Ciel Extreme's album of sketches

Hey there ladies and gents

I've uploaded a sample of some of my deep sky sketches. If you're interested, they are accessible by going to the members list and clicking on Ciel Extreme. Got to do something while the moon is full...

Great sketches. Liked the dust lane in the N part of the bar in NGC 1097 in particular and Dunlop 175 complex in LMC (NGC 1929, -34-36).

Thanks for your comments, Ivan. I'm not really great at seeing detail in deep sky objects... my sketches are usually conservative compared to what other people can see. Love the LMC though... just field after field of intriguing objects... nebulae involved with clusters with globulars in the foreground (or background)... just fantastic. I've been south of the equator just once (for 13 nights in the Atacama desert... each night absolutely clear, dry, and just a touch cold. We observed for 80 hours in moonless conditions over the thirteen nights... believe me, you are finished and useful to no one after a run like that. I managed to record 220 LMC objects over 7 nights... didn't you observe 80 in one night? Amazing.

If I had my druthers, one observing project I'd love to attempt is to try to track down “all” 629 (I think I've got that number right) of the Dunlop objects. Talk about a “catalogue of mystery”. I think around 225 actually have NGC designations... where the other two-thirds are is anyone's guess. It would probably take a series of three month runs over several years in a place like Australia to have any chance of success. I'm surprised an enterprising southern observer hasn't already tried something like this (or maybe they have... can anyone enlighten me?)

Thanks Mark!

BTW, I have your book and I think it is the best book on the Herschels.

Sorry for deviating from the sketches as such... In regard to the Dunlop catalog, it would be nice to have a copy of Glen Cozens's (an author of the popular Dunlop 100 observing list) PhD dissertation. I believe he (an Australian) attempted to identify (on plates) every entry in the Dunlop catalog. From my own extremely limited efforts I know that there must be many that have since entered catalogs as non-NGC or -IC open clusters and OB associations, at least in the Clouds. Regrettably, Cozens's thesis was not online when I last checked.

The SEDS website has a list of 244 NGC and IC objects that are indisputably from the Dunlop catalog. I've seen half of these and would need at least two more wisely timed trips to have a chance of finishing this list of 244, something I would like to do. More than 50 of the 244 are in the LMC. On the only night during my last trip that was devoted to the Cloud I went through 35 of these and 47 accompanying non-Dunlop objects. In a number of cases, however (and the complex in your sketch is one example) it was clear that the Dunlop object is actually a complex of several NGC objects, only one of which has been historically (and with no regard for Dunlop's description) identified with the Dunlop catalog entry. I had roamed the LMC with the same telescope on an earlier trip, so even though I kept no object log the first time, the second time around I knew what I was doing. Not anywhere near your 80 hours, Mark, but still I was a pitiful heap at the business dinner next day in Sydney (observe, drive on half-paved roads to Alice Springs, then fly)!

Hello Ivan

Thanks for straightening me out regarding Cozens... wasn't he one of the authors of an article about Dunlop called “Southern Messier” or something like that many years back in Sky&Tel? In Steinicke's book “Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters” he states that 355 Dunlop objects are now identified (supported by Glen Cozens’ work). A shame that J. Herschel’s diss of his nebula work has tarnished Dunlop’s reputation.

Checking my records, I've probably observed a little less than 100 Dunlop objects, mostly in the LMC, of course. So more than a few southern hemisphere trips are on my bucket list.

To Alvin: thanks for your kind comments about the book.

Yes it is a shame his dissertation is not available. I did a search for it a few years ago but could not find it. Maybe he is/was planning a book around it.

Owen

Yes, Mark, you remember the S&T article correctly.

For CSOG's Dunlop edition, I crosschecked Glen Cozen's data against my own research. He is posting on Ice in Space as glenc. If anyone wishes to get in touch with him by e-mail please send me a PM.
Glen's paper on objects outside the Magellanic Clouds is available here, an Excel sheet with all objects inside the Clouds was sent to me in Excel format. All that data made it into the CSOG edition.

You guys just didn't search hard enough ;-)

Cozens' thesis is available to download in pdf format at http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/24051/

Thanks, Steve. I seem to remember the page - sans PDFs. But was it five years ago that I looked at it...

EDIT: Yep, there's the "date deposited". Undoubtedly it was after I had last looked.

It truly is a great resource! It was gratifying to see, in particular, that this systematic study bore out my impression of trends in Dunlop's positional errors and certain identifications with non-NGC objects.

This may not be the most appropriate thread to post this note, but I wanted to thank Mark Bratton for the excellent article he wrote in the current issue of the Webb Society's "Deep Sky Observer" (#164) on the visual discoveries of Edward Swift. "The Teenage Deep-Sky Wonder" discusses the 48 deep-sky discoveries made by Lewis Swift's son, from the age of 12 (NGC 6382) through 20.

Mark highlights a number of the more interesting galaxies he found with his father, including IC 1101, probably the most distant galaxy (roughly 1.1 billion l.y.) discovered visually in the NGC or IC. A convenient table includes all 48 objects, along with two mystery objects that never made it into the IC as an accurate position was not determined.

If you're interested in the history of visual deep sky discoveries, check out the article if possible!

Hey Steve

Thanks for your positive comments regarding the article.