Agerskov

It seems the comet will be even brighter than predicted with the latest observations - maybe even becoming a naked eye object when it is closest to the Earth around 10th of November with a distance lesser than 0.2 AU.

You can see more about the comet at TheSkyLive, COBS and Seiichi Yoshida's Comet Site.

The 13th of October the comet will be less than ½° of the M106 galaxy which could be a fine astrophotography target.

If any of you have the capability to measure brightness and size of the comet I think the COBS - Comet OBServation Database will appreach such data very much. 

4 hours ago, lunator said:

I have just checked my Double Star Astronomy book by Thomas Lewis Who was Secretary of the RAS. 

Strive started observing in 1813 and published his first catalogue of 795 double stars in 1822. 

The Catalogue covered the period from 1813-1820. Using a 5 foot Broughton. The aperture was not noted. 

It was called Catalogue 795 stellarum Duplicium.

...

Hope this helps.

Thanks again Ian.

I found Catalogus 795 stellarum duplicium at Google Books where you can read it for free 

4 hours ago, lunator said:

The book will be be available soon at FLO. 🙂

I haven't looked at these 2 Struves.

I have about 3-400 struve doubles left to view. So I can add these in. 

So you are a true Struve specialist. 

But what about the lists - have you written those too?

I see that The List of Double Doubles lacks The Double Double's Double named and discovered by Peter Palagonin who wrote about it in the Sky & Telescope 1998 July issue with with the two doubles STF 2470 and SFT 2474. The four components of this double double is easier to split in smaller telescopes than The Double Double.

1 hour ago, lunator said:

Also some struve doubles had been observed by others such as William Herschel so it may be a reference to that.

The the Strives the WDS has them as

As STF, STFA, STT and STTA.

They are generally visible in RA order ( Proper motion not withstanding ) although the STF3XXX range are more spread around.

Thanks for your answer.

Also STH for Hermann von Struve son of Otto von Struve and STG for Georg Hermann Struve son of Hermann von Struve.

BTW your book is no longer listed at FLO. 

PS - Have you created the lists on your site which are uploaded to Scribd?

On 08/08/2023 at 09:31, Nik271 said:

I believe Struve published his first catalogue in 1820 with just 720 double stars, it's probably what he refers to in the last column.

Do you know what the name of the catalogue is or maybe even have a link to a PDF file of it?

Hi all 
I am digging up informations of some of the double stars in Friedrich G. W. Struve's catalogue of double stars "Catalogus novus stellarum duplicium et multiplicium" written in Latin. 

In the last column is described as: 

"Postrema columna 6 exhibet numeros catalogi prioris nostri pro stellis in illo obviis." 

Which Google Translate translates to:

"The last column 6 shows the numbers of our previous catalog for the stars encountered in it."

What is Struve's previous catalogue? Or is it another catalogue? 


For others who is interested the first column is the Struve catalogue nummer also known as STF or just the capital Greet letter Σ (sigma) for von Struve, Friedrich Wilhelm George - STFA/ΣΣ is the reference for his additional catalogue.

The second column is other designations like μ Bootis for Bayer, 40 Bootis for Flamsteed, 75 Taurus Pon. stars in constellations in Bode's star atlas Uranographia counted from right to left.

I hope I am not the only one who is interested in dechiffer the old catalogues.

On 28/12/2022 at 00:17, mikeDnight said:

 

Hi Mike
Great and fantastic sketches. 

As far as I know most referre to HD 192579, 30 and 31 Cygni (omicron Cygning) as the Patriotic Triple - but I can't recall your sketch above as of these stars. 

Have you found another three red, white and blus stars in Cygnus to resemble The Patriotic Triiple? 

If you have - I like yours better that the omicron version. 

The two smaller stars you have on your image are the mag. 10.6 star Gaia DR2 576400455260221312 for the one closed to Polaris and the mag 9.8 star SAO 270 a.k.a. Gaia DR2 576393411513868160 furthest away.

The image from your telescope is not orientated like you looked at Polaris without aid so this is why the star in the middle is above the line between Polaris and SAO 270 and on the Wikipedia image beneath the line.

On 17/02/2023 at 08:45, Marc1964 said:

Hi, thanks for all the contributions. I must admit that I thought the consensus would be for the mirror. I will try the Celestron prism and see how that performs against the supplied SW one. 

Have you bought it and tried it yet?

Great lists, Rob.

But I can't dechiffer the open cluster in line 6 on the Taurus list.

