A Year of Astronomy

So it is now a year since my parents bought me a Skywatcher 127 MAK for Christmas in 2013 and I have thoroughly enjoyed the late nights and amazing views it has brought me. As it is a year I thought I would have a look back over my current observation stats and see how well I am doing against some of the standard target lists.

Messier : 23 out of 110
Herschel 400 : 13 out of 400
Planets : 5 out of 7
Caldwell : 7 out of 109
Lunar 100 : 9 out of 100

Overall not bad for the first year although I suspect I will never complete the Caldwell list and many of them aren't actually visible from Scotland.

I have started some exploration into Astrophotography as well and am quite happy with several of the images I have taken even though I don't have the best of set-ups yet. Anyway, my favourites from the year are shown below.

Jupiter with Callisto, Io & Ganymede

Caldwell 13 / NGC 457 / The Owl Cluster

An Iridium Flare

Constellation Orion