Astronomy Hacks

Maintain an Observing Notebook

Keep your log sheets, custom charts, object lists, and other reference material organized for easy access.

Being organized makes your observing sessions more productive. One major aid to organization is a proper observing notebook. We use ours to store blank observing log pages, custom-printed star charts, object lists, equipment checklists, and other reference material. We also store our completed observing log pages in our notebooks until we have time to transfer our observing records to our consolidated spreadsheets. Figure 2-30 shows Barbara recording an observation on her log sheet.

Figure 2-30. Barbara recording an observation in her notebook

Here’s some advice based on how we organize our personal observing notebooks:

• Use a standard three-ring binder with clear plastic pockets on the outside covers. The pockets provide convenient places to store custom-printed star charts and other reference material you’ll need frequently over the course of the evening. The plastic pockets protect the sheets from dew.

• Buy a ream of pre-punched paper, and use it to print all of your log sheets, charts, and so on.

• Buy a set of tab dividers to organize the contents of your observing notebook. Print labels for the tab dividers using a large, bold font for easy readability under dim red light. Robert’s notebook currently has the following tabs, with the current in-progress ...