Observing Log
This is going to be a while before it appears! I'm currently typing up my observing logs. I've finished the first notebook and am part way through 1993. I also have a lot of sketches to scan. I hope to end up with a nicely indexed set of sketches and notes. While I'm getting this sorted out, a few old (fairly poor) scans of whole pages from my observing book can be found here.
To make note-taking very quick, I use a shorthand similar to the one described by David Levy in his excellent book "The Sky: A User's Guide" (pp62-3).
The scheme used [but I'm thinking of modifying this slightly] is:
Session No.// Sky conditions(0-10)// Instrument(s)// Date// Time(UT)// Location// Companions//
Using abbreviations for fields like location (for sites you use regularly) gives you even less to write each time.
Sky conditions
Rated on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 means rain and 10 means the darkest rural sky. The Saguaro Astronomy Club uses a similar scale. I'm going to change this to use a more versatile rating.
Regular observing sites
- Brid St -- my parents' home in Hunmanby, North Yorkshire, UK. Ranging from an almost rural sky on good nights (NELM 6ish), to a moderately light polluted town on slightly cloudy/hazy nights, with a streetlight blocking most of the southern view.
- Q Dr -- my backyard in the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. NELM of around 5.0 on the best nights; much worse than this typically.
Generally, sites from Sep 2003 onwards are likely to be in Canada, and prior to that the UK. I'll try to index all the sites eventually. The map below shows Yorkshire (where the bulk of my observing was done) colour-coded according to the level of light pollution (dark being the least light polluted), with some of my regular observing sites arrowed. Not shown is the carpark of Holbeck Hall Hotel which, in June 1993, famously fell into the sea!
Occasional observing sites
- CTIO, Cerro Tololo, Chile, long 4:43:16, lat -30:09:18, elev 2215m
- LCO, Las Campanas, Chile, long 4:42:48, lat -29:00.5, elev 2282m