OITH Goals is a companion to the deep-sky field book, Objects in the Heavens, and/or your favorite star chart(s).
Fill columns with information that will help find objects of interest and to plan a night's viewing. Once the goals are outlined, viewing priorities can be set for each item. If the weather cooperates, your search time could be reduced and viewing enjoyment greatly enhanced.
Once the prime objects have been seen, notes can be taken and sketches made to provide you with memories in the years to come. Sketching will definitely improve your ability to see details. Though sketching takes practice, even simple drawings will help you learn more about the object in sight.
Here's a wonderful quote from the Rev. T.W.Webb in 1859:
“Do not avoid the trouble of recording regularly all you see, under the impression it is of no use. If it has no other good effect, it tends to form a valuable habit of accuracy; and you might find it of unexpected importance. And... trust nothing to memory. If there has been haste – and sometimes if there has not – it is surprising what unforeseen doubts may arise the next day; make at least rough notes at the time, and reduce them speedily into form, before you forget their meaning.
“Do not be discouraged, by ignorance of drawing, from attempting to represent what you see. Everybody ought to be able to draw; it is the education of the eye, and greatly increases its capacity and correctness; but even a rough sketch may have its use; taken on the spot and compared with the original, it will not be all untrue; it may secure something worth preserving, and lead to further improvement.”
• 60 pages plus cover, lay-flat spiral-binding, digest size: 5.5" x 8.5"
• 25 goals pages with 2 sketching circles opposite (50 circles)
• Personal equipment and site fill-in details
• Spring, summer, fall and winter seasonal sky maps
• Observing questions for object types
• How to grade the sky: transparency, seeing and darkness
• plus room for additional notes
Shown in the photo from the top down:
• NGC1977, a bright emission nebula
• M43, small reflection nebula next to M42
• M42, the Orion Nebula. This marvelous deep-sky object is visible in the winter sky, just below the "belt" of The Hunter. It appears to the unaided eye as a "soft star." Some of the nebulosity (gaseous cloudiness) can be detected through binoculars. A 6-inch reflector shows the tiny Trapezium, 4 newly formed stars, in the bright middle.
• NGC 1980, the "Running Man" nebula/cluster surrounds Iota Orionis.
Photo by Naoyuki Kurita
