A Humble Call for Help

[Muddy Diver]

To all those star photographers out there. I wonder if I could set a challenge for you as I don't have the equipment to do this well myself.

Just a few weeks before christmas, some friends of a close friend of ours lost their beautiful, young, only daughter in a tragic road accident. :sadeyes:

Their closest group of friends thought it might be nice to name a star after her as she was discovered to have a small star tattoo (which her parents didnt know about) and so they organised for this through the Sydney observatory. I have had a look on my beginners software but cannot find the star so I was wondering if anyone might be able to snap a shot of it so that we might be able to provide their parents with a picture. If anyone feels inclined to help out I offer the following information for the star. It is in the southern cross and is listed in the southern star Catalogue as 703772
RA 12hrs 19mins 20.92secs
dec (edit)-59degs 17 mins 28.68secs
mag 8.57

Or if someone may already have a catalogued image this would be great.

[[1ponders]]

I don't suppose it has a Hip or SAO catalogue number? Also I think you will find that the declination is - 59deg, not 59deg

[Muddy Diver]

Thanks Paul

No I dont have anySAO or HIP numbers, only the details given i'm afraid. Oh and yes, -59 degrees of course!:screwy:

[Rob_K]

What a lovely memorial. Can't help with an image, but here are the SSC details, and an image generated in Aladin.

_RAJ2000 12 19 20.93 "h:m:s" (javascript:Unit('h:m:s')) Right ascension (FK5) Equinox=J2000.0 Epoch=J2000.000, proper motions taken into account (computed by VizieR, not part of the original data)
_DEJ2000 -59 17 28.7 "d:m:s" (javascript:Unit('d:m:s')) Declination (FK5) Equinox=J2000.0 Epoch=J2000.000, proper motions taken into account (computed by VizieR, not part of the original data)
_RAB1950 12 16 38.50 "h:m:s" (javascript:Unit('h:m:s')) Right ascension (FK4) Equinox=B1950.0 Epoch=J1950.000, proper motions taken into account (computed by VizieR, not part of the original data)
_DEB1950 -59 00 48.9 "d:m:s" (javascript:Unit('d:m:s')) Declination (FK4) Equinox=B1950.0 Epoch=J1950.000, proper motions taken into account (computed by VizieR, not part of the original data)
_Glon 298.838 deg (javascript:Unit('deg')) Galactic longitude Epoch=J2000.000, proper motions taken into account (computed by VizieR, not part of the original data) _
Glat +03.325 deg (javascript:Unit('deg')) Galactic latitude Epoch=J2000.000, proper motions taken into account (computed by VizieR, not part of the original data) recno
11576 Record number within the original table (starting from 1)

num 703772 Number
Pmag 8.57 mag (javascript:Unit('mag')) Photographic magnitude
RA1950 12 16 38.458 "h:m:s" (javascript:Unit('h:m:s')) Hours right ascension (1950)
DE1950 -59 00 49.12 "d:m:s" (javascript:Unit('d:m:s')) Degrees declination (1950)
Ep-1900 70.6 yr (javascript:Unit('yr')) Epoch - 1900.000
Nobs 5 No. observations
pmRA -2.0 ms/yr (javascript:Unit('ms/yr')) Proper motion in right ascen.
pmDE -11 mas/yr (javascript:Unit('mas/yr')) Proper motion in declination



All the best -

[Rob_K]

Sorry, forgot to acknowledge source:

http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-kw.cat=1271

From this link, you can do a search of the Catalogue. Inverted colour image attached, with your star at centre. Might help IIS imagers to photograph field for you.


Cheers -

[Muddy Diver]

Thanks Rob, I found this site but not having seen anything like it before was unable to use it! I appreciate the help. Do you know how to cross reference to a SAO or other catalogue number?

[Rob_K]

Did a search through the SAO & Hip catalogues. No entry for SAO catalogue, searching with RAB1950 & DEB1950 co-ords. Success with Hip (Hipparcos Input Catalogue v2 1993). The Hip no. of your star is 60090.

Now it's up to Paul or someone with a decent camera.... I really hope someone grabs this thread and runs with it, because it's for a good cause. Good luck!

CALLING ALL IMAGERS.....

Cheers -

[Rob_K]

BTW, in answer to your question, to search you click box at left of relevant catalogue, then click 'Query Selected Catalogue' button below entry. This takes you to a new page. For your query, I clicked 'Adapt form to use a list of targets' link, next to 'Query by position in sky'. This opens a new page where you can input co-ords got from Southern Sky Catalogue. Then click 'Submit query' button at bottom.

Cheers -

[[1ponders]]

Get me a fine night and I'll definately give it a shot.

[[1ponders]]

In the meantime Muddy, I hope these help to find the star.

Image 1 - Crux with 1 deg FOV indicator centered on the star
Image 2 - delta crucis and 1 deg FOV
Image 3 - 30' FOV
Image 4 - 10' FOV

All FOVs centered on star HIP 60090. (RA and DEC correspond to within 0.05' and mag to 0.02)

[Muddy Diver]

Rob and Paul

Thanks guys for all the help. I'm fairly limited in terms of resource for this stuff. I appreciate any attempts at imaging once McNaught has passed. Its a bit of an attention grabber at the moment!

