[vsnet-chat 239] Re: Q:rule of nomenclature of new variables

[Fraser Farrell <fraserf@dove.net.au>]

G'day all,

On 1997-04-18 skiyota@abr.affrc.go.jp said:
   >And I don't (and nova hunters might not) know detail of criteria of
   >"discovery" of new variable stars.

   >Recently we have our publication in English, VSOLJ variable star
   >bulletin. Thus we can report their discover after some follow up
   >observations. Is it enough?  Or is it better to publish in IBVS or
   >other publications that are well circulated ?

I think publication in IBVS would be better.  They already have plenty
of articles with titles like "3 suspected variables in ____" or
"________: a possible ___-type variable?"  IBVS is recognised source
of recent information from amateur and professional researches, and
publication delay seems to be short.  On second thoughts, the IBVS might
not be able to keep up with the huge output of discoveries from
Japan...! <g>

If you publish only in the VSOLJ bulletin, it would need to be readily
available world-wide, or many discoveries will not be known outside
Japan (is the English version of VSOLJ bulletin available on Internet?).

Spreading of information and publicity for discoveries - or suspicions -
is vital or we will all continue to keep rediscovering known variables.
It's embarrassing to announce a new object, then be told that someone
else found it years ago but "it's not catalogued yet".

An example of the publicity problem which may interest VSNET readers,
from a story I read years ago.  Last century, a Dutch astronomer
suggested that all variables should be named numerically by
constellation - eg: "V1 Ori, V2 Ori, V3..." etc. He pointed out that
using letters (R Ori, S Ori, etc) was confusing (because some
nonvariable stars were lettered too), awkward to catalogue, and that
astronomers would eventually run out of letters in some constellations.

This good idea was published in a Dutch scientific journal in the Dutch
language; and was completely ignored by other variable star researchers
of the 19th century - most of whom could read only English, French, or
German; and read only articles in these languages.

The idea was rediscovered many years later when some constellations
_had_ finally reached "QZ" , and the names continued "V335", "V336",
and so on.  I think the cataloguers claimed this as a new idea and
pondered "why weren't numbers used in the beginning?"

I would be interested to learn more details of this story.

Astronomy isn't the only science with this problem.  Mendel's famous
researches on inheritance and the laws of genetics lay unnoticed in an
obscure journal for 40 years!


   >Some astronomers might think that it is important
   >to discover some peculiar variables but might not pay attention to
   >its amateur discover.

Fame is short-lived, even in astronomy :(   How many of us can name the
discoverers of SN1987A today?




cheers,
Fraser Farrell

http://vsnet.dove.net.au/~fraserf/   email: fraserf@dove.net.au
traditional: PO Box 332, Christies Beach, SA  5165, Australia

VSNET Home Page

Return to Daisaku Nogami

---

vsnet-adm@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp