It has been a long time since I actually counted my personally observed and logged NGC list. When I acquired the 12" scope back in 2013 I decided to try and view as many of the list available to my location (42 N Lat.). It turns out that more than half of the 7800+ objects are viewable from where I am. Obviously I will not get through more than 4000 of them. Will I? To reach a reasonably dark sky I now have to drive 38 miles from home. So nearly 80 miles round trip. Readers can imagine how happy I am when I get out there only to find that the forecast doesn't pan out, and it is cloudy. It happens, and is all part of the game. Try to outwit the sky conditions, and predict when I might get some work done. I consider 10 objects, including double stars, to be a minimally decent enough night, or 5 deep sky objects. I always aspire to 20 or more, which makes the drive worthwhile. Nearly two hours of driving to get in 3 hours of observing. Though often I could stay longer, my eyes usually tire after 3 hours.
This February 2024 has been the warmest in my astronomy career. I managed to get out four times and do some great deep sky and double star work. When that last session was complete I finally tallied my object list. I do not maintain a count of the hundreds and hundreds of double stars I have seen, but I do of deep sky objects. Here is my life total to date:
NGC objects: 2779 (!!!).
IC objects: 416.
Objects from other catalogues: 817.
Total deep sky list: 4012.
All objects are indexed, and I can find any object in my notes quickly and easily. The ones I have seen are also underlined in red in my Uranometria atlas.
And a major milestone is rapidly approaching. To date I have logged 989 observing sessions! With luck and clear skies, I will reach my 1000th observation session sometime this spring! I plan on baking a cake for that occasion. What will I do on my 1000th observation? Carry on with the great work.
Mapman Mike
