Textbook Imaging The Messier Objects Remotely From Your Laptop Len Adam Ebook All Chapter PDF

Imaging the Messier Objects Remotely
from Your Laptop Len Adam

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/imaging-the-messier-objects-remotely-from-your-lapto
p-len-adam/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...
Operating System Forensics 1st Edition Messier
https://textbookfull.com/product/operating-system-forensics-1st-
edition-messier/
Learning from Animations in Science Education

Innovating in Semiotic and Educational Research Len
Unsworth
https://textbookfull.com/product/learning-from-animations-in-
science-education-innovating-in-semiotic-and-educational-
research-len-unsworth/
Pro Angular: Learn to harness the power of modern web

browsers from within your application's code 2nd
Edition Adam Freeman
https://textbookfull.com/product/pro-angular-learn-to-harness-
the-power-of-modern-web-browsers-from-within-your-applications-
code-2nd-edition-adam-freeman/
Fintech Fundamentals 1st Edition Len Mei
https://textbookfull.com/product/fintech-fundamentals-1st-
edition-len-mei/
The Best Team Wins Build Your Business Through
Predictive Hiring Adam Robinson
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-best-team-wins-build-your-
business-through-predictive-hiring-adam-robinson/
How to Create Your Garden: Ideas and Advice for

Transforming Your Outdoor Space Adam Frost
https://textbookfull.com/product/how-to-create-your-garden-ideas-
and-advice-for-transforming-your-outdoor-space-adam-frost/
Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through

Objects (6th Edition) Gaddis
https://textbookfull.com/product/starting-out-with-java-from-
control-structures-through-objects-6th-edition-gaddis/
Insights from imaging in bioinorganic chemistry First

Edition Eldik
https://textbookfull.com/product/insights-from-imaging-in-
bioinorganic-chemistry-first-edition-eldik/
The Unofficial Guide to Disney Cruise Line 2018 2018th

Edition Len Testa
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-unofficial-guide-to-disney-
cruise-line-2018-2018th-edition-len-testa/
Len Adam
Imaging the
Messier Objects
Remotely from
Your Laptop
The Patrick Moore

The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/3192

Imaging
the Messier
Objects
Remotely from
Your Laptop
Len Adam
Len Adam
Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
Leyland, Lancashire, UK
ISSN 1431-9756 ISSN 2197-6562 (electronic)

The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
ISBN 978-3-319-65384-6 ISBN 978-3-319-65385-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65385-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017964662
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Printed on acid-free paper
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing AG
part of Springer Nature.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank itelescope.net, the not for profit organization that provides
access to telescopes based at sites spread across four locations and three continents,
used to take the images of all the Messier objects in this book. In particular, I would
like to thank Fernando Abalos at Astrocamp in Spain, part of the itelescope net-
work, for the images of the Nerpio observatories and telescopes that he provided.
Thanks also to Takahashi America and to PlaneWave Instruments for the images
they provided of some of the telescope models used to capture the Messier images.
I would also like to thank Software Bisque for allowing the use of the charts gener-
ated through its SkyX software to display the location of the Messier objects. I used
this software to plan the imaging program and analyze the resulting images with the
aid of its image linking facility to produce astrometric solutions. This helped me to
identify field objects such as remote galaxies and minor planets in the images.
Much of the supporting data on specific Messier objects was sourced from the
SEDS website, so thanks to all the contributors to that very useful resource.
Len Adam
Contents
Part I Background and Resources

1 Introduction�� 3
The Remote Telescope Messier Imaging Project�� 3
The Telescope Network used to Image the Messier Objects�� 6
The Geometry of the Earth and Sky�� 14
Practical Considerations�� 21
Astronomical Considerations�� 23
An Example Imaging Session using iTelescope.net�� 24
References and Databases�� 27
2 Observatories and Telescopes�� 29
Telescope Summary�� 29
Spain�� 29
Australia�� 37
United States - New Mexico and California�� 45
Part II The 110 Messier Objects – Images and Corresponding Data

3 Messier 1 to Messier 36�� 55
Messier 1�� 55
Messier 2�� 59
Messier 3�� 63
Messier 4�� 66
Messier 5�� 69
Messier 6�� 73
Messier 7�� 76
Messier 8�� 80
Messier 9�� 83
Messier 10�� 87
Messier 11�� 91
Contents
Messier 12�� 95
Messier 13�� 99
Messier 14�� 102
Contents

