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Re: (meteorobs) Who to call for Discovery?
George's idea is a REALLY good one, actually! Remember that SN 1987A in the
Large Magellanic Cloud wasn't discovered (photographically) till it reached *5th
magnitude* (about 12 hours after it first reached 10th magnitude :>).
Unfortunately, a look over the Web site of the "Central Bureau of Astronomical
Telegrams" revealed that they DON'T provide a phone number for reporting
discoveries (comets, supernovae, novae, asteroids, etc). Instead, they want to
receive postal mail, or preferrably e-mail or a Web-form report! The email
address is:
cbat@cfa.harvarddot edu
or else a Web discovery form can be filled out at:
http://cfa-www.harvarddot edu/cfa/ps/DiscoveryForm.html
Now George, if you find a supernova in our galaxy with your eyes before I find
one in an external galaxy with my scope, I'll never forgive you! :)
By the way, here's an excerpt from the "International Supernova Network" Web
page. Not all of it is applicable to an INTRA-galactic visual SN discovery, but
these are good verification procedures to consider anyway. Anyway, IF you follow
all the applicable steps below, and you still believe you've found something, my
advice is to drive to the nearest computer and send a report! Otherwise, maybe
some of the subscribers to 'meteorobs' can exchange home numbers, and if one of
us sees something, some of the others can access their computers, check the
object, and perhaps send out a report.
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Should you spot a suspect star while hunting for SNe...
(1) You should check all archive references you have in your library or on your
PC [for a list of atlases and galaxy charts please see bibliography]
(2a) You should check for possible asteroids using commercially available
programs... [i.e.: Megastar, Guide, etc.]
(2b) or by checking for motion [wait for at least an hour since first
observation]
(4) You should check for a possible variable star
(5) You should obtain an image of the galaxy, using your equipment or help from
other amateurs [a digital image is great!]
(6) You should check your records for the previous observations of the same
galaxy [when was the last time you observed?]
(7) You should check AND double check the suspect star approximate offset from
the nucleus
(8) You should estimate approximate magnitude of suspect star and limiting
magnitude of your equipment [an error of +/- half a magnitude is ok if you can't
do photometry]
(9) You should ALWAYS take a second look or a second image of the suspect star.
If you STILL think you've found a supernova.... If you did all steps (1) to
(9).... AND you are still 100% convinced that it could be a supernova....
THEN you can use this form[Web link] to report the suspect star to the ISN
mailing list followed, if you wish, by a short message, AND you can send a
message to the International Astronomical Bureau.
[ALWAYS include in your message name and address, equipment used, date of
observation, galaxy, offset from nucleus, magnitude, what did you do and
didn't do to check the suspect star and date of previous observation].
References: