Using Your AOAS Logsheets

Sunday, July 13 2003 @ 10:39 am EDT

Contributed by: bobmoody

You can start to enjoy the satisfaction of keeping and completing your own logbooks today. Here's a quick primer on how to operate the AOAS logsheets!

I'm sure that some of you are getting tired of hearing me ask you to start an observer's logbook. Well, this is the time to start one (cause I'm not going to stop trying to get everybody to start one) with your own downloadable AOAS Logbook for Messiers, Herschel I's and Herschel II's.

I've spent a great deal of time creating a "user friendly" set of logsheets. Anyone, member or not, can download a single sheet which you can use in MS Word to enter all the information for your individual observations. Make copies of this page to equal the number of pages needed to fill a complete logbook. AOAS Members may take advantage of having entire logbooks at your disposal as an added benefit of paid membership. Just e-mail our Webmaster with a request, & we will return e-mail the Member's Logbooks.

To begin, look at the logsheet. It is arranged so that there are basically three rows of information for each object, together with a notes area space equal to the three rows. On the far left side of the sheet, you should use the first field or box to enter the name of the object you seek to find. The box directly under that may be used to describe the object's type. The third box should list where the object is located by constellation. All of these fields are already filled in for AOAS Members logbooks only.

Non-members simply download a logsheet, print some copies and begin to fill it out. By clicking on any of the fields, such as Date: your insertion point automatically starts in that field. The font size is preset so that the date can fit into the space provided. (don't change the size of the font or you'll lose the ability to get all the info into the box! In some cases, making the info bold helps to see it without overfilling the box) Same thing for every field, just click and fill it in with the information for your particular observation (See example). For use in the field, a printed set of blank logsheets can be used at the telescope as observations are made.

The Messier Catalog has 110 objects which are scattered all over the sky. Not all will be available on any given night, unless you're trying to tackle that magical time around spring equinox each year when it is possible to catch all 110 in one night in an event known as a Messier Marathon. The information for each object is entered as the object is located and observed. (Again, a set of blank logsheets are used in the field at the telescope and the written info can later be entered into your computer logsheets, or simply punched and placed in a three-ring binder.)

Date, Time, Power used, Instrument size and type, and Seeing conditions will be different for everyone's individual equipment. When it comes to the notes section, an observer simply describes what the object looks like through the eyepiece.

For the Herschel Catalogs, more information is needed, and if you're a member, much of it has been included in the complete logbooks. The upper left box for each object contains the object's NGC number. In the box below that, I've given you the object type, and used many different sources to give you some idea of the dimensions of the object listed in degrees(d) minutes of arc (') or seconds of arc (") and finally on that row, the magnitude of that object, such as 13.1m. The final row lists the constellation where the object is found.In addition, each Notes box contains the numerical order of the object listed 001 thru 400, and any popular name for that object such as The Veil Nebula. Also, the font size is set to allow four lines of typed text.

I hope that this will inspire more of our members to start an observer's logbook (there I go again) since some of the things you would have had to look up are already listed for you. You still have to use a telescope to find the objects, and you still have to list the information in your logsheets. But it is my sincere hope that you will be beaming with pride the day that your observing certificate arrives in the mail and you proudly hang it on your wall. Who know's, maybe you'll even thank me for prodding you 'till you finally did it!

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