Observatory code awarded from minor planet centre

Hi Dave,

Yes, Imbusch is the observatory run by NUI Galway. Mike Redfern was instrumental in getting that setup and attendees at the Galway Star Party in the Spring often get the opportunity visit the site.

I just remembered another spot ... Monck Observatory is the one established by Trinity College on the roof of one of the buildings in the grounds of TCD. Details at www.tcd.ie/Physics/Astrophysics/observatory.php

There's a copy of the photos from the Wilson plates at Dunsink Observatory and I know John McConnell in the North plus John Nooney in Mullingar have copies too. The majority of the pictures are of deep-sky objects with images of 30 minutes or so in length showing almost no trailing. A couple are slightly out of focus or afflicted by slightly bloated stars, probably due to seeing. The pictures I can recall include the Orion Nebula, M31, M13, and the Double Cluster. A fine photo of the Orion Nebula can be seen at www.catchersofthelight.com/catchers/post...strophotography.aspx (the book is a very comprehensive history of early astrophotography).

John

dmcdona wrote: I doubt they have the recorded the dates when the likes of Dunsink, Markree, Armagh, Greenwich etc. were given codes - though the MPC can be very surprising. I bet its in a book somewhere but unlikely to come up in a Google search.

On this MPC info page we're told: "The bulk of positions for observatories operating in the 19th and early 20th centuries have been taken from the annual lists of observatory coordinates given in the Astronomical Ephemeris/ Nautical Almanac." So it seems Markree was the only one of the 19th C Irish observatories to find its way into this catalogue.

By the way Dave, over the last week I've been observing Metis, Ireland's only asteroid... until your triumph of 2008. Since I wasn't on here back then, I'd like to offer my very belated congratulations!

Finbarr.

Apologies for the delay in sharing these images of Pats observatory. I was travelling the past few weeks.