The following photo represents my past ~33 years (as of 2025) of observing, documenting, sketching and articles.  However, my first observations began in the mid to late sixties, but without notes or pencil sketches.   

     When I purchased my first serious telescope back in the mid-70’s, I also picked up a small astronomy reference book: “The Finest Deep-Sky Objects” by James Mullaney and Wallace McCall.  A small paperback with 31 pages, filled with an incredible amount of information, the majority being double stars.  

     This book also contained a number of galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and even included several prominent red stars.  This would be my first list of objects to observe, and document.  

     My next list of objects to observe was the Messier catalog, which I’ve observed and documented multiple times, taking my time and being very patient.  

     This began my quest of making simple notes of all the objects I was observing.  However, my notes were pretty poor, mostly listing only the identification number and object.  However, I had to start somewhere, and this seems to be how many amateurs begin their documentation of observations….writing down nothing more than “I saw M37 and M42…etc.”

     The late Tom Lorenzin, author of “1000+ The Amateur Astronomer’s Field Guide to Deep-Sky Observing” shared the same.  This made me feel better, saying that he too, in his early days listed only the object identification, being the Messier number, NGC or IC.  

     In the early 90’s I began using “1000+” almost exclusively, at least for the following ten or more years.  I really liked the descriptions by Lorenzin, being relatively brief, but saying so much.  He was very effective with his use of words.  

     I was fortunate to have been able to meet Tom Lorenzin, on numerous occasions, and we became friends.  

     I patterned my descriptions to follow in Tom Lorenzin’s format…attempting to use as much precision as possible, but without being overly wordy.    

     My writing and observation notes both improved during this period, but I needed more than just notes.  I started pencil sketching.  It’s true…”a picture is worth a thousand words.”  

     It’s my opinion: visual observing is seeing the faintest of detail in each and every deep-sky object, then recording and/or sketching the object.     

     I continued to sketch and to-date have spent thousands of hours at the eyepiece, never wanting to be anything more than a visual backyard observer.    

     My only regret, I don’t have any notes or sketches from my earliest days.  Those days at thirteen years old with my brothers 60 mm refractor, from the weedy field beside my childhood home, in the foothills of North Carolina.  

Roger Ivester

     I started observing in the mid-60’s at about 13 years of age, but it’s been only in the past 30 years that I’ve become a very serious student of amateur astronomy.  Previous to that, I would just go outside, observe a few objects, and then come back into the house.  

     No notes, no sketches, no nothing.  What a waste of good observing time and years!  

     I just wish I had some notes from my first observations of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Ring Nebula, and many other deep-sky objects which I managed to stumble across as a 13 year old, using my brothers 60 mm refractor.  

     I can close my eyes even now, and see that vacant field beside my house with the Milky Way seemingly visible from horizon to horizon.  It was a great place for a young budding amateur astronomer to begin a lifelong trek into the depths of deep-space. 

     In the past I’ve made my sketches on 3 x 5 notecards, or larger scale 8.5 x 11 sketch pads.  However, for the past ten years, my favorite is 5 x 8 blank note cards with a 3-inch circle drawn on the right side.  It was Sue French who was using the 5 x 8 system, and gave me the idea to change. 

     It’s very important to me that my sketches be as accurate as possible, as seen through the eyepiece, without any embellishment.   Roger Ivester

Blank 5 x 8 note cards with the colors inverted:

• Date of observation:  August 13th 2015
• Transparency:  Poor – Very high humidity  
• Seeing:  Excellent
• Telescope:  10-Inch f/4.5 Reflector

I located and recognized immediately using a 32mm eyepiece @ 36x with a 1.8º FOV.  The first star I noticed was double star h1470, with the primary being a ruddy or rust color.  

When increasing the magnification, using a 20 mm eyepiece @ 57x with a 1º FOV, at least eight or more pairs of double stars, making a circle could be seen and separated.  This beautiful ring of doubles are framed very nicely within the 1º field.  A fabulous and most interesting asterism. Dimensions: 40 x 40 arc minutes.    

A pencil sketch by the writer using a blank 5 x 8 notecard with the colors inverted using a scanner.

Now for the complete story of Chaple’s Arc, and how the Cygnus Fairy Ring came to being…

The following is an excerpt from an article by Glenn Chaple and posted by “Skyscrapers, Inc.” 

