I just added two more catalogues to the previous post.
There are now 8 southern lists in my survey to find the most popular objects.
1. Lacaille's "Catalog of Nebulae of the Southern Sky" 1751-2
2. James Dunlop's Catalog of southern Deep Sky Objects. 1826
3. The Jack Bennett Catalog of Southern Deep-Sky Objects
4. John Caldwell's Best Sky Objects from SAAO Latitude. (South Africa)
5. 110 Deep-Sky High Lights
the above 5 lists are at http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/similar/similar.html
6. Hartung's Astronomical Objects for Southern Telescopes:
A Handbook for Amateur Observers (2nd ed)
A southern extension to the Messier Catalogue, page 416.
7. The AAQs BRIGHT SOUTHERN DEEP SKY OBJECTS http://www.aaq.org.au/deepsky_AAQ.htm
8. Astronomical League Southern Sky Telescopic Club http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclu...y/sskylist.htm
The following 56 objects were in 4 or more of the above 8 lists.
The old man who sold paintings of cats in Balboa Park entered San Diego's Mercy Hospital on March 9, 1993.
He was dying of congestive heart failure, the result of a heart attack that he'd suffered weeks earlier.
Although he was only 62, his years in the park had prematurely aged him. He wore a beard, and his skin was tanned by his exposure to the sun. He was thin.
He suffered from several ailments. A blood clot in his heart. Gangrene in one foot. Pneumonia in his lungs. For days he lingered, but doctors decided not to take the risk of operating on him.
At 6:03 p.m. on March 20, the man's heart stopped beating.
Days later his body was sent to a military cemetery for cremation after a check on his social security number revealed that he had served in the Air Force. A marble headstone bearing his name was placed on a wall among the names of other cremated veterans at Point Loma's Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
No one noticed that the name on the headstone was misspelled, the result of a clerical error on the man's death certificate.
No one at the hospital or at the cemetery knew the man, and no family members attended the placement of his cenotaph.
He was just a weather-beaten, penniless man who sold paintings of cats in Balboa Park who had grown old and died. http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/tpls/_Common/Art/hr.gif
Years before he was a destitute painter, Robert Burnham Jr. had inscribed the universe. Writer, astronomer, finder of comets and asteroids and collector of ancient artifacts, Burnham was a singular Arizonan.
He was a scientist whose work at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff helped advance the understanding of the sun's neighborhood in space.
He was an author whose name has become so familiar to some readers it has become a sort of shorthand, like Audubon to birders, Hoyle to card players, Webster to poor spellers, Robert to parliamentarians.
More than 30 years after its first publication, Burnham's Celestial Handbook: An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System remains a sort of real-life hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, a compendium with something to say about nearly every cosmic destination worth visiting.
I own the 3 volumes of Burnhams celestrial handbook and It is a great book. Not only does it have a very comprehensive listing of DSO's but it can be read like a good novel. The book is getting a bit dated now but it is still a delight to read and my copy is very well used.
The death of Robert Burnham jnr was the tragic end of a troubled life. But in my humble opinion him and his book rank amongst the giants of astronomy.
I read on a UK astronomy website that they had certificates for observing a certain number of Messier objects, both for binoculars and telescopes. I was wondering if there is any similar scheme in place here, and if not whether or not its worth considering?
I think it is a good idea and "A southern extension to the Messier Catalogue" in the back of Hartung would make a good list.
Apparently the way it works is you record the name/number, the date you observed it, a description of what you saw and perhaps a sketch, then after you reach the required number, you send in your details to the 'Keeper of Records', an honorary title for some volunteer that can maintain an Excel spreadsheet. The names are then placed on a web page where the observers can be proud of their achievement. At this point, the observer can then download a certificate that is pre-signed by a VIP either the club president or forum owner and print it on their own printer, mount it and hang it on their wall of honour.
I guess it's up to one of the moderators to pick up on this and then discuss it with other forum organizers and see if it really has merit and then workout a set of rules and implement them.
On the site I originally saw, there were two levels (2 certificates), beginners and advanced, I think the first level was 50 messier objects, and advanced was more. The total number of course is relevant to your hemisphere, in our case the Southern.
If this were implemented, I would definitely attempt the beginners level, seeing I only have binoculars at this stage, each level might have to be further broken down into Binocular and Telescope classes.
I know the moderators read everything, so I guess its over to them
I read on a UK astronomy website that they had certificates for observing a certain number of Messier objects, both for binoculars and telescopes. I was wondering if there is any similar scheme in place here, and if not whether or not its worth considering?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tailwag
I know the moderators read everything, so I guess its over to them
I'll pass this on to the rest of the Mod/Admin guys.
Just a reminder that you can always post any suggestions for the site in the Feedback forum.
Before moving to Tassie I lived in Perth and belonged to the Astronomical Society of Western Australia (ASWA.) ASWA's Council started up a quest for Messier objects. In fact at an Astrocamp in Dryandra I had to introduce it.
One of the rules was that 'goto's etc were out! But the Society had produced a floppy of all the Messier objects with all of their information. It included a lot of the Northern Hemisphere stuff so anyone in the northern latitudes could get to log them.
Lots of information was required of the observer and I had started the task but left WA long before I logged many of the objects.
I probably still have the very informative floppy here but I think it would be better if one of the moderators approached ASWA to see if it could be used in this forum. After all it is ASWA's intellectual property.
What do you think?
Cheers!
Popeye.
I refer back to the ASWA system. On the floppy that came with the challenge is the ability to print out the list along with the appropriate columns for observing times, seeing conditions, comments on how the object looked etc. The list was based on needing nothing more than a scope with 100mm aperture. Of course there are a lot of binocular objects too. ASWA has a system of certificates for different levels (ie number of objects logged,) I would highly recommend it.
I have to agree that Messier chasing is an excellent way of getting to know one's way around the sky - by star-hopping!
But as I have said, it is ASWA's intellectual property and that Society would need to give the OK to go ahead with it.
Why re-invent the wheel?
Cheers!
Bert
Maybe we could record something like location, aperture, magnification, date, time, brightness (vB, B, M, F, vF), size (vL, L, M, S, vS) and comments on things like moonlight and light pollution for each object.
It would be good if Mike could get his designers onto making a set of certificates that he could issue when the different assignments have been met and confirmed.
At the end of the day its a bit of fun, but an IIS certificate to print out, signed by Mike and placed on your wall could be a good thing. I for one would certainly take the challenge and try to locate every one of the objects on the assignment.
There could be a range of graduated certificates/assignments, say 25 objects (Bronze), 50 objects (Silver), More that 75 objects (Gold), or whatever other system would be acceptable.
Plus on a page on the IIS website, all those who met the requirement and received the awards could be kept on a perpetual register, to show off to their grandkids
The ASWA programme has print-out sheets that list (in order,) Messier No., Const, Mag, Type, RA, Dec, and then input from the observer, ie: Date/Time, telescope, seeing, trans, 'notes on my observations.' There is also a separate list of Messier objects by constellation, giving the observer the opportunity to plan the night's viewing.
If one of the moderator's would like to give me the go-ahead, and the ISS members agree, I can ask my contacts in ASWA if we could put their system to our members for approval to use. Of course it would need someone to monitor all of this, and the concept of issuing a certificate for the number of objects viewed is a great motivator to get folk to learn about the night sky.
(I have just noted that I have found 27 on the list.)
Cheers!
Popeye
I'm sure at least one moderator is reading this, because if you muck up they jump on you like a ton of bricks, appearing from behind bushes, dressed in ninja suits....don't worry one of them will reply soon enough
