Timo,
And your sketches are very good. Unfortunately, I didn't get the gene.........:-)
Timo,
And your sketches are very good. Unfortunately, I didn't get the gene.........:-)
Update: I have now finished the Herschels (2500).
Ivan that is a big accomplishment way to go . How long did it take?
Clear Skies,
Jimi Lowrey
Fort Davis Texas
48"F4 OMI/TEC
28'F4 ATM
8 since I started to do it systematically, although I probably did half in the last two years when it became the dominant project. Here, if I can average 1 astronomical-quality night a month I feel happy. This winter, for example, there was no real observing for four months. On the first night after that I observed for 10 hours straight and logged over 200 Herschels, many with real morphological details.
In a way I feel sad there will be no more new Herschels. There is something special about this one-man catalog.
Mark Bratton
18" f/4.5 Litebox reflector (travel scope)
22" f/3.3 SpicaEyes Slipstream reflector (LittleTime Observatory)
25x100mm binoculars
“The Complete Guide to the Herschel Objects” (CUP 2011)
Thank you Mark! I'm quite new to this forum but I'm impressed by the very hiqh quality of all the posts here. Do you have the British record of the number of visual DS-observations, more than the Herschels? -
I believe that I have read about your observations in the Webb Society Quarterly Journals, right? I have been a member to the WS since 1991 and I enjoy it. :-) We have the 50th AGM this June. It would be nice to attend it.
/Timo Karhula
Howard
30-inch f/2.7 alt-az Newtonian
https://sites.google.com/site/howardbanichhomepage/
https://sites.google.com/site/sprays...pemirrors/home
Contributing Editor, Sky & Telescope magazine
No British record, Timo - I’m Canadian, but I don’t even think I have that here... there are some seriously good visual observers in Canada. I also like the Webb Society; I joined in ’93. I’ve been a member of that organization more than any other. Anyways, wishing you clear skies in the fall... I’m wondering: I presume at least some of your double star observations could be conducted in deep twilight at this time of year?
Mark Bratton
18" f/4.5 Litebox reflector (travel scope)
22" f/3.3 SpicaEyes Slipstream reflector (LittleTime Observatory)
25x100mm binoculars
“The Complete Guide to the Herschel Objects” (CUP 2011)
May I add my congratulations as well, Ivan... maybe you’d like to consider doing John Herschel’s Slough discoveries next?
Mark Bratton
18" f/4.5 Litebox reflector (travel scope)
22" f/3.3 SpicaEyes Slipstream reflector (LittleTime Observatory)
25x100mm binoculars
“The Complete Guide to the Herschel Objects” (CUP 2011)
Thanks! Quite possibly. I've looked at some of those already, and they are an interesting bunch, especially the Galactic objects, and would be a natural introduction to the Cape catalog should I decide to spend some serious time down south. (As things stand I have half of the Dunlops still left.) Right now I am going through the information on the Vorontsov-Velyaminov interacting galaxies. There are more than 2000 in total, and I first became fascinated by W. Herschel's discoveries reading VV's high school textbook. I may have a fair shot at enough of the interaction features even with my present equipment. Planning is fickle but a project can then acquire a life of its own...
My fault, I thought you were an English man. Sorry :-) I myself, belong to a minority of Finnish-Swedish ethnic group here in Sweden. There is more than 50% of Finnish ancestry in my home town (where I observe).
I certainly have seen most Deep-Sky objects in Sweden but in the Nordic countries I'm not sure. There are some Finnish observers like Iiro Sairanen and Jaakko "Jake" Saloranta who have seen at least 3000-4000 DS-objects.
/Timo Karhula
I think one of the first people to do all of the Herschel 2500 (apart from William and John) :-) was the Canadian observer Father Lucian Kemble with his C11 back in the 1980's. I had the pleasure to observe with him for a number of years whilst I was in Calgary.
Owen
Judging by his Slough catalog J. Herschel only reobserved about 1600 to 1700 of his father's objects successfully - I don't know if he targeted more. Owen, how high was your and F. Kemble's site? Half of my observations came with a 12" SCT at 800 m a.s.l. with sky darkness reaching to 21.9 mag/sq arcsec and I must say the aperture was no overkill - some objects remained invisible in it. I wonder what Bigourdan's score was; my guess would be 2300 while he targeted all.