Akkana wrote:
>
> If you know ahead of time what you're looking for, that can bias your
> observation and lead you to "see" more than you really see. Of course,
That's the point of the faint fuzzies that I can glean from listening to
conversations in the parking lots. I always thought it was funny too, Akkana. It
is far better to know nothing about the object so you don't bias your results.
The books such as O'Meara's "Messier Objects" generally feature images of the
objects. Maybe it is to color observers, maybe the author wants to share his cool
images, which I can relate to, or maybe it is value added for the book. But for
whatever reason, the books are full of images.
>
> it can also help in seeing really elusive detail -- like studying the
> Horsehead or the faint galaxies near M13 every time you go out, getting
> familiar with the area so that when you hit that super-transparent night
> you'll be ready. That's fun, too.
>
> ...Akkana (in case anyone wants to talk about observing)
I always want to talk about ( and do) observing. I like observing with my retina
and my CCD.
rdc
-- Richard Crisp rdcrisp@No-Spam
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 30 2001 - 12:10:22 MST