Astronomical Files from Black Oak Observatory 38.4° N, 122.9° W • elevation 560 feet - near Occidental, California Files in this directory are provided for public use as is, without warranty or accepted liability of any kind. Comments or corrections, please email Bruce MacEvoy at: drollere@gmail.com.   Observatory Design & Construction Site & Building Schematics Observatory Construction ⌘ Building a Personal Observatory - PowerPoint presentation (52.4 Mb) Local Observing Forecast Documents An Astronomical Library - My list of titles, with idiosyncratic reviews. Double Star Astronomy • Training the Binary Eye - A tutorial to develop the eight visual skills necessary for double star astronomy. • Double Star Datasets - An intoduction to double star catalogs, books and software, double star measurements; avoiding the "binary bias". • Orbital & Dynamical Elements - The dynamic fundamentals of a binary system, and a Photoshop method to diagram relative and absolute orbits. • Double Star Color - An investigation of double star visual color and how to observe and report it. • Double Star Context - Common visual patterns, dynamic segregation, double star characteristics (multiplicity fraction, orbital radius & period, eccentricity, mass ratio), calculating system distance & separation, double stars as "fossils" of star formation, origin structures in the local Galaxy. ⌘ Double Star Astronomy - A PowerPoint presentation (8.7 Mb) on binary stars, star formation, and double star astronomy ⌘ A Visual Double Star Campaign - PowerPoint presentation (4.3 Mb) given at the 2013 Maui International Double Star Conference Astronomical Seeing (Optical Turbulence) • Part 1: The Nature of Turbulence - The physical nature of turbulence and a description of its optical effects. • Part 2: Seeing Measurement Methods - Summary of various rating scales used to describe optical turbulence. • Part 3: Observing Techniques - Procedures the amateur astronomer can use to minimize the effects of turbulence. Astronomical Optics • Part 1: Basic Optics - Introduction to Gaussian optics and the ray tracing of eyepieces. • Part 2: Telescope & Eyepiece Combined - the design parameters of astronomical telescopes and eyepieces, separately and combined as a system. • Part 3: The Astronomical Image - analysis of the image produced by a telescope and the eye that receives it. Constellation Origin and Pronunciation - A list of constellations, with pronunciation guide and origin. Spectral Classification of Stars - Historical background and technical summary of the Morgan-Keenan framework commonly used today. Traditional Star Names - A list of star names, alphabetized by name and by constellation. Amateur Telescope Making - A historical appreciation and personal experiences in amateur telescope making. A Telescope Dolly - Materials list and construction guide for a simple tripod dolly. SCT Eyepiece Parameters - Magnification, exit pupil and true field, for a 12" ƒ/10 SCT with a 2" diagonal. Vendors - Manufacturers and suppliers of astronomical equipment, services and publications. Data Sets *These datasets are in .xlsx (Excel Workbook 2005+) format. Pre-2005 versions of Excel will not be able to read these files. Yale Bright Star Catalog* - Version 5, with all notes (3 Mb). Washington Double Star Catalog* - Version of 02.01.2013, in red type on black background, 101,011 binary and multiple systems with coded system attributes and spectroscopic parallax estimates of distance and semimajor axis (41 Mb) "Short" Washington Double Star Catalog* - Version of 04.01.2013, in red type on black background, 22,249 binary and multiple systems with coded system attributes and spectroscopic parallax estimates of distance and semimajor axis, limited to systems with primary magnitude ≤ 10.0 and at least one secondary magnitude ≤ 12.0, but excluding binaries with separation < 0.3" (12 Mb) 6th Orbital Catalog* - orbital solutions for about 2100 double stars, with links to orbit graphics - Version of 03.15.2012 (645 Kb) Star Plotter* - plots the configuration of a multiple star from its components' PA and separation - Version of 09.01.2011 (50 Kb) Sternberg General Catalog of Variable Stars* - Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Version of Sept. 2009, with all notes and references (8 Mb). São Paulo Catalog of Galactic Open Clusters* - São Paulo Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics & Atmospheric Sciences, Version of Nov. 2010, with notes and references (561 Kb). Harris Catalog of Globular Clusters* - William Harris, McMaster University, Version of Dec. 2010 (106 Kb). The William Herschel Double Star Discoveries Celebrating the groundbreaking double star achievement of one of the greatest visual astronomers • The William Herschel Double Star Catalogs Restored - HTML splash page for my Herschel datasets. • The Complete William Herschel Double Star Catalog - HTML list of all 805 of his confirmed double star discoveries, sorted by right ascension. • The Herschel 500 Double Star List - HTML version of the essential observational information on his best double star discoveries. • The Complete Herschel Double Star Catalog* - XLSX spreadsheet of all Herschel's double star discoveries, with current positional data, celestial coordinates and catalog designations. (Version of 2/15/2011; 805 binary/multiple stars, 562 Kb.) • The Herschel 500* - XLSX observing list of the 500 double stars, with current positional data and celestial coordinates, catalog designations, and difficulty rating. (Version of 2/15/2011; 500 binary/multiple stars, 173 Kb.) Image Files History of Eyepiece Design. Desktop/screensaver image of 25 major eyepiece designs; background in Mac OS blue. Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram. From the Hipparcos-Yale-Gliese database, a plot of stellar absolute magnitude on BV color index, also showing surface temperature and radius; 30,600 stars within 120 parsecs (400 light years) of the sun are indicated by spectral type; farther stars are indicated by luminosity class. The Yale Bright Star Catalog • Yale Bright Star catalog I. Full sky chart of stars from the catalog, white stars on black sky with Milky Way background image, in galactic coordinates. • Yale Bright Star catalog II. Full sky chart of stars from the catalog, color coded by spectral type, in galactic coordinates, with principal named stars. Reimaging the Naked Eye Stars - The 9300+ naked eye stars plotted in celestial coordinates using four fundamental star attributes. • Visual Magnitude. Full sky chart of stars down to visual magnitude 6.5 binned by visual magnitude, white stars on dark sky. The Constellations - Stick outlines of the major constellations. • Absolute Magnitude. Full sky chart of stars down to visual magnitude 6.5 binned by absolute magnitude, white stars on dark sky. The Brightest Stars - Stars with absolute magnitude > –3. • Distance. Full sky chart of stars down to visual magnitude 6.5 binned by distance from the Earth, white stars on dark sky. The Nearest Stars - Stars with a distance of 24 parsecs (78 light years). The Farthest Stars - Stars beyond 192 parsecs (625 light years). • Spectral Class. Full sky chart of stars down to visual magnitude 6.5 binned by spectral class (O, B, A, F, G, K, M & N), colored stars on dark sky. The OBA Stars - Stars with above average mass and luminosity. The FGKMN Stars - Stars of below average mass and luminosity. The Starry Sky Planispheres (stereographic projections) of the night sky at the end of astronomical twilight, with the ecliptic indicated by red dots, as seen from latitude 40° (north or south). Charts progress in 2 hour intervals of sidereal time (rather than by months, the ususal presentation): the uneven progression of dates shows how the sky seems to change slowly or quickly as the altitude of the sun causes twilight to end earlier or later in the evening. A visual magnitude limit of 5.3 simulates appearance of sky under rural light pollution, and stars below magnitude 3.8 are shown as disks to simulate reduced foveal acuity. All files are about 190K. Northern Hemisphere • 0h:00m - 18 December - Alpheratz [25 days] • 2h:00m - 13 January- Hamal [24 days] • 4h:00m - 6 February- The Pleiades [25 days] • 6h:00m - 2 March - Betelgeuse [24 days] • 8h:00m - 26 March - Pollux [23 days] • 10h:00m - 18 April - Regulus [22 days] • 12h:00m - 10 May - Denebola [22 days] • 14h:00m - 1 June - Arcturus [28 days] • 16h:00m - 29 June - Dschubba [42 days] • 18h:00m - 10 August - Galactic center [57 days] • 20h:00m - 6 October - Altair [42 days] • 22h:00m - 17 November - Enif [31 days] Southern Hemisphere • 0h:00m - 18 December - Alpheratz [25 days] • 2h:00m - 13 January- Achernar [24 days] • 4h:00m - 6 February- The Pleiades [25 days] • 6h:00m - 2 March - Canopus [24 days] • 8h:00m - 26 March - Zeta Puppis [23 days] • 10h:00m - 18 April - Regulus [22 days] • 12h:00m - 10 May - Acrux [22 days] • 14h:00m - 1 June - Beta Centauri [28 days] • 16h:00m - 29 June - Dschubba [42 days] • 18h:00m - 10 August - Galactic center [57 days] • 20h:00m - 6 October - Altair [42 days] • 22h:00m - 17 November - Alpha Gruis [31 days] The Spitzer Milky Way Panorama Infrared imagery of a two degree wide strip along the galactic equator from L 65° (Vulpecula) to 295° (Centaurus), showing hydrogen emission nebulae (red and yellow, 24 micron), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or "carbon dust" molecules (green, 8 micron), and visible wavelengths of starlight (blue, 3.6 micron). (All are .tif files, about 6.6 Mb.) • 65° to 58° • 58° to 50° • 50° to 41° • 41° to 33° • 33° to 25° • 25° to 17° • 17° to 8° • 8° to 0° • Galactic Center Portrait • 360° to 352° • 352° to 344° • 344° to 335° • 335° to 327° • 327° to 319° • 319° to 311° • 311° to 302° • 302° to 295° Photopic Sky Survey - Nick Risinger's 5 billion pixel Photopic Sky Survey, formatted for a 27" Apple cinema display. Last update 02/24/2013 - All files not in public domain or in other copyright are ©2013 Bruce MacEvoy. With attribution to this site, files may be linked, downloaded or printed for personal or educational use.