[vsnet-chat 4778] Re: 160,000+ measurements of WZ Sge a record?

[Fraser Farrell <fraser@trilobytes.com.au>]

> Are there other examples of such intense observation?  I wonder
> if SN 1987A is a possible contender -- though I doubt that
> people measured it several times a minute for nights on end.

SN 1987A certainly got observed many times per night, but I can't think 
of anyone who maintained a -continuous- vigil. I certainly didn't! 
Another contender would be Jupiter during late July 1994. Was anyone 
looking at anything else during the predicted times of those impacts?

Not sure which of the many radio astronomy projects would win this 
contest; but the University of Tasmania's 14 metre radio telescope has 
continuously observed the Vela Pulsar since 1981. And it's a circumpolar 
object at their latitude. See this link for a description: 
http://vsnet-ra.phys.utas.edu.au/observatories/14m-intro.html



>   When I told one of my colleagues here at RIT about the global
> effort over the past month, he suggested that it might make a good
> press release.

I second Brian's sentiment of keeping the superlatives out of it. There's 
far too much symbolic chest-beating going on in science already. 
Emphasise instead the collective effort of the VSNET swarm – WZ Sge must 
have set the record for the greatest number of VSNET emails on a single 
subject!

There will be a seminal article published in one of the journals about 
"The WZ Sge Outburst Of 2001". No doubt with a long list of 
acknowledgements, contributors, and a zillion references to VSNET. That 
takes care of getting noticed by the professionals.

But who gets to write the item for Sky & Telescope, so that the unwashed 
masses also know of this accomplishment?



cheers,
Fraser Farrell

VSNET Home Page

Return to Daisaku Nogami

---

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