Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveG
The Great Melbourne Telescope, generally considered a Great failure, was only credited with two discoveries in the NGC despite 20 years of active service. With a 48-inch aperture (speculum mirror), I always found it hard to believe that additional southern galaxies as well as new LMC clusters and nebulae weren't discovered with this enormous scope.
I recently searched the National Archives of Australia website and found they had digital copies of observing logs for the GMT. I was excited to find that nearly 70 discoveries made with the GMT were never published, mostly by Pietro Baracchi between 1884 and 1888. As an example, Baracchi made 17 uncredited discoveries in the Centaurus cluster, 6 in the Hydra I cluster and 6 in the Antlia cluster.
You can read " The lost Deep Sky discoveries with the Great Melbourne Telescope" on my website Adventures in Deep Space. I've included data on all the discoveries, as well as my observing notes on many of these.
Susan Young has also created an excellent blog titled " The Baracchi 59" on her web site Sand & Stars. She has a short biography on Baracchi and more information on the GMT.
Should make a Great observing challenge!! |
Thanks for this Steve. Looks like I have some new targets to chase down...
I am heading down to Kiandra again soon, this time with the 18".
Not sure if you have been aware of the restoration of the GMT that is happening in Melbourne since the Mt Stromlo Observatory was destroyed in the firestorm.....
https://asv.org.au/greatmelbournetelescope