[vsnet-chat 603] (fwd from ISN) Re[2]: Low-dispersion CCD spectrograph?

[Taichi Kato <tkato@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp>]

Mail formarded from the ISN list, with permission of the contributor.

Date: Mon, 08 Sep 97 12:58:08 PST
From: "Wayne P. Johnson" <wpjohnson@anet.bna.boeing.com>
To: tkato@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp, jonsanf@interserv.com, green@cfa.harvard.edu,
        pfactors@ix.netcom.com, tpuckett@mindspring.com,
        marsden@cfa.harvard.edu
Cc: Guy@tahq.demon.co.uk, isn@mbox.queen.it, wayne.p.johnson@boeing.com
Subject: Re[2]: Low-dispersion CCD spectrograph?
Content-Type: text
Content-Length: 5837

     
     Dr. Marsden,
     
     Thank you for putting out the circulars to help define some of the 
     procedures necessary in the work that is being done by amateurs in the 
     search for ephemeral objects (SN, novae, asteroids, variable stars). 
     
     Rest assured that we are being careful in the work that we are doing, 
     to the limit of our equipment, but our personal resources are woefully 
     inadequate and we have come to depend on external sources for our 
     information. Now we are finding out that those sources are also 
     woefully inadequate. We attempted to verify the positions of the 
     asteroids (#1887 and 5240) you mentioned that were passing through the 
     field of N772 on the night of our observations. We noted them, but 
     according to our plots, were not close enough to our reported SN 
     position to even make the connection. The difference between observed 
     and calculated was on the order of 5 arcminutes and we did make a 
     second (and third) image to detect motion, but saw none. 
     
     We don't want to interfere with the professionals and their work, but 
     sometimes we have no choice. Besides, the professionals that I have 
     talked to either say okay or say that they're too busy. In my case, I 
     am looking for SNe close to the nuclei of galaxies where very few good 
     references are available. The only good ones are Wray's Color Atlas of 
     Galaxies and to some extent Vickers' CCD Atlas. The DSS has proven to 
     be inadequate more times than not and that's a "professional" 
     reference! I have been advised to let my SN candidates go if I don't 
     have my own reference image. I guess I'll have to do that and report a 
     stale SN in the future. But what good is that other than for 
     statistical analysis, when some good science could have been done. The 
     amateurs' goal is to provide a laboratory for astronomers to 
     investigate.
     
     There is no reward for SN hunters other than personal satisfaction and 
     appearing on some obsure list that no one looks at anyway. Nor are we 
     being cited in the journals with one notable exception and he gets 
     co-authorship (well deserved BTW). Most amateurs I have talked to 
     refer to the arrogance of the reporting authority (CBAT) which also 
     seems to lambast every contribution. I thought the charter of the CBAT 
     was to filter out false alarms by having others with more capable 
     equipment make a follow-up calculation (which was done for the N772 
     case, thanks), observation or check of reference images, rather than 
     reject further investigation  on a "feeling" (which was done on my 
     N379 report). I still see the stellar image near N379's nucleus in 
     more images I made a week apart, though that may still not be a long 
     enough time separation to filter out its being a foreground object, 
     something that could have been done spectroscopically in one 
     observation. It still may end up being a foreground object but I and 
     others should be aware of it to avoid reporting it in the future when 
     more time will be wasted. There does seem to be a perception problem 
     of whose time is more valuable. In fact, all of our time is valuable, 
     but knowledge is even more so! I didn't think science worked on 
     "feelings", especially when such an elementary observation can be 
     made. I am finding out that the vast plate vaults of the professional 
     observatories are inaccessible. They're not even catalogued other than 
     by observer which makes finding a particular image more difficult than 
     making another observation, and by that time it's too late. I'm sure 
     every object in the sky has been imaged 10 times over. Surely there's 
     enough information somewhere to establish a history on any given 
     object. I empathise with Kato-san's mention of the interminable wait 
     with no feedback, though the time factor is equally important for SNe 
     especially if they are caught early in their evolution as was SN1991T, 
     though it, too, suffered from a reporting agency snafu (AAVSO staff 
     was off for the weekend!)  
     
     
     Sincerely,
     
     Wayne Johnson

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