THE O.A.A. STAR                                   January 8, 1967   page 3

               OBSERVING PROGRAMMES FOR THE AMATEUR ASTRONOMER

                           By David H, Levy

     During 1967 this group hopes to expand its observing programme slightly.
Below are certain suggestions for observing programmes, some of which are
extremely simple to conduct.  If you'd like more information on any one project
you can call me at 488-0270.  Or write me. My address apppears elsewhere.
     Comet and Nova Searching.
     About six years ago James H. Low of the R.A.S.C. divided the sky into over
four hundred small regions.  The aim was that an observer would check on area
every clear night for possible comets and/or novae.  Now, oever 70 of these
areas have been assigned to observers, and over fifteen hundred checks were made
during 1966.
     The project is simple. All you need is a pair of binoculars and a will  to
go  out for a very short while every clear night .   You are assigned an area
whose measurements are ten degrees on a side.  You make a chart of said
area and you go out and compare each star in the sky to each star on your chart.
Naturally your first  check will take a little time, and so will your second,
but after a while you get to know the stars in your region pretty well and a
check is but the task of a couple of minutes.  If you see something unusual
let me know right away.
     If you don't have binoculars you can check the whole sky each clear night
down to about third magnitude. If you have a fair knowledge of the constellation
outlines this is really easy.  A star that shouldn't be there may stand out to
you'like a sore thumb .'   Checking the bright horizon just after sunset
or just before sunrise may net you a bright comet some day.  Comet Mrkos in 1957
was found that way.   In 1910 a comet was discovered in broad daylight, very
near the sun, and in 1965  Comet Ikeya-Seki was viisble at midday as it rounded
t he sun.  So checking the sky in the immediate Sun's vicinity every day can
be helpful too.
     A more advanced style of comet hunting is the telescopic variety.  Point
your 'scope (prefereably a wide-angle galss should be somewhere in the works)
at an area of the sky.  Check the field of view for any fuzzy patches) move on
to the next field.  Check out any fuzzy with an atlas.  A comet, when
faint, resembles a patch of haze.  But so do galaxies, nebulae and star clusters,
so don't get too excited when you see something.  Count on at elast two hundred
solid hours of searching before you find a comet this way.
     Photographing an area of the sky, and then checking the photographs with
an atlas or two is another way to do this work.

     Double Stars
     For most doubles you do need a telescope.  The aim is to check a star
that is reported on an atlas  as being double.  See if you can separate it
using different eyepiece powers.  A the moment a friendly competition is
in p rogress to separate 127 double stars, selected form Norton's Star Atlas.
     When a filar micrometer is obtained by the Montreal Centre, R.A.S.C.,
the project will be expanded to include measuring the separations and
position angles of doubles.   Detailed information: Carl Jorgensen, 727
Champagneur St., Outremont, P.Q. .  Telephone 276-7433.