DATE
|
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SESSION
|
|
1 January 2002 |
First trip to an astronomy related place -
Kavalur Observatory First saw Mr. Kuppuswamy, one of the two
co-discoverers of Uranus' rings |
|
15 December 2002 |
Geminid Meteor shower One meteor left a very
long trail...for 15 minutes!!! |
|
1 February 2003 |
Sky observation just ON the day of the tragic
Columbia space-shuttle disaster! |
|
8 August 2003 |
Went to CREST at Hosakote, near Bangalore, the
control center of world's highest observatory, Hanle's 2-metre
telescope Saw Prof J.C. Bhattacharya, one of the two
co-discoverers of Uranus' rings |
|
25 October 2003 |
First recording of an observing log First
attempt (unsuccessful) of a comet (Comet 2/P Encke) |
|
January 2004 |
Saw a bright and my first comet (C/2002 T7
LINEAR) with binoculars |
|
July 2004 |
Saw a bright and my second comet (C/2001 Q4
NEAT) with binoculars from city |
|
11
December 2004 |
Spotted with naked-eyes my third and bright
comet (C/2004 Q2 Machholz) |
|
1 January 2005 |
First Astrophotography session with my new SLR
camera |
|
12 February 2005 |
Memorable Southern Milky-Way Sky Attempted
(unsuccessfully) 4 comets in a single night
Saw an unidentified and extremely strange phenomena /
object!!
Windiest observing session ever! |
|
27 December 2005 |
Saw my most number of objects in one session
Saw my first asteroid Vesta, visually with binoculars |
|
28 January 2006 |
Saw the brightest exploding meteor we have ever
seen, it created near-daylight!!! |
|
25 February
2006 |
Fantastic Milky-Way skies Saw a bright and my
fourth comet (C/2006 A1 Pojmanski) |
|
01
March 2006 |
Accidentally "discovered" Junior Red Spot, a new
feature on Jupiter |
|
25 March 2006 |
Our biggest astronomy get-together Saw my
first faint but fifth comet 73/P
Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, before it's memorable approach to us |
|
22 April 2006 |
Observed Comet 73/P S-W 3
Lyrid Meteor shower |
|
6 May 2006 |
Good Photography session Eta-Aquariid Meteor
shower |
|
22 May 2006 |
One of the best Sagittarius Milky-Way's ever
seen! |
|
24 August 2006 |
Truly fantastic skies, saw some new galaxies,
used a 11x80 giant binocular |
|
23 September 2006 |
Saw my 6th comet, came close to discovering a
comet!! |
|
1 October 2006 |
A new comet was discovered the following dawn by
David Levy very close to Saturn, and we came very close to it,
but very unfortunately unsuccessfully !! |
|
16 October 2006 |
Sky-Observations a day before my Birthday!
Detailed observations of Comet 4/P Faye
Saw some Orionid Meteors |
|
21 October 2006 |
Wonderful observing session, saw many (33) new
objects in one night Orionid meteor shower at it's peak, we
could see ~100 meteors inspite of not looking up all the time! |
|
26 October 2006 |
Saw my 8th and 9th comet resp. C/2006 M4 SWAN
and P/2006 T1 Levy |
|
28 October 2006 |
Our group's FIRST but my FOURTH trip to Kavalur
Observatory Had a guided tour of the campus, interacted with
some of the authorities there |
|
10 January 2007 |
I went to Hyderabad for personal work and
unexpectedly ended up doing an outreach session for 2 ICSE
schools on behalf of our BAS! There was a press release too in
few newspapers! Gave a talk/slideshow presentation for around
1 whole hour on "How to discover a Comet" for around
20-25 students in one school and around 400 students in another
school...something most unexpected and extremely frightening!!! |
|
13 January 2007 |
Trip to Yelagiri hill, with excellent skies and
wonderful chilly atmosphere/weather...it reached around 7o
Celsius that day with wind chill factor included!! Trip was
scheduled with a renowned astro-photographer from Chennai - Dr.
Suresh Mohan Saw my 10th comet, C/2006 P1
McNaught which was the brightest in past 4 decades!!! Saw it
with binoculars from ground level. |
|
14 January 2007 |
Saw Comet McNaught for the second time with a
12" f/4.5 telescope this time from above the high Yelagiri hill.
It reached magnitude -6 (negative 6!!) at peak brightness!!!! |
|
15 February 2007 |
Completed observing 200 galaxies! |
|
24 February 2007 |
Completion of observing 400 DSO's with a
telescope!! |
|
15 March 2007 |
My first Messier Marathon-2007 In my first
attempt out of 110 Messier objects I could manage to get 101 of
them, missing out only 9 of them...a wonderful thing for a first
attempt! |
|
17 March 2007 |
My second Messier Marathon-2007...a Double
Marathon attempted by me! Comparatively very bad results.
Should have got much more after first attempt. Got 100 Messier
objects only...one object less than the first attempt. |
|
18 March 2007 |
Second Trip to CREST, Hosakote, the control
center of Himalayan 2-metre telescope. General sky observing
with handful of students from REAP, Planetarium and other people
from CREST.