Thanks in advance

On 03/06/2021 at 16:55, Tiny Clanger said:

Some months ago I mentioned to Jasonb that I was writing in a notebook a list of Moore Winter Marathon objects with a note of the page they appeared on in Turn Left at  Orion,  their Messier number and the  Caldwell catalogue number . He said being a computer guy, if he was doing it, and if he had time, he would make a database (or was it spreadsheet ? I still am fuzzy on which is what ... 🙂  )

Then , a week or so ago, while idly researching  eye pieces I can't  afford , I came across Don Pensack's very useful set of information here

https://www.eyepiecesetc.com/INFORMATIONAL_ARTICLES_ABOUT_ASTRONOMY_AND_TELESCOPES_s/1828.htm

and , ooh, what's this ?!  A beginner's list of 500 DSOs , which Mr Pensack says are ' the 500 best DSOs, as seen in a 4" refractor and 5" Maksutov in modestly dark skies over a couple of years.'

https://www.eyepiecesetc.com/500_Best_Deep_Sky_Objects_p/five-hundred-best-dsos.htm

I can't resist a free list , and recalling our earlier conversation mentioned the list to Jasonb as a possible base for adding Turn Left At Orion page numbers etc to. He was enthusiastic and had the tech skills and software to set things up,  I had some spare time to play at data entry clerk, and we have between us compiled into Don's excellent original 500 some extra information, with added columns for the MWM (Moore Winter Marathon) Caldwell list, Loughton List and page numbers for Turn Left at Orion .  There's also a column where we have noted if the object may be too low in the sky for us to see from Ireland/UK  An explanation of the original column meanings can be found here :

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/472872-500-best-dso-list/?p=8418052

The file works on whatever (proper) software Jasonb uses, but also on my free  'Open Office' , so  everyone should be able to use it.

I can't guarantee our input is complete or error free ( I can now add data entry clerk to the giant list of jobs for which I would be severely unsuited ... ) but we thought it might be useful for other  folk , so after  checking with Don, and getting his OK, here it is :

Pensack 500 Version 1.3.ods 81.23 kB · 229 downloads

Thank you very much for this list - and also to the initial creator Don Pensack.

Even though I am living and observating in a bortle class 6 area with an entry levet 70 mm refractor so it is only a fraction of the list I can observe from home. 

But sometime me and the refractor both get out and look up under other skies 🥰

On 08/10/2020 at 13:14, kaelig said:

Here is my new skylist when I am embedded by my village lights (it is also available for light pollution place).

Do not hesitate to give your opinion about it.

 

 

Kaelig_urban_191_oct2020.csv 20.65 kB · 210 downloads Kaelig_urban_191_oct2020.skylist 42.17 kB · 211 downloads

The declination values are not J2000.0 - I haven't checked the RA values.

7 hours ago, Macavity said:

He concludes: "The oval shape of the dim stars that form an elipse
around the bright stars of Orion's Head is eerily like seeing the profile
of a face in an Oval Mirror. Dare you look"? --- Uhm... Muahaha? 😱

Which dim stars form an elipse around the bright stars of Orion's head?

The elipse could be HD 37171 on top and HD 37320 at the bottom, right side HD 37542, HD 37522 and HD 37478, and left side HD 36914 (V376), the Collinder 69 (Phi¹ Orionis, HD 36895, HD 245203, HD 36894 og Lambda Orionis), HD 36881 og HD 36913.

And the bright stars Phi² Orionis and HD 37232.

Or is it another elipse and other main stars?

Hi astrohistorians

I have just sketched The Lambda Orionis Cluster Cr 69 and read that it is also called Aunt Margaret's Mirror. 

I think it is linked to the short story "My Aunt Margaret's Mirror" written by Sir Walter Scott - but how?

Or is it another aunt Margaret? 

Thanks in advance.

I have received a message from Bristol Astronomical Society that the one answering the mail doesn't knew Edward Young or heard the story but will ask the older members. 

I have looked through the history of the Wikipedia article and found that the alternative name Edward Young Star has been on in the article five times where the last three times it was under two hours and from mobile phones - the last two in United Kingdom and the third from Croatia. 

The first time it was 18 months from primo December 2014 to ultimo May 2016 and the edit was made from an IP number in Bristol. 

The second time it was almost 2½ year from medio May 2017 to late October 2019 also from an IP number in Bristol.

From almost the same date another alternative name Lucida Andromedae was listed from The Catalogue of One Thousand Named Galaxies by astronomer Gerard Bodifee and  Michel Berger. 

All these edits are not from users on Wikipedia but from different IP addresses. But the last two have used the frase "keen astronomer Edward Young" which could imply it is the same editor. 

