Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 4

SPECTRUM by Peter Tyson
A Shared Pursuit
WITH ALL THE GIANT telescopes and major automated surveys
coming online these days - see Govert Schilling's feature about
the Rubin Observatory on page 34 - it can seem like there's not
much that amateur astronomers can still discover. That's been true
in recent years for new comets and supernovae, which automated
surveys such as ATLAS and Pan-STARRS usually (but not always) detect.
But as Associate Editor Sean Walker details in his cover story on page 62,
amateurs continue to harvest phenomenal, mostly faint finds from the deep
sky. This is possible because of the highly advanced imaging capabilities at their
disposal as well as the amount of telescope time they can devote to the hunt.
Amateurs are regularly snagging never-before-seen planetary nebulae, supernova
remnants, emission and reflection nebulae, and other objects.
Sean himself has played a modest part in this wave of novel sightings.
Together with Senior Contributing Editor Dennis di
Cicco and the late David Mittelman - his partners on
the MDW Hydrogen-Alpha Sky Survey (S&T: Oct. 2019,
p. 20) - Sean has helped bring to light everything from
the exploded stellar shreds of supernovae to a 30°-long
ultraviolet arc in Ursa Major (see mdwskysurvey.org).
Those discoveries and the ones Sean describes have
WD-1, the hydrogenalpha
emission nebula
named for Sean Walker
and Dennis di Cicco
one standout trait in common: collaboration. Unlike
solo stargazers spending pre-dawn hours alone scoping
for new comets, say, the amateurs spotting these new
objects are small groups who work together to discover,
verify, and publish such wispy treasures.
Collaboration can go further: Sometimes professional astronomers reach
out to amateurs to help confirm a new object, and they may even join with the
amateurs to write up their detection in a peer-reviewed paper, with the discoverers
listed as coauthors. When this happens, as it has with several MDW Sky
Survey finds, Sean says " it feels like I'm an actual astronomer. I don't just play
one on TV - I mean, at the office! " Altogether, this synergistic attribute exemplifies
one of our hobby's finest qualities: sharing with others.
Yet the private thrill of discovery still occurs. Sean recalls plotting objects
in his first large imaging project with Dennis, and one bit of nebulosity failed
to come up when he searched online databases. After months of research and
verification, the emission nebula he stumbled upon earned the official moniker
WD-1, acknowledging the Walker-di Cicco partnership (S&T: July 2010, p. 39).
Imagine your name tied to a celestial object! To all
amateur astronomers who deem that prospect irresistible,
here's to fruitful searching.
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Sky & Telescope - June 2024

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