Finally hit 500 tracked objects in my backyard shots

I was just going through my old folders from last spring and counted everything I've logged. I started with a basic DSLR and a cheap tripod in my yard in Boise. The big jump came after I got a star tracker, letting me catch way more faint stuff. It feels pretty cool to see that number, even if most are just dots. Anyone else keep a running count of what they've captured?

3 comments

3 Comments

olivia_hernandez2mo ago

That jump after getting a star tracker is so real. I remember my own count just exploding once I could take longer exposures from my driveway. It's funny, most of my list is just catalog numbers now, but scrolling through it still feels like a real record of all those nights out there. Keeping the log is half the fun for me.

wadebailey16h ago

Ngl, "spreadsheet of tiny specks" is exactly how I felt about logging for a while too. I read somewhere that visual astronomers log differently than imagers because you're actually seeing the object through the eyepiece, not just capturing photons for stacking. That kinda clicked for me. I still log my sessions, but I keep it super loose now, just a quick note on what I saw and a one-word rating like "clear" or "meh." It stopped feeling like homework once I dropped the strict count stuff. For me, the log is more about remembering which nights were worth freezing my butt off for, not about bragging rights on a number.

jesse2902mo ago

Honestly, 500 is a wild number. I get keeping a list, but at a certain point it's just a spreadsheet of tiny specks. Like @olivia_hernandez said, it's mostly catalog numbers. I tried logging stuff for a while and it started feeling more like homework than a hobby. Isn't the point just to look at the pretty pictures?