The earliest site I have found using the name Edward Young Star is from March 29th 2015 (which is a copy of the Wikipedia article from December 2014). 

One of the Wikipedia users who undid one of these edits states that the name Edward Young Star must be used in a scientific paper before it will be added as an additional name in the article. 

But the name has been used in the book "From Cave Art to Hubble - A History of Astronomical Record Keeping" on page 116 by Jonathan Powell from December 2019.

Powell is a columnist and writer of astronomical topics in news papers and a contributer to the BBC's Sky at Night magazine.

So maybe I should ask him where he has the name Edward Young Star from.

I got the idea to look at the Talk page of the Wikipedia article of Messier 110. 

Here a former anonymous edit of the article is listed where it state that the name Edward Young Star was given to M110 as a gift for the astronomer Edward George Burrows Young just before his dead in 2014 aged 92 year. 

Then I googled the name and find a genealogy page where it states the same death date and that he was in Bristol in England.  

Now I have send a message to Bristol Astronomical Society and asked if they know anything about this.

I am still interested if there any of you here at Stargazer's Lounge know anything - even if it is named after another Edward Young - because in 2014 any astronomer will have called M110 a galaxy and in the 19th and first half of 20th century a nebula. So why The Edward Young Star?

Hi all

The last hour I have tried to find out why M110 is called The Edward Young Star without any luck. 

I can see there is an English poet from the 17th century who have written a list of night poems where the quote "the devout astronomer is mad" is from. 

But I can't see the link to the elliptical galaxy Messier 110 - which is by the way first added to Messier's list in 20th century and is one of the two satellite dwarf galaxies next to the Andromeda Galaxy.

I hope one of you can link me to a source or just tell why.

Thanks in advance  

8 hours ago, Carl Au said:

Det ar godt att ser dig, my Swedish is a lot better than my Danish so my apologies in advance 

As far as I understood only English is allowed. But I understand all the Scandinavian languages when written. The Swedish dialect from Skåne gets over my head - even though I was a treasurer at Skåne Sjælland Linux User Group.

The most enjoyable greeings
Claus Agerskov, Agertorium

8 hours ago, cajen2 said:

Welcome, Claus. Don't think we have too many members from Denmark, so doubly welcome!

Thanks - Denmark is a small country with almost 6 million people - so off course there are not many Danes here. 

I'm focusing on double stars at the moment and diggin into information about SHJ 251 aka WDS J17391+0202 - so your "doubly welcome" was spot on 😀

The most enjoyable greeings
Claus Agerskov, Agertorium

Thank so very much - I really appreceate it. 

Especially that you mentioned the difference in German degrees. I have learned that the degrees is called new-degrees (nygrader in Danish) when a whole circle has 400 of them. I didn't knew the relation to the metric system where 1 new-degree was 100km.

The most enjoyable greetings

Hello all
When Bode released Uranographia in 1801 he also released a catalogue with more than 17,000 stars. 

Does anybody know where you can find that catalogue or just the data?

So far my Google searches haven't been a success. 

Thanks in advance 

Hi all
Which dimension in pixels width and height is optimal for cover photos?

Or just the ratio.

Thanks in advance
Claus

I'm the father in a family of 3½ born in 1970. In my youth my room's windows pointed South where I often used my father 7x50 or 8x50 binoculars to look at the night sky. Used my greater sisters typewriter to write sheets with information of the planets and Messier objects etc. 

I generally stopped looking up in my teens - only when comets, showers or other astronomical events was in the prime time news I raised my head. But kept my general knowledge of astronomy and space exploration up to date viewing scientific documentaries. 

10 years ago I saw an amateur astrofoto of Jupiter and was sold but found out it was too for our household to get such expensive equiptment.

It was a great surprise when my wife and son last year gave me a Celestron Explora Scope 70 AZ refractor to my birthday in April. It is the best present I have ever received. But it wasn't until January this year my interested in astronomy really took off when I bought and started writing my astronomy log in a notebook. 

My main focus is what I can get out of the small and quite inexpensive refractor I have and give that information forward. I often sketch instead of taking astrofotos with my OnePlus Nord 2 smartphone using an adapter.

I'm a Dane so I write the log in Danish but I think you can stille dechiffer some of the words. You can see the first two pages of the log beneath. 

Thanks for being here - I hope both you all and I will have a pleasent time - enjoy the sky.

The most enjoyable greeings
Claus Agerskov, Agertorium - Celestron Explora Scope 70 AZ refractor, OnePlus Nord 2 smartphone, Celestron NexYZ smartphone adapter, sheets of paper and HB2 pencils.