Dear all,

Many of you borrowed telescopes and cameras. Here are some basic
instructions on how to proceed. 

1. First, please review this page, as the main resource for observing:
   http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~gbakos/AST205/observing.html

2. Assemble the equipment in daylight, e.g. in your room.  Make sure
   the batteries are charged, you have an observing light, you have all
   the necessary components. 

3. Weather forecast. Some links are shown at the page above under
   "Weather links for Princeton". Try to be flexible in terms of your
   schedule. Even if you plan observing for next Monday night, there is
   less than 50% chance it will be clear. Even if not the entire group
   can join, go and observe. 

4. Moon-phase. At full moon the sky will be brighter, and finding or
   photographing fainter objects like Andromeda Galaxy will be hard. On
   the other hand, you can make drawings of the Moon (telescopic
   observations) or take photos of the Moon or the moon-lit landscape.

5. If you have an idea of your observing location and time, notify the
   observing assistants (see syllabus), and me (gbakos@astro.princeton.edu). 
   Perhaps we can join and help out.

6. What to observe? Have a plan. There are many ideas listed at:
   http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~gbakos/AST205/AST205_group_activities_2015.pdf

   Some examples :
   * Albireo
   * Alcor-Mizar (middle star of the Big Dipper's handle)
   * Andromeda Galaxy
   * Saturn
   * Jupiter
   * Crescent moon (even if partly cloudy, you can do photography and
     observing of it!)
   * Pleiades (rises late)
   * Perseus double cluster

   So far these are fairly simple. 

   * Find Uranus (telescope). Visible most of the night. This is harder
     than the above. 
   * Find the Ring Nebula (also harder) 
   * M13 globular cluster in Hercules
   * M11 open cluster at the tail of Aquila
   * The Chi-h Persei double cluster, right below Cassiopeia

   Print finder charts (from the webpage)

7. Dress warm, eat, drink before venturing out observing. Carry an
   observing light (your phone may work for this, but is not optimal). 
   Try to do as much as possible.

8. Record your observations. This can be on paper, dictaphone,
   smartphone, whatever.  Make sketches (nice ones!).  Do not delete photos,
   even if they were not the best.  Promptly after the observations,
   preferably within a day, comment on your group discussion forum. 
   Sketches and photos should be uploaded to canvas under the group
   discussion.  For large collections of photos, you can consider sharing
   them through google drive.

Clear skies,
GB