Clouds of Magellan web site up and running

Paddy (Patrick) · #1 29-11-2010, 03:14 PM

Dear all,

I've now got my web site devoted to observing the Magellanic Clouds sufficiently ready to let people know about it. It's still very much being put together and I am learning a lot about the Clouds and web site construction in the process.

At present, my charts for observing the SMC are all there with links to PDF files for printing. In time, all the object designations will have links to notes, images, articles etc. I have started putting in the LMC charts, but there are only a couple there and about 20 to go.

I welcome any suggestions and also any images, sketches or notes for posting. email me at patrick@cloudsofmagellan.net.au or PM me.

www.cloudsofmagellan.net.au is the address . Thanks for having a look. I'll make further posts as I add more content.

Many thanks to Bert (avandonk) for the use of his lovely mosaics of the LMC and SMC

niko · #2 29-11-2010, 04:57 PM

great work Patrick

niko

Jeeps (Sam) · #3 29-11-2010, 05:10 PM

Top stuff! Thanks!

richardda1st (Richard) · #4 29-11-2010, 05:21 PM

Hi Patrick.

Having a look at your new web page, excellent.

I especially like your notes on each target.

Can you list the chart number that relates to the object on the notes?

Now for a clear night to make good use of them.

Cheers
Richard

chrisp9au (Chris) · #5 29-11-2010, 05:54 PM

Nicely done Patrick!

No excuse now, I'll have to spend some time having a good look at the LMC and the SMC.

Just need to get rid of all this cloud and rain, 100mm over the last week!

Cheers

Chris

Liz · #6 29-11-2010, 08:00 PM

Great job Paddy, thankyou!!

mental4astro (Alexander) · #7 29-11-2010, 08:57 PM

Paddy, a lot of hard work is going into your site. Excellent work, mate.

I can see this resource as being invaluble. Both 'clouds' hold such treasures within them, yet they can be easy to over look as they are not as fancy looking as their spiral cousins. Yet their proximaty makes them ideal to study.

What we can fail to see is the complex tidal forces at play between them and our own monster Milky Way galaxy which is tearing them apart and swallowing them, with steams of gas, dust and stars spueing out, connecting them & the Milky Way and being jetisoned into inter galactic space. All this provoking the massive stellar formation undergoing within these dwarf galaxies. A true marvel on a galactic scale.

Yet, on a trivial note, these two 'clouds' just about every time I see them always fool me into thinking they are real clouds that are about to spoil my evenings viewing,

.

Thanks so much for your work.

Alex.

dannat (Daniel) · #8 29-11-2010, 09:31 PM

nice work paddy - hopefully it will become a collaborative project with many contributions.

Lismore Bloke (Paul) · #9 30-11-2010, 06:14 PM

Nice work Patrick. Certainly a great help to anyone wishing to explore our galactic neighbours, without getting lost. It can only get better with time and more contributions.

Paddy (Patrick) · #10 30-11-2010, 07:34 PM

Thanks all. It's certainly giving me plenty to do with no observing due to rain and floods. It's quite amazing working through the LMC charts - there is just so much stuff!

Satchmo · #11 30-11-2010, 07:58 PM

Have you got Matti Morrels old Mag. Cloud charts ? I think they were reproduced in the Herald Bobroff Star Charts .

Blue Skies (Jacquie) · #12 30-11-2010, 08:21 PM

Well done, I hope the project goes form strength to strength. Having got lost trying to explore the LMC with the Herald-Bobroff charts before (but I love those charts regardless), anything that specialises in these crowded areas is a bonus.

Paddy (Patrick) · #13 30-11-2010, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Skies

Well done, I hope the project goes form strength to strength. Having got lost trying to explore the LMC with the Herald-Bobroff charts before (but I love those charts regardless), anything that specialises in these crowded areas is a bonus.

Thanks Jacqui. I know exactly what you mean. So far I've found using the SMC charts based on DSS images easier to use than ordinary charts as the photographic charts look more like what I'm seeing than symbols do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satchmo

Have you got Matti Morrels old Mag. Cloud charts ? I think they were reproduced in the Herald Bobroff Star Charts .

I do indeed Mark. They have been one of my main sources in putting the charts together along with wikisky, the NGC/IC project web site and Star Clusters by Archinal and Hynes. I've also been using Mati's articles on the Henize nebula catalogue and the Shapley-Lindsay catalogue on the ASNSW web site. Amazing work he's done. His charts also show variable star locations - again an incredible effort.

The resources that are out there and that people have put so much effort into producing is incredible.

Waxing_Gibbous (Peter) · #14 01-12-2010, 01:06 AM

Thanks!
I'd planned to do the 'clouds' this year, but crappy weather and one or two set-backs, meant I didn't do more than a cursory view or two. Fingers crossed for the coming months. I'll be visiting regularly!
Peter

Waxing_Gibbous (Peter) · #15 01-12-2010, 01:08 AM

Oh yeah. Could you please make the font a bit bigger!
Ta.

Jen · #16 01-12-2010, 01:31 AM

Nice one Paddy

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #17 01-12-2010, 01:40 AM

Wow Patrick, very nice resource, and a great piece of work.

You have done well

I will be using your site regularly

ZeroID (Brent) · #18 01-12-2010, 07:17 AM

Excellent work Paddy ! Your SMC charts have already swallowed up much of my viewing time. Now I'm going to have to reschedule to fit in LMC as well. Many thanks !!

Paddy (Patrick) · #19 01-12-2010, 08:48 AM

Thanks Brent, Ken, Jen and Peter

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

Oh yeah. Could you please make the font a bit bigger!
Ta.

Thanks Peter, this is exactly the kind of feedback I'm after. It will be no problem to make the font bigger for the SMC charts and some of the LMC. The challenge is going to be the crowded parts of the LMC. The risk is that the text will cover the bits needed for navigation. There are a couple of options that I can try. I could use a smaller scale and spread stuff out, but I find that a chart covering too small an area loses the surrounding navigation points. What I might try is, for the web chart, setting the labels so they only come up when you put your mouse over the object - I think that my web design software can do that - then for the printable charts, do 2 versions of each - one without labels so you can see the objects and stars easily and one with text so you know what each is when you've found it. I'll see how I go. Other suggestions most welcome.