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Observing Workflow

How Lists, Plans, Tonight, the Star Map, Sessions, and Observations work together to support your observing.

Contents

The Big Picture How It Fits Together Catalog Lists Plans Tonight Star Map Sessions Ticks Observations Community Lists Common Workflows Tips & Best Practices

The Big Picture

Observing follows a natural cycle: you discover interesting objects, organize them into lists and plans, then go outside and record what you see. Oblog supports each stage with dedicated tools that pass data between them seamlessly.

Discover
Find objects worth observing
Organize
Group and prioritize targets
Record
Log what you observed

How It Fits Together

The diagram below shows how the six main features connect. Arrows indicate the typical flow of objects and data between them.

Discover
Catalog
Browse & search 22,000+ objects
Tonight
Smart picks for this evening
Star Map
Visual sky exploration
Organize
Lists
Curated reference collections
Plans
Goal checklists with progress
Record
Sessions
One per night: date, location, conditions
Ticks
Quick timestamps from the Star Map
Observations
Per-object notes, status, photos

Catalog

The Catalog is the main entry point for discovering objects. It contains over 22,000 astronomical objects across six catalogs: Messier, NGC, IC, Caldwell, Bright Stars, and Solar System. You can search by name or designation, filter by catalog, object type, constellation, and magnitude, then sort and paginate the results.

From the Catalog you can select objects and Add to Plan or Add to List using the batch action bar. You can also open objects on the Star Map, or export them as PDF or CSV.

See the Catalog Guide for full details on searching, filtering, and object ratings.

Lists

Lists are curated collections of objects that you want to keep track of long-term. Think of them as bookmarks or folders for organizing your interests. A list might be "Best Double Stars", "Galaxies in Virgo", or "Objects I Want to Photograph".

Manual sort order — Drag objects to arrange them in whatever order makes sense to you.
Add from anywhere — Add objects from the Catalog, Tonight page, Star Map, or object detail pages.
No expiry — Lists persist indefinitely. Use them as reference collections that grow over time.

Community Lists

Community Lists let you share your curated collections with other observers and browse lists published by the community. It's a way to exchange observing ideas, benefit from others' experience, and contribute your own expertise.

Publishing Your Lists

Publish — On any list's detail page, click Publish to make it visible to all users. You can unpublish at any time.
Who can publish — Publishing is available to users who have earned a Silver or Gold exam certificate, and to admins.
Your nickname — Published lists show your profile nickname as the author. Set it in User Settings before publishing.

Browsing Community Lists

Browse — Visit Community Lists to see all published lists with descriptions and object counts.
Copy to your lists — Found a list you like? Copy it to your own collection with one click, then customize it as you wish.
Copy to plan — Turn a community list directly into an observing plan to start tracking your progress.

Plans

Plans are goal-oriented checklists. Each object in a plan can be marked as observed, giving you progress tracking toward a goal. A plan might be "Complete the Messier catalog", "Spring galaxies for next session", or "Herschel 400 project".

Progress tracking — See how many objects you've observed vs. how many remain.
Session-ready — Plans feed directly into observing sessions. Open a plan and start logging.
Star Map integration — View all plan objects on the Star Map to plan your star-hopping route.

Lists vs. Plans: Use Lists for general collections you want to keep (like bookmarks). Use Plans when you have a specific observing goal and want to track what you've completed.

Tonight

The Tonight page shows you what's worth observing right now. It combines visibility calculations (what's above the horizon from your location) with object quality ratings to recommend the best targets for the current evening.

Quality ranking — Objects are sorted by a combined score of observing rating and current visibility.
Time-aware — Recommendations update based on the time of night and object transit times.
Quick add — Add objects directly to a Plan or List from the Tonight page.

Star Map

The interactive Star Map lets you visually explore the sky. You can pan and zoom across constellations, identify objects, and plan star-hopping routes to your targets. Objects from the Catalog, Plans, and Lists can be displayed as overlays on the map.

Zoom levels — From wide-field constellation views down to detailed eyepiece fields.
Object identification — Click or tap any object for details, then jump to its catalog page.
Horizon view — Switch to horizon projection to see the sky as it appears from your location.

See the Star Map Guide for full details on navigation, overlays, and controls.

Sessions

A Session represents one night of observing. It captures the shared context for everything you observe that evening: the date, your location, sky conditions, and any general diary notes about the night.

Location — Where you observed from (saved locations or manual entry).
Conditions — Seeing, transparency, cloud cover, and temperature.
Diary notes — Free-text notes about the night (who was there, what happened, etc.).
Observations — Each session contains one or more individual object observations.
Ticks — Quick timestamps from the Star Map. Convert them into full observations later.

