FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: Supernova in M74

[AJ Crayon <acrayon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Leave it to Tom to come up with unusual - and humorous - questions and topics
about the marathon.  I thought he already had out done himself earlier this
year, guess not!
As far as counting for an observation of the galaxy itself, that depends . . .
on the observer.  Remember the marathon is an honor system, you get out of it
what you put into it and, as a result, the observer will have to decide if it
was observed or not.

To comment on some of the responses so far.  There is no referee, umpire or
overseer to determine if an observer has seen a Messier object or not, it is up
to the observer's determination to mark the list accordingly.  This gets more
complicated and difficult.  It's pretty impossible to have someone else
determine authenticity of an observation, even if it is done real time.
There's the variability of seeing and transparency, but more important is
observers eye sight and experience - of both the marathon participant and his
overseerer.

Yes, "Hehe, this is fun (and not at all serious)," as Joe indicates.

Of course, now this raises another interesting question that I will pose to the
list; what would you do if in the situation posed by Tom?  Of course you want
to know my answer?  It ain't easy but I would not agree to having observed the
galaxy, and I decided upon this before reading \Brian's response.

I really want to avoid coming up with a long List of Picky Details as it will
never end.  Once it starts getting very extremely long no one will want to
spend, or waste, the time becoming familiar with its nuances.  Just think it
will begin to sound like legalese, for instance your observation of M74 is
denied because of Article CX, paragraph V838, section 15 as amended to the
Tejera ruling July 23, 2012.  Yuk!

aj
Messier Marathon Coordinator
http://www.saguaroastro.org

P.S. - I just can't wait for the next question;o))

Tom Polakis wrote:

>
> So let's say it was discovered in late March, just before the Messier
> marathon, and it was easier to see than the galaxy itself.  If you observed
> only the supernova but not the galaxy, would that count as having observed
> M74?  AJ?
>
>


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