Any tip on maintaining a log of celestial objects? I am an amateur observer and Olympus 10x50 binocular is my tool. As I keep locating celestial objects (Planets, Stars etc), I would like to maintain a log of the observed objects. The purpose of the log is to list down the number of celestial objects I have observed/located. I need suggestion on what data points should I capture which helps in making some sense out of it and also encourage my friends to get into star gazing.
I suggest you to take a look at the Amateur Astronomy Observers Log Web Site, where everybody can share their astronomical logs.

The logs contain:


Instrumentation used
Sky condition (seeing, light pollution, ...)
Accurate date and time of the observation


Specific informations that you could add depend by the kind of object that you are watching. For example you could try to estimate the magnitude of a variable star, or you could describe colour variation of Jupiter bands.

Some software can give you more support. There are specific astronomical log software for smartphone (for example Stargazing Log for Android).
Morover in the Linux planetarium software KStars when you open the detail of an object you have a specific tab where you can register logs in form of simple text.