“Forgive me for the apparent ego trip, but this month I’m going to introduce you to an amazing little asterism called “Chaple’s Arc.” I stumbled upon the Arc in the mid-1970s while looking for the double star h1470. Instead of one double, I found four arranged in an arc 1/2° across. So smitten was I by its extraordinary appearance that I eventually wrote about it in the September 1980 issue of Deep Sky Monthly. New York amateur astronomer John Pazmino viewed the group and dubbed it “Chaple’s Arc.”

A quarter century later, I decided to introduce the Arc to a much larger audience by featuring it in my “Observing Basics” column in Astronomy. To my amazement, I saw the same group described in the British magazine Sky at Night. The writer called it the “Fairy Ring.” Uh-oh! Had I missed something?

After a little detective work and an assist from Sky and Telescope’s Sue French, I learned that the Arc had been seen by Utah amateur astronomer Kim Hyatt in the early 1990s. Like me, he found it during a search for h1470. Because he was using a larger telescope than I had, he was able to view some faint pairs that, along with my four, formed a ring of double stars. Not knowing about Chaple’s Arc, he and a friend christened it the Fairy Ring.”   Glenn Chaple/Skyscrapers, Inc. 

NGC 752 – Open Cluster in Andromeda

Date: October 27th 1994 – Location:  North Carolina Foothills

Conditions:  Poor; NELM 4.5 – Telescope: 10-inch f/4.5 reflector – Magnification: 20mm Erfle EP @ 57x FOV: 1º

Notes: Naked eye object with a dark sky. A very large open cluster easily fills a 1º eyepiece field of view. Approximately 75 or more stars could be counted. Two prominent bright stars, one being yellow and the other reddish or rust lies to the SSW. This cluster is mostly irregularly round with many chains of stars crossing throughout.

NGC 7243 – Open Cluster in Lacerta Date: September 30th 1994 – Location:  North Carolina Foothills

Conditions:  Fair; NELM 5.0 – Telescope: 10-inch f/4.5 reflector – Magnification: 20mm Erfle EP @ 57x FOV: 1º

Notes: Very irregularly shaped, fairly loose open cluster. Double star Struve 2890 with both stars at mag 8.5 lies in the center. A dark lane crosses the central region.

NGC 7789 – Open Cluster in Cassiopeia – Date: December 20th 1994 – Location:  North Carolina Foothills 

Conditions:  Good; NELM 5.5; Telescope: 10-inch f/4.5 reflector; Magnification: 16mm University Optics Konig EP @ 71x and FOV:  0.92º

Notes:  Circular chains or patterns of stars. This cluster is large, very rich and condensed. Beautiful and refreshing after looking at faint objects.

Roger Ivester

Phillip Ivester has had excellent success in drag racing, winning “an amazing” 164 events.  He has also built many race engines and helped others into the world of drag racing.  It’s been more than five years now when he began working with Dr. James Caserio, MD from Hendersonville.

Dr C. as he’s known by had been racing for years earlier, and now no one can drive his 1350 horsepower Hellcat Challenger as well as he can. His fastest time has been 6.00 seconds at 120 miles per hour in only 1/8 mile, or 660 feet. The car with driver and fuel weighs in at a very heavy, 4650 pounds! With this amount of horsepower and weight, breakage of critical parts have and are bound to happen on occasion.

It should be noted that Dr. Caserio has “most likely” saved the lives of at least two Pro Motorcyclist, at Shady Side Drag Strip. This drag strip is located only a few miles south of Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

Back to the motorcyclists crashes:

Dr. C. knew exactly how to best treat the traumatic injuries sustained by the crashes at well over 100 MPH. His many years as a doctor and emergency room physician, served him well for these two horrific and critical injuries. And this was on site at the drag strip, providing life saving treatment on the ground…not in an emergency room!

Following photo: This is not just a Hellcat, but a (Demonized Hellcat) which indicates the car has received  performance modifications, and now has well over 1,140 horsepower (at the rear wheels). The engine has 1,350 HP!    

Below photo:  Whipple Supercharger….not your standard supercharger!   

Thursday night, March 31st 2022 at Shady Side Dragway in Boiling Springs, North Carolina:

Dr. C. ran his fastest E.T. (elapsed time) and miles per hour with at an incredible 6.00 flat, at 120 in 1/8 mile or only 660 feet. Again, keep in mind, this car weights over 4,600 pounds with driver and fuel.

Dr. C and Phillip work together to insure that the Hellcat is always ready to race…  

Phillip Ivester

Below: Dr. C in his life as a doctor of internal medicine, or his day job and sometimes night job.