Ticks

Ticks are quick timestamps you place on objects directly from the Star Map — one tap and done. They are designed for use in the field when you don't want to break dark adaptation by opening forms or navigating away from the map. Think of them as provisional markers: "I looked at this object at this time."

Zero data entry — Tap an object on the Star Map, tap Tick , done. The map stays open in night view.
Automatic timestamping — Each tick records the exact UTC time, the object name, type, constellation, and coordinates.
Session-aware — Ticks attach to your most recent session automatically. If you created a session for tonight, ticks go there even before the start time.
Convert later — On the Session Details page, convert any tick into a full Observation with one click. The form opens pre-filled with the object's data.
Not counted in statistics — Ticks are provisional. They don't appear in observation counts, Messier completion, or any statistics until you convert them.

Ticks vs. Observations: Use Ticks in the field to quickly mark what you looked at. Use Observations when you want to record details: status (Seen / Not Sure / Not Seen), notes, equipment, and photos. You can always convert a tick into an observation later when you're indoors.

Observations

An Observation is a per-object record within a Session. It captures what you saw (or tried to see) for a single astronomical object on a given night.

Status — Seen, Not Sure, or Not Seen. All three are valuable records.
Notes — Describe what you observed: structure, color, how it compared to expectations.
Photos — Attach images (eyepiece photos, sketches, astrophotography).
Equipment — Record which telescope, eyepiece, and filters you used.

Observations link back to the astronomical object in the catalog using natural keys (name and catalog number), so your records stay intact even if the catalog database is rebuilt.

Common Workflows

Planning an Evening

1
Open Tonight to see what's well-placed for your location this evening.
2
Select interesting targets and Add to Plan to create a checklist for the night.
3
Open the plan on the Star Map to visualize where objects are and plan your route across the sky.
4
Optionally export the plan as PDF to take a printed list outside.

Recording an Observing Session

1
Create a new Session with tonight's date, your location, and current conditions.
2
For each object you observe, add an Observation with its status (Seen / Not Sure / Not Seen).
3
Add notes describing what you saw, and attach photos or sketches if you have them.
4
Record which equipment you used (telescope, eyepiece, filters) for future reference.

Quick Field Logging with Ticks

1
Before heading out, create a Session for tonight (or it can already exist from earlier).
2
Open the Star Map in night mode on your phone or tablet. Find an object you just observed.
3
Tap the object, then tap Tick . A notification confirms it. The map stays open — continue observing.
4
Next day, open the Session Details page. Your ticks are listed with timestamps. Click Convert to turn any tick into a full observation with notes and equipment.

Building a Long-term Project

1
In the Catalog, filter for your target set (e.g., all Messier objects, or all galaxies in a constellation).
2
Select the objects and Add to Plan to create your project checklist.
3
Each session, check Tonight to see which plan objects are visible, and observe what you can.
4
Track your progress on the Plan page as observed counts grow over weeks and months.

Sharing & Using Community Lists

1
Build a List of your favourite targets for a theme (e.g., "Winter Showpieces" or "Best Planetary Nebulae").
2
Add a description explaining what makes the list special, then click Publish to share it with the community.
3
Other observers can browse Community Lists, copy your list, and turn it into their own plan.
4
Check out lists published by others for fresh observing inspiration and curated target selections.

Tips & Best Practices

  • Use Lists for broad interests and Plans for specific goals. A list says "I like these objects"; a plan says "I want to observe all of these."
  • Record "Not Seen" observations too — they help you remember what didn't work so you can try again under better conditions or with different equipment.
  • Start each session by noting conditions. Even brief notes like "steady seeing, some haze" help you understand your records later.
  • The Tonight page is the fastest way to decide what to observe. It pre-filters for visibility and sorts by quality.
  • Use Ticks during observing to quickly mark objects without leaving the Star Map. The next day, convert the ticks you care about into full observations with notes and equipment details.
  • Use the Star Map to plan efficient routes across the sky — observe objects that are near each other before moving to another region.
  • Add equipment to your observations. Knowing which eyepiece gave the best view of a particular object is valuable for future sessions.
  • Keep session diary notes conversational — who was there, what the weather was like, memorable moments. These become enjoyable to re-read.
  • For long-term projects, don't rush. Spread observations across many sessions and enjoy the process of gradually completing a catalog.
  • Browse Community Lists for observing inspiration. Experienced observers often publish well-curated target lists for specific seasons or equipment types.
  • When publishing a list, add a good description — explain what ties the objects together and what equipment or conditions work best. It helps others decide if the list suits them.
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