Announcements Lab this week will be the NAAP Variable Star Photometry Due to bad weather, the Telescopic Observations of the Moon lab due date will be extended three weeks to October 2 Homework: Chapter 3 # 1, 2, 3, 4 & 8 For #8…use “query by criteria” and give Otype, RA and Dec for all the stars in the list.

The Next Three Weeks Next Week…Dark Sky Night Tuesday 9/16 Class will meet Thursday but no lab Algol observing night Saturday 9/20-9/21 Week after…Dark Sky Night Wednesday 9/24 Class will meet Thursday but no lab Week after that…1 st Quarter Night Wednesday October 1 Class will meet Thursday but no lab All Dark Sky nights are weather dependent. If the Dark Sky night is cancelled there will be a lab

Maps, Charts and Catalogues

One of the oldest star catalogues is contained in Ptolemy's Almagest

Uranometria Johannes Bayer Naked eye stars. Bayer designation uses Greek letters and possessive form of constellation

John Flamsteed’s Celestial Atlas was published in 1725 after his death Flamsteed used a number followed by the possessive form of the constellation. 51 Pegasi is an example

Other catalogues Bright Star Catalogue…last published in paper form in Now only available in electronic form Henry Draper Catalogue…final version published in Based on the work of the women of Harvard Observatory General Catalogue of Variable Stars…first published in Now contains over 42,000 variables Palomar Sky Survey (POSS)…completed in Photographic atlas of the sky take by the Oschin Schmidt telescope at Mount Palomar Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory catalogue (SAO)…almost 259,000 stars

More Star Catalogues Hubble Guide Star Catalogue…digitized version of the Palomar Sky Survey. Available online. Includes southern sky from the UK Schmidt SERC-J survey. About 945 million stars to magnitude 21 United States Naval Observatory A2.0 catalogue…digitized combination of POSS, Science Research Council J-images and European Southern Observatory R-images Hipparcos…astrometric data for 118,000 stars Tycho catalogue…continuation of Hipparcos data Sloan Digital Sky Survey…over 180 million objects Sky Atlas …printed sky atlas Uranometria …220 charts covering the entire sky

The Messier Catalogue 109 objects (110 if you count a duplicate or substitute another object for it). Probably the most popular objects among amateur astronomers Charles Messier

The NGC and IC Catalogues New General Catalogue compiled by J.L.E. Dreyer based on the observations of William and John Herschel. First published in Lists 7840 non-stellar objects. The Index Catalogue (IC) expanded the list by adding 5000 additional objects in two groups. IC I published in 1895 and IC II published in 1908

Other non-stellar catalogues George Abell also published a Galaxy Cluster catalogue in Based on examinations of the original POSS plates and done as a part of his PhD thesis. He started adding the southern sky using the UK Schmidt telescope in Australia but died before completing it. Ronald Olowin completed the southern sky in 1989, six years after Abell’s death.

Hickson’s Compact Groups of Galaxies Published by Paul Hickson in Based mostly on examinations of the POSS images. 100 groups of galaxies

Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies 338 unusual galaxies compiled by Halton Apr in 1966

Barnard’s Catalogue of Dark Nebulae Published by Edward Barnard in Consists of 366 dark nebulae like the Horsehead Nebula, the Pipe Nebula and the Snake Nebula

Electronic Catalogues IAU Archive database maintained by the Centre de Données Astronomique de Strasbourg Image Tool Databases

Astronomical Software The Sky…Software Bisque Starry Night…Imaginova Stellarium Guide…Project Pluto Others too numerous to list. Some freeware, some pay-ware