Observing Notes on nearly 10,000 objects

[Steve Gottlieb]

It's been awhile since I've mentioned updates on Adventures in Deep Space, so I thought I'd mention the recent additions...

I've uploaded a new version of my observing notes for the NGC (7840 objects), with visual descriptions of *every* non-stellar object. In addition, I have notes on a large number (1900) of objects in the IC. All of the NGC/IC identifications have been checked for historical accuracy as part of NGC/IC Project. I've included historical discovery information including the observer's name, date and the original discovery descriptions. Modern catalogues discrepancies and errors are also discussed.

Observing report (from June), featuring objects from Zwicky's CGPG ("Catalogue of Selected Compact Galaxies and of Post Eruptive Galaxies")
I Zw 115 (UGC 9893)
VII Zw 729 (UGC 10923)
VII Zw 591 (The “Blue Sausage")
KUG 1138+327 (prototype "Tadpole" galaxy)
Mrk 296 (another "Tadpole" galaxy)
IV Zw 67 (Pre-planetary nebula, better known as the "Egg Nebula")

Lord Rosse's Spring Spirals (May), featuring ...
M99
M61
NGC 4535
NGC 4536
NGC 5248
M101

Go Bears! The Berkeley Open Clusters (January)
Berkeley 11
Berkeley 67
Berkeley 17
Berkeley 19
Berkeley 69
Berkeley 71
Berkeley 28

Feature article: 100+ Planetary Nebulae Visible with Small Telescopes & Binoculars (Scott Harrington)

Many deep sky catalogues and lists (most in.xls format)
Abell Galaxy Clusters
Abell Planetary Nebulae
Arp Galaxies
Barnard Dark Nebulae
etc.

[Uwe Glahn]

Most inspiring Steve, thanks for sharing your notes.
I noted some of the guys of your last Zwicky report and will give it a try.

[Clear Skies]

Impressive work, Steve!

Is the Berkeley research paper available online? Would like to get my hands on it.

[Steve Gottlieb]

As far as I know, a scanned version of the 1962 two-volume, spiral-bound catalogue/atlas is not available online. I assume all printed copies went to observatories and astronomy libraries. I don't have a personal copy.

Or are you just asking about a list of the Berkeley clusters? You could extract these from the Dias open cluster database.

[wvreeven]

An incredible achievement Steve. Thanks so much for sharing this.

[Steve Gottlieb]

Glad to hear they're appreciated.

Jimi asked me about my UGC notes, so I just uploaded visual descriptions for 1000 UGCs (not in the NGC or IC). The link is at the bottom of the NGC/IC page, or go directly here.

[Clear Skies]

Or are you just asking about a list of the Berkeley clusters? You could extract these from the Dias open cluster database.

I am familiar with the Berkeley clusters https://clearskies.eu/csog/downloads...ters/#berkeley, but access to an original research paper almost always leads to interesting additional data to add to my observing guides.

[Steve Gottlieb]

I'm curious also, though I believe the two volumes mainly consisted of full-page POSS1 images of the clusters and not any research on the clusters. Perhaps someone has access to an observatory library that has a copy to report?

With cheap plastic spiral-binding, I wonder how many copies were printed. Anyways, you can see a couple of pages here from a former sale on eBay apparently.

[Paul Alsing]

[QUOTE=Steve Gottlieb;7841]As far as I know, a scanned version of the 1962 two-volume, spiral-bound catalogue/atlas is not available online. I assume all printed copies went to observatories and astronomy libraries. I don't have a personal copy.

Hi Steve (and everyone else)

Is this the 2-volume spiral-bound catalog that you are talking about?

https://app.box.com/s/syd14f10v0vp8of5kzbgx1nthr6l2une

Near the end of this paper are 2 lists, the first contains 59 objects and the second contains 45 objects, together totaling 104 objects. I'm pretty sure this is what you want.

Everyone is welcome to download this, I really don't remember where I got it, but I got it from somewhere!

[Steve Gottlieb]

Yep, that’s it Paul, minus the meat of the publication, which are the POSS1 charts. Of course, better resolution charts are easily available, such as Victor’s. I didn’t think it included any studies of the clusters, themselves.

[Steve Gottlieb]

"Everyone is welcome to download this, I really don't remember where I got it, but I got it from somewhere!"

Page 2 is probably the answer.

[wvreeven]

The September 2020 issue of Sky And Telescope features a Deep Sky Wonders episode by Sue French about several Berkeley clusters. It of course is a reprint of several years ago.

[Don Pensack]

I recall that Archinal & Hynes mentioned, in their book "Star Clusters" (Willmann-Bell) that a lot of the Ruprecht clusters lists had a substantial number of positional errors.
Do any of the Berkeley clusters (I haven't tried to view all of them) have similar errors in position?

[Steve Gottlieb]

I haven't run across any bad positions, though I'm using Megastar which is probably using more recent updated positions.

The Berkeley cluster positions were given to the nearest arc minute of dec and tenths of a minute in RA, so they are going to be a bit imprecise. Out of curiosity I just checked Berkeley 1 and found the cataloged position (given in 1900 and 1950 coordinates) is actually 3.5' too far south (and outside the cluster), so perhaps they weren't very accurate.

In any case, I'm pretty sure modern amateur software, as well as online databases such as SIMBAD, have the correct position.

[Clear Skies]

Nah, SIMBAD is, in all honesty, quite messy when it comes to extended objects. Open clusters and nebulae can be quite a bit of. Half a degree is no exception. Therefor, to roughly determine cluster centerpoints, I simply tweaked the coordinates in the DSS web URL until a cluster was centered on the DSS image, then used those coordinates.