RALPH COPELAND (1837-1905)
Ralph Copeland discovered 3 southern planetary nebulae from Peru in 1883.
NGC5315 in Cir, NGC5873 in Lup and NGC6153 in Sco
NGC 6153 is in the IIS list of 111 Bright NGC objects.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.p...63,322,0,0,1,0
It forms an attractive mini Crux with 3 stars. For an image see:
http://www.ngcic.org/dss/n/6/n6153.jpg
Copeland has an Australian connection. “In 1853 he went to Australia and spent five years in the colony of Victoria, most of the time on a sheep run at the foot of the Australian Alps, though he was also for some time infected by the then raging mania for gold digging and made his way to the wild Omeo district.”
He went to Peru in 1883.
“Landing at Mollendo on the 2nd of February, he proceeded to Arequipa by the interesting railway and utilised an enforced delay of a week in that town to get a 6-inch lathe transformed into a very fair equatorial mounting. The rainy season was now in full swing, and when he reached Vincocaya (14,360 feet above sea level) nothing could be done there, for which reason he went on to La Paz, in Bolivia, across the Lake of Titicaca, to gain experience of the means of transport and the state of the sky in that country. He established himself at Puno, on Lake Titicaca (12,500 feet), from the 17th of March to the 2nd of June, after which he again observed at Vincocaya till the 27th of June before embarking for Panama. With the Vogel spectroscope he found a number of stars with bright line spectra and several star-like planetary nebulae, and would doubtless have accomplished much more in this direction if his instrumental equipment had been better.”
http://www.eric.percival.dsl.pipex.c...20obituary.htm