key-hole nebula

[Brian W (Brian)]

The more this is looked into the more I think the following scenario fits;

down in the local pub half a dozen or so astronomer types are quaffing a cold one (or two) when someone says ' damn that's a bloody fancy English word bloody thing looks like a keyhole to me'.

Brian

[Rob_K]

Which pub, on what date, at what time and who?

Cheers -

[SteveG (Steve)]

Looks like someone on Cloudynights may have tracked down the original source!

In an 1873 issue of Appletons' Journal titled "Eta Argus", Emma Converse summarizes the dispute about changes in the nebula and states "In the middle of the brightest part of the nebulous light there was a dark vacancy, of a form resembling a keyhole, or the geometrical figure called a lemniscate, around which the light of the nebula was not uniform."

Later she mentions "The southern loop of Herschel's lemniscate, or keyhole-shaped cavity had bulged out into the vacuity, forming an isthmus that trended north-south."

Sure sounds like she was translating Herschel's name into a simpler moniker. Here's the article -- http://tinyurl.com/26foe3u

[Rob_K]

Excellent Steve! If the object had been named and was in common currency, her description/'translation' would have been superfluous. While Emma was a respected science/astronomy writer, it is also possible that she was unaware of the name. But it might also be reasonable to assume that the name, if any, hadn't really taken hold. This despite the passage of some forty years since John Herschel's observations.

We still need the first coining of "Keyhole Nebula" though. Post-1873 is looking fairly good now.

Cheers -

[Brian W (Brian)]

Indeed Steve well done. But let us not forget Rob that H2 was not the discoverer.
Brian