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https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html
And welcome.
Welcome to 'UnderSouthWest Skies'. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find the experience worthwhile. This blog post has been written from my own 'beginner perspective' after doing lots of reading on various basic astronomy and astrophotography topics of interest to beginners. In getting my head around it all, I may have got odd bits slightly wrong; but, like you, I am on a leaning journey, so please forgive any unintentional errors. Also, just because I have gone down a particular road regarding equipment, doesn't mean that I have chosen the 'CORRECT' route!
Meanwhile, clear skies to you. Take care and thanks for visiting Steve aka PlymouthAstroBoy
Well, some people do. Others don't. Which are you?
I'm the former - I keep notes on everything. I have hundreds of used notebooks upstairs in my study - all the ones from when I was a teacher. Then there are my note books for the various blogs and YouTube channels I have. Don't fret for me - I only have one on the go at any one time. But I keep hold of them - no idea why, but there we go!
So, the big question - 'What's the point of keeping an astrophotography and/or astronomy notebook?'
Memories! Developing one's observation skills - of the night sky; of the weather; of the activities done by myself and with others.
A diary of your experiences and learning journey (normally why I keep a logbook of some form). What you have done, seen, learned! How you have grown in skills and understanding. What you achieved and how you felt on those cold nights when your rig frosted over and you lost contact with your hands and feet. A memory bank - what the first deep space object was that you saw and drew all those years ago! Big picture overview details easily remembered; little picture minutiae details, easily forgotten. A record of deep space objects observed that you can return to easily and compare notes from a more recent observation session against. What's changed? How have your viewing skills since last time improved?
My dinghy cruising blog, for example, ran for fifteen years with many subscribers and tens of thousands of page views every year. I kept a dinghy cruising log book of every single time afloat. My dinghy cruising YouTube channel - a visual diary of fifteen years afloat through over 270 odd videos. stories, adventures, skills development, personal reflections, hardships, accidents, capsizes, successes, wildlife encounters - all there as memories.
Above are my astronomy log book pages. I could buy one but I just made up my own and I print them off as and when and then stick them into a big spiral bound A4 book. I think they get most of the details of what I want to record. I can expand on some details e.g. mentioning fog, dew, pollution, turbulence etc. Encounters with wildlife - recently its been foxes, hedgehogs, sheep and wild ponies! Starlink satellite chains!
There are appropriate places in which to record note about DSO's - RA and Dec details, brightness, constellation details etc.
Anyway, hope these help. I am sure there are software programs that will do it but I'm not one for those. I gain greater enjoyment from writing during the observation/astrophotography night.
With regard to my astrophotography logbook - it's more a jotter than a log book. Similar things get written in - a plan for the night; shooting details e.g. how many lights, at what exposure length etc.
I guess that over the years I will build up a series of these to look back over, which will be fun.
If you have a particular design for your log book why not share the details with us - drop us a comment below.
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