I also read that article and was surprised to hear of 'SAC numbers'. I believe that Mr Allison was simply employing editorial license in surmising that the sequential listing of the objects in SAC's '110 Best NGC' list corresponded to yet another numerical designation. I have not encountered any such reference anywhere else. For instance, NGC 5139 is the eighteenth object in the list (which is organized alphabetically by constellation). For illustrative purposes, and to expound the premise of his article, Mr Allison extrapolated (incorrectly) that NGC 5139 was also SAC 18.
Peter----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Coe" <stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 6:47 AM Subject: [sac-forum] Numbers assigned to NGC objects in SAC best of list Howdy all; Folks, I just finished reading the Focal Point article in the December Sky and Telescope. It is on page 142 at the end of that issue. In this article a many named Mark Allison implores deep sky observers to stop "renaming the sky". This is a pet peeve of mine that people keep re-assigning numbers to objects that have already been a very useful designation by an earlier catalog. It is extremely confusing to have the same object have a value given in the Messier, NGC, Caldwell and Levy catalogs. Well, color me surprised when I find that the SAC "Best of the NGC" is part of this discussion. When A.J. and I created this list, we made absolutely certain that no new designations were added on and that these objects were spoken of by their NGC values at all times. So, my question is: do you know of a place, probably on the Internet, where "new" numbers were added onto the SAC Best of the NGC list? I would like to get in contact with the group or person who did this an tell them to "stop it"; in no uncertain terms. There are not now and never have been "SAC numbers" assigned to these NGC objects by us and I don't wish it to continue. So, please let me know if you know where these numbers came from. I would appreciate it; Steve Coe