Partial Solar Eclipse on next day dawn! Very wonderful and
successful event. |
|
7 April
2007 |
Observed few new Messiers with binoculars making
my count go to 85 with a 10x50 handheld binoculars! |
|
14 April
2007 |
Yelagiri second trip, coming exactly
3 months after the first one. Members from TANASTRO with BAS
got together and witnessed one of the biggest gatherings in
South India, with a big range of equipment. |
|
12 May 2007 |
Bad
skies and weather
Observed the BEST Jupiter EVER!! |
|
20 May 2007 |
Bad
skies and weather
Introduced 5 girls into observing...something first time for me!
Saw a very bright and long
orange meteor, approximately -6 to -7 magnitude! |
|
9-13 June 2007 |
My 5th trip for Vainu Bappu Observatory; this
time it was for some scientific purpose! Spent 4 nights there
using the 40-inch SCT telescope!! Took spectra of few objects.
Also in free time got to observe 4 objects visually with
it!!
I also observed few objects with the 10x50 binoculars from
the Observatory.
Sketched one of my best and detailed Jupiter observed! |
|
20 October 2007 |
Observation of the new season, after a long time
Extremely bad skies
Saw some Orionid meteors |
|
3 November 2007 |
Observed the beautiful Comet 17/P
Holmes in detail Very bad skies
Missed Comet C/2007 F1 LONEOS |
|
10 November 2007 |
Trip to Om Shanti Dhama, before
Mekedatu near Sangam confluence Foggy skies, not very good.
Excellent view of Comet Holmes!!
|
|
14 November 2007 |
Excellent and clear, dark
transparent skies...Observing from Sivanhalli after a long time
Saw a very strange rocket exhaust looking like bright Comet
Hale-Bopp in the sky!!
Another excellent view of Comet Holmes!!
Observed one of the best sunrise and morning twilight skies
in my life!! |
|
7-9 December 2007 |
Our biggest astronomy get together
at Hampi, an ancient World Heritage site! Attended by ~35
enthusiasts!!! Sightseeing of the historical place during
daytime. Introduction to sky-observing during night-time
for atleast nearly 25-30 newcomers!
"Re-discovered" Comet Holmes with naked-eyes as a very large
and diffuse ghostly patch! |
|
14 December 2007 |
Geminid meteor observing...saw ~90
meteors including many fireballs!! Observed my first new
galaxy after nearly 10 months!!!
The large and ghostly Comet Holmes was just amazing! |
|
5
January 2008 |
A truly superb observing session at
Sivanhalli for 8 of us, this location coming
after 2 years! Very windy and cold. Good Southern
skies.
The BEST astrophotography trip ever...with images of several
objects with camera and tracking setup! |
|
12
January 2008 |
BIGGEST star party with TANASTRO at
Thiruvallur, with around 65 members and around 10 equipments!!
It included a Celestron 25x100 binocs and 10" f/5 Meade Light
bridge. Light polluted skies. It was mainly introduction to
newcomers
Few members carried on Astrophotography, and others observed. |
|
17
January 2008 |
Astrophotography and observing trip
to Sivanhalli. Very windy and chilly session. Heavy
fog gathered after 4 am. Moonset at 2 am. Activity began
after that.
Best Eta Carinae Nebula! |
|
2 February 2008 |
Trip to Kavalur
Observatory and Hogenekkal Waterfalls; gang of 15 people from
Infosys and BAS Entirely clouded and disastrous skies!!
Guided tour of Observatory and lots of fun at the waterfalls |
|
1 March 2008 |
Third trip to Yelagiri
Hills; excellent session with members from BAS and Chennai
Wonderful astro-photography done and observing done
Saw quite a few new galaxies after a really long time!! |
|
5 March 2008 |
Hosahalli observing session; very
good skies, light polluted and some bad events disrupted the
event!! Saw few new galaxies after a very long time |
|
10 April 2008 |
VERY superb and lucky session!!!
Excellent skies and local conditions. Enhanced views of DSO's !!
Observed ~25 new galaxies with exceptional success rate!!! |
|
23 October 2008 |
First (unsuccessful) observing with
the Parallelogram mount and Oberwerk 25x100 large binoculars
EXCEPTIONAL skies, especially North, at Atgaon, 100 km off
Mumbai!!! |
| 29 October 2008 |
Observing with new friends in Atgaon,
100 km off Mumbai under good dark skies
Observed Comet C/2008 A1 McNaught and many other celestial
splendors with the 25x100 binocs |
|
28-29 November 2008 |
Totally cloudy skies. Trip to Mahuli fort-hill, 100km of Mumbai |
|
4 December 2008 |
Good session after a long time; saw C/2006 OF2 Brougthon and some more DSO's |
|
26-28 December 2008 |
Second trip to Lonar Meteor Crater.
Saw some of the BEST dark and clearest skies!!! |
|
30 December 2008 |
Sky observing at Atgaon, off Mumbai
Observed Comet 144/P Kusihda with 10x50 binocs. |
|
5 January 2009 |
Observed few new galaxies after a
very long time
Re-observed Comet Lulin after it's re-emergence from behind Sun |
|
|
| TOTAL ENTRIES |
58
ENTRIES |
