by Jamie Dillon
Well, TACos, I just caught up a big job that's been months in preparation, transcribing my paper logs to Jeff Blanchard's FileMaker format. Started this around June 2000, having gotten my first Messier survey onto a database. This was having started with a telescope seriously in January 1999, so there were long stretches where I was logging DSO's on paper a whole lot quicker than I was catching up in the database.
Broke into 2001 earlier this week (on summer vacation). Tonight finished moving over notes from LSA last new Moon. So here are the results: 370 deep sky objects observed and described so far in two and a half years, 260 past the Messier list, all in Felix. Right, that's some 12 a month. Plenty of revisits, going over complex fields on successive nights, some sketches. Had 42 observing sessions the first year, 40 the next, and so far 21 this year. As you can see that's about 3.6 new objects per session. The record nights for objects/night were 25 March '00, when I ventured into the Realm of the Galaxies (29), and the week after at the Machholz Marathon (23). Cone Peak last May was hot at 17.
Quite a few of those sessions continue to be from the backyard. With our sky averaging 4.5 to 4.8 limiting magnitude, new objects from the yard happen sporadically. Well over 60% of observing nights are remote: at the Peak, Coe, Dinosaur Point, up top at Pacheco, Cone Peak, Lassen, Lake San Antonio, Meherana out of Mariposa. Add some good binocular nights from Martha's Vineyard off Massachusetts, and Huatulco at 16 north.
Out of Dickinson's atlas I have some 91 deepsky objects still to go find. Most of them are galaxies in Ursa Major and Canes Venatici, and yes Virgo and Coma. Healthy sprinkling in the southern winter sky, in Cetus, Eridanus, Fornax and Sculptor. A lot of these are in fields where SkyAtlas shows quite a few more, so I'm really not in any kind of a hurry. Lessee how the Peak looks tomorrow night.
Thanks for listening, gang. And thanks for the database format, Jeff.