TSP Telescope Observing Club

By John Wagoner, Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas

RULES AND REGULATIONS

Welcome to the Texas Star Party’s Telescope Observing Club. The purpose of this club is not to test your observing skills by throwing the toughest objects at you that are hard to see under any conditions, but to give you an opportunity to observe 28 showcase objects under the ideal conditions of these pristine West Texas skies, thus displaying them to their best advantage.

The regular observing program is “2012″.  You need to observe all 28 objects to get your pin, but if you are using a smaller scope and have a little trouble with some of the objects, just mark it as “tried” and move on, and you will get credit for the object. Also, be careful of the RA and DEC in the list as they are not in order. There is a reason for this. See if you can figure it out.

We are also bringing back LIONS, TIGERS and BEARS from last year. This is a list of 25 commonly named objects.

That’s it, just observe the objects on either list. Any size telescope can be used. All observations must be made at the Texas Star Party to qualify. All objects are within range of small(6″) to medium(10″) sized telescopes, and are available for observation between 9:00PM and 3:00AM any time during the TSP.

Each person completing this list will receive an official Texas Star Party Telescope Observing Club lapel pin. These pins are not sold at the TSP and can only be acquired by completing the program, so wear them proudly.

To receive your pin, turn in your observations to John Wagoner – TSP Observing Chairman any time during the Texas Star Party. I will be at the outside door leading into the TSP Meeting Hall each day between 1:00 PM and 2:30 PM (except Saturday, from 10-11:30 AM). If you finish the list the last night of TSP, and I am not available to give you your pin, just mail your observations to me at 1409 Sequoia, Plano, TX 75023, and I will see that you get a pin.

Good luck and good observing. Now, let’s get out there and observe!!!

P.S. If you would like to see some of your favorite objects on a future TSP program, or have any ideas for a new program, let me know during TSP or email me at john@wagoner.org

TSP 2012 – “2012″

TSP 2011 – Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Download this year’s observing list (Adobe Acrobat(PDF) version)

Or download this ZIP file containing this year’s program (and prior years) in SkyTools(STX), SkySafari(SKYLIST), Excel(XLS), and plaintext(TXT) format

Check out our Observing Program archives for previous year lists!