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Re: (IAAC) Eye vs CCD




Hello, Nick - hope your holiday was a good one!

Please forgive my reposting your message to -announce without permission, by 
the way... I expect public response will be quite positive though!


I think this would be an extremely interesting project to pursue... It really 
would require some dedication however, as using any sort of light source 
(including LEDs) in between observations might invalidate results.

In compensation though, spending a whole hour on the same deeply detailed 
object may prove a breakthrough observing experience for many of us!


As for objects, I might actually suggest a galaxy field, if the experiment is 
to be performed in Spring or Fall: the advantage would be several objects in 
the same FOV, revealing a wide range of details; also a fainter group might 
still represent a challenge after an hour. In early Summer sky, Abell 2151 in 
Hercules might be suitable for a test with a larger instrument.

At the opposite extreme (and perhaps more humane for an hour-long observing 
run!), would be an extremely bright object, such as M8, M31, or M17. Logging 
the details of each observation might prove the hardest part of the experiment 
however: not everyone is as skilled at sketching as you! Also, it must be near 
impossible to sketch at the eyepiece without any light source. Perhaps a 
standard verbal logging scheme could be adopted for tape recording?

Clear skies,
Lew



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