Welcome

Example screenshot of Cartes du Ciel v3.0 beta displaying the PGC galaxies in the region of M84.

It is hard to believe that this marks the tenth year and 11th revision of the PGC/LEDA galaxy catalog for Cartes du Ciel. I vaguely remember this being a "let’s see if I can do this" project that has never ended. I think it speaks volumes to the quality and usefulness of the Cartes du Ciel software. The vast majority of freeware is long dead after a decade.

The PGC/LEDA 2009 Galaxy Catalog includes entries for 1,708,809 galaxies extracted from the HyperLEDA database on June 1, 2009. Additionally, I have compiled a smaller PGC/LEDA 2009 Visual Galaxy Catalog containing 114,460 galaxies with a mean B magnitude of 16.5 or brighter and a major axis of 3 arcsec or larger. This catalog is intended for those users who wish to have a catalog of galaxies that are visually within the range of most amateur instruments or those who want to save hard drive space (6MB versus 92MB).

If you like this catalog and would like to contribute to its continued revision and release, please send a donation to the local astronomy club of your choice or volunteer your time to an astronomy outreach program in your area. Also reference the use of this catalog in your work, see the HyperLEDA site for guidance on how to cite this data.

It has been a long winter here in the Midwest. This is the first weekend it hasn’t snowed or sleeted, or been frigid since Spring arrived a month ago. I am looking forward to some clear skies and some temperatures better than those found in a meat locker! I bought a new pair of 25x100 binoculars and I have had them out for a total of one hour since they arrived. (Pretty pathetic huh?)

Now that I have some projects behind me, I can get back to logging some observing time. I am gearing up for the first star party of the year. Next week I will be attending the Two River’s Spring Star Party in Barry, IL. I will be taking the 14.5" for its first outing since the overhaul this winter. I will be hunting down the last of the Herschel 400 objects. I think this is my eighth year working on this list. (Once again, pretty pathetic, huh?)

My posting rate should start to increase from this point forward. I got a new computer and I am finally getting everything moved over to the new machine so I can write posts and upload them to the server. It is amazing how dependent we are on having our technology remember things for us. I could not remember a single account name or password (since I had my old laptop automagically log me in when needed) to get signed into the server to post. (Now that is definitely pathetic, huh?)