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| That was an interesting email, Mike, comparing variable star observing to birding. I appreciated it because these two activities are both favorites of mine. I see a lot of parallels. Observing and recording where and when bird species are seen is a potential contribution to science, just like recording the magnitude of variables. I also get as much pleasure familiarizing myself with new variable stars as I do adding birds to my life list. One of the things that keeps birding frustrating (but also challenging) is that there are species listed that aren't considered rare, but I never seem to see them. For instance, I still have never seen a Pine Siskin, though I scrutinize my feeders for them every winter. I've also never seen any winter Crossbills, Grosbeaks, or even a Purple Finch. The semi-periodic winter invasion of Common Redpoll is also something I seem to miss! But I'll keep searching. As far as stars, this might seem strange to a lot of observers, but I never seem to set up a regular program for viewing SU and SW Ursae Majoris, though I want to. Especially SW UMa, since the flare-ups seem to be much more rare. I blame the fact that when these stars are best placed for observing, in winter and spring, the weather is usually lousy. One more question I'd like to pose to anyone out there...is anybody making regular checks on T Bootis? This is another area of the sky that I would like to watch much more regularly. I know that this object was only tracked by one observer in 1860, and depending on how one looks at it, it could have been an error, a repeating nova, or a real event that will never be seen again. But I keep thinking how wonderful it would be to be the first person in almost 150 years to see it shining through the eyepiece! I guess you could compare seeing T Bootis to seeing an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker :) Paul Zeller (ZPA) Indianapolis, IN |
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