[Muddy Diver]

I dont want to make a nuisance of myself here but just in case you cant see this thread as there have been no new posts for a while, I am asking again......just in case!:D

[merlin8r]

As soon as it clears up I'll give it a go. Are you after a wide field shot, or a close up?

[Dennis]

Hello,

I have just stumbled on this post and was so sorry to read of the sad loss of this young girl - my condolences to the family and loved ones. Thanks to Rob_K's investigation, I was able to plot the field in The Sky and SkyTools, as shown in the attached charts. SkyTools lists it as SAO 239845

We have been pretty much clouded out in Brissie since Oct 2006, and the next 6 days have rain/clouds forecast, but I will attempt to obtain an image the next clear night opportunity.

My preliminary attempt will be made using my B&W ST7E CCD camera, so the image will be in black and white only.

Cheers

Dennis

ATTACHMENTS:
The Sky Pro 6 Details at cursor
Object name: WDS RST4496
Magnitude: 8.9
Equatorial: RA: 12h 19m 45s Dec: -59°19'46"(current)
Equatorial 2000: RA: 12h 19m 21s Dec: -59°17'28"
Horizon: Azim: 145°16'01" Alt: +27°44'52"
Source catalog: WDS (Washington Double Star Catalog)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++

SkyTools Details at cursor
HD 107126
Multiple Star System
aka SAO 239845, PPM 340881, HIP 60090, CD -58 04489, CP -58 04212, CCDM 12193-5917, TYC 08645-1023 1
RA: 12h19m20.9s, Dec: -59°17'28" (2000) in Crux
High precision coordinates from HIPPARCOS catalog.
Galactic lon: +298°50', Galactic lat: +03°20'
Magnitude: 8.60

Mag: H 8.61 to H 8.68

Catalog Data:
Magnitude: 8.60, A1
Proper Motion:
RA: -0.0024 s/yr
Dec: -0.0025 "/yr
Distance: 960 +/- 270.0 ly
AB: 8.6+8.9 mag, RST4496; In 1939: PA 11° Sep 0.20"

Photometry:
B-V: 0.117 (HIP)
V-I: 0.130 (HIP)

Apparent Data for 2007 Feb 17 GMT+10 at Brisbane, Australia:
Apparent RA: 12h19m45.4s, Apparent Dec: -59°19'46"
Ecliptical lon: +216°52', Ecliptical lat: -50°30'
Azimuth: +180°03', Altitude: +58°11'
Zenith Distance: +31°49'
Local Sidereal Time: 03h14m
Hour Angle: 00h01m

Millennium Star Atlas Vol II Chart 989
Sky Atlas 2000 Chart 25
Uranometria 2000 Vol II Chart 428
Uranometria 2nd Ed. Chart 198
Herald-Bobroff Astroatlas B-16 C-84

[merlin8r]

Well here's my effort. Also just happens to be first light with my new camera. I don't know how to add arrows to the pic, but yours is the brightest near the centre. If you message me with your email I can send you the full size version.
It may interest you that this is a binary star sytem, so she didn't get one star, she got two.

[[1ponders]]

I haven't forgotten MD, I'm still waiting for a clear night.

[avandonk]

I used ponders image three to show the star in this crop. I used RegiStar to overlay the image with ponders map. The full hi res image can be obtained here.

2MB
http://members.optus.net/trlee8/CRtoCAR.jpg

This image was taken with an 85mm lens. I could try for an image with the 300mm . The field of view would just be Crux.


Bert

[avandonk]

Here is the 300mm lens version of Crux. If you want a higher resolution image if this is suitable let me know.

Bert

[Muddy Diver]

Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you, I have little time to absorb everything right now and apologise for the late response as have been spending some time oversease working. Have you seen the pollution in Shanghai Clear weather bvut not many clear skies!

But many thanks (again) for your generous help. I'll look at your responses in more detail later. :thumbsup:

[Rob_K]

Muddy, I photographed the Southern Cross widefield the other night, and on the off-chance checked with Starry Night. Sure enough, the star was visible so I cropped and labelled the shot. Had to reduce quality a bit to post it here, and after all this time I hope it might be of use to your friends. The original is 412kb, and I could email it to you if you wanted to PM me.

Sorry about this delay - I had no idea before that I could image the star at all!

Cheers -

Rob

[bloodhound31]

A close friend of mine just lost a Grandson to SIDS, and they did a similar thing. They asked me to image the star, which I did thanks to the new 400D.

Here's the same image and I circled his star.

Baz.

[Phil]

I will get my STL-11000M out and my NP101mm and shot you a lovely photo if you want. I would be glad to help.
Phil

[Phil]

Took this tonight PM me if you would like the high res. photo.
Phil

[Phil]

Hear is other one this is the star that starrynight give me
Phil

[Muddy Diver]

Phil

Wow.... very clear photo's. I assume that your tracking mount and camera are a little "special" perhaps?:whistle:

The high res shot would be great and I will PM you my email so that you could send it to me. Thanks to you and everyone else who has rallied to the cause.:thumbsup: