled a low globular in Puppis. Gc 2298 sits at -36 degrees. With my telescope almost level, it was located at 107x. Nothing much resolved, but it proved to be quite a large object. This is likely quite a showpiece from southerly latitudes. Oc Collinder 135 sits at -37 degrees, as I continued to experiment with extreme south objects. In Canis Major, oc 2345 proved to be a wonderful object to observe! I had my best view at 166x.
In April I did some work in Pyxis. Except for double stars, this is a very challenging area for deep sky objects. However, oc 2627 lies at a more comfortable -30 degrees. This one turned into a decent prize! This one requires some heavy duty magnification to resolve some of the background haze, but it is worth the journey. My best view was at 221x, where faint stars were popping out everywhere, somewhat like a globular. Sextans is a little better,and I seem to be able to locate the NGC galaxies with a bit of time and luck. Eg 3156 is a dandy for a 12" scope. Even 8" shows this one nicely.
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