Dr. C and his Hellcat with Phillip and both of his race cars.

Heating up the rear tires for better traction…

September 2023:

My west coast granddaughter, Zoe with her 76mm Orion Telescope.  

My son, Chad, daughter-in-law, Tina, and grandkids.  Zoe is below, visiting a beauty Salon. 

Zoe and her Dad in California after a bit of face painting. 

East Coast grandkids:  L-R:  Anna-Grace, John-Winston, Isaac, and Elisha…

My wife Debbie, with a 1997 Orion/Vixen 102mm refractor, which allowed me to  see Sirius B 

This is one of my favorite pictures from 2011.  Zoe and I were at the Red Rock Canyon visitors center, just outside of Las Vegas. 

“A moment in time” when I was able to have all of my grandkids together in South Carolina.  The vintage 60mm refractor telescope shown was a gift to the kids by a good friend.  

My two sons, Roger Chadwick (L) and Bradley Jason.  I’m really fortunate to have sons like these guys.  It’s difficult for them to get together as Chad lives on the East Coast and Brad on the West Coast.  A very special photo to me…

Hey…this is me, working on an astronomy article at the coffee shop on a cold day with light snow.     

Anna-Grace…aggravating one of her brothers, John-Winston.

Our Dachshund, Nova Sophia.

The telescope to the right is my first serious telescope which I purchased in March of 1977, an Edmund Scientific 4.25-inch f/10 reflector.  

Realizing the need for more aperture, I purchased a 6-inch Criterion RV-6 a year or so later.  My oldest son standing beside both telescopes, in 1978 and 1979 respectively…  

Granddaughter in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

A memorable meeting with John Dobson: 

Over the past…almost thirty years, I’ve always enjoyed attempting to estimate the magnitude of any supernova within reach of a moderate backyard telescope.

The following are my estimates of the most recent M82 SN: 

• Date:  January 22nd 2014:  Telescope:  10-inch f/4.5 reflector  =  11.6 M
• Date:  January 24th 2014:  Telescope:     3-inch f/4.0 reflector  =  11.0 M
• Date:  January 29th 2014:  Telescope:     3-inch f/4.0 reflector  =  10.6 M
• Date:  January 30th 2014:  Telescope:    10-inch f/4.5 reflector =  10.3 M

It was not the best of conditions, but I was able to easily observe the latest SN in galaxy, M82, in Ursa Major.  Telescopes used:  A vintage Meade 10-inch (model DS-10a) and an Orion 102mm Orion/Vixen f/9.8 refractor.   

The SN could easily be seen in the small refractor (102mm) even at low magnification, however, the best view came at 166x.  

I made the following pencil sketch, using the 10-inch reflector at 190x.  Both seeing and transparency were a bit lacking, however, I was very surprised to see so much mottling in galaxy, M82.  

The following pencil sketch was made using a 10-inch reflector, on a blank 5 x 8 note card, with the colors inverted using a scanner.  

Date:  January 22nd 2014

A good reason to document your observations:

I wanted to share an article concerning an observation I made on April 20, 1993.  It’s a testament that documenting and taking good notes is indeed a good thing!    

Forward to February 1994: 

While reviewing my logbook, I discovered that I’d not followed up on an object viewed on 20 April 1993.  The primary object was NGC 3893, an 11th magnitude galaxy in Ursa Major.  While making my sketch of this galaxy, I had noticed a smaller much fainter object SE of NGC  3893.  

I noted this in my logbook to check later, however, it would be ten months later (February 1994) before going back.  So, while browsing through my logbook, I saw my notes that said:  follow up on this observation. 

I checked Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, Tom Lorenzen’s 1000+, and the Tirion Sky Atlas 2000.0 only to find that none of these sources listed a companion galaxy.  I then went to the NGC-2000.0 Catalog by Roger Sinnott, and found the companion listed as NGC 3896, a very faint and small 14th magnitude galaxy.  

So, If I had not sketched NGC 3893, most likely I would have missed NGC 3896.  And, if I had not logged the companion, I probably would never have checked any reference material.  

This might be a good story for documenting, taking good nights of your observations, and periodically review that logbook.  You never know what you may find? 

The following sketches:  

The first being my most recent sketch of the galaxy pair, which was made in April 2014, and the second is my original from April 1993.  It was on this night that I questioned if I was actually seeing another galaxy, ESE of NGC 3893.  

Roger Ivester