6 Quick Reference Image Library�� 455
Images of all the Messier Objects Messier 1 – Messier 110�� 455
Index�� 511
Part I
Background
and Resources
Chapter 1
Introduction
The Remote Telescope Messier Imaging Project
The Advantages of Remote Imaging
While you may be interested in astronomy, you might not realize just how easy and
straightforward it can be to hire time on high-quality telescopes located across the con-
tinents. Perhaps you cannot afford your own telescope or camera to take images.
Perhaps you live in an apartment and have nowhere convenient to set up equipment.
Maybe you have owned equipment but no longer have the mobility to be able to clam-
ber into that observatory dome. Quite possibly, your once-dark sky site is now compro-
mised by the arrival of a neighboring 24-hour supermarket and its floodlit parking lot.
There are many reasons why you would wish to use remote telescopes, and
using this method is much simpler than you think. You do not need to be a profes-
sional astronomer, nor do you need an exorbitant amount of money to take advan-
tage of these global ‘scopes – in fact, all you really need is Internet access and a
basic knowledge of astronomy.
The Messier Objects
The Messier objects have long been a popular target for amateur astronomers.
There are many sources explaining how the Messier list came to be. If the term
“Messier” is new to you, a quick Internet search will soon bring you up to speed.
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 3

L. Adam, Imaging the Messier Objects Remotely from Your Laptop, The Patrick Moore
Practical Astronomy Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65385-3_1
4 1 Introduction
Charles Messier, an 18th-century comet hunter, started a list of deep sky objects,
such as clusters and nebulae, that could be mistaken for comets. Ironically, this list
of objects has become far more famous than his comet discoveries.
The Messier list is an excellent starting point for remote astronomy. There are
110 Messier objects on the list, although M102 is in fact considered by many to be
a duplicate of M101. I have taken the route of assuming that M102 is the lenticular
galaxy, NGC 5866, so that is the image taken for M102.
The purpose of this book is to show how the Messier objects are quite simple to
image and analyze. Of course, a remote telescope allows you to point to any object
you like, but the Messier objects are a great and achievable first challenge.
Project Summary
Over the last year, I was able to image all 110 Messier objects using 17 remote
telescopes scattered across the world, in places such as New Mexico, California,
Southern Spain and Siding Spring in New South Wales. This period coincided with
a time when, due to my relocation, my astronomical equipment was locked in a
storage unit. For quite some time, I was unable to pack my truck with telescopes,
mounts and cameras and drive off for a few months somewhere with clear and dark
skies, as I had done before. The image in Figure 1.1 shows a typical location for
my normal activity, on top of a mountain, with my telescopes strapped to the
mountain itself.
Fig. 1.1 My non-remote telescope

The Remote Telescope Messier Imaging Project 5
As it was not possible to find time to use my own equipment over the last year,
the idea of using a laptop, the Internet and remote telescopes for astronomical
imaging became very attractive! While using remote telescopes for my project was
not free, I did indeed save on travel and accommodation. Imaging all the Messier
objects using excellent telescopes in three continents over the course of a year costs
less than the price of a couple of months of accommodation at a dark sky site. Free
remote telescopes do exist, but there are few of these, and they are considerably less
flexible than the system used for taking images for this book.
There was an additional advantage to this technique -- remote imaging from my
laptop meant not having to strain my back to assemble a Paramount ME and lift up
a Celestron 14 and other kit onto the mount! Although I will go back to heavy lift-
ing next year when I begin to use my equipment again, I will most certainly make
use of the added advantage of also being able to use remote telescopes from any
location for future projects.
How the book is organized
The book is split into six chapters. This chapter (Chapter 1) sets the scene for
remote imaging, describes the remote telescope network used for the project and
explains in general terms how the images in the book were obtained. Although a
specific remote telescope network was used, there are alternatives. If you intend to
start your own remote imaging project, you will need to get full instructions on how
to use a particular network from the website of any remote telescope system. A little
Internet research will allow you to choose which remote telescopes would be most
appropriate for your requirements.
Additionally, this chapter will explain when remote imaging could be of use and
provides an explanation of terms used throughout the book, in case you are not
already familiar with these. References are made throughout the book to a number
of data sources relating to specific Messier objects and any objects of related inter-
est. These sources are listed at the end of this chapter.
Chapter 2 describes the 17 telescopes used and lists the specific Messier objects
imaged with each telescope. It also includes images of some of the actual on-site
telescopes or of the general type of telescope used.
Chapters 3, 4 and 5 are the main body of the book. This is where you will find
the remotely captured image of each Messier object, together with associated data
including exposure time, telescope details, camera details, time, date, altitude, azi-
muth angle, right ascension, declination, transit time and field of view. An anno-
tated version of the image is included, with details of other objects of interest
captured in the frame and a chart showing the sky at the exact time the image was
taken. Each chart has the image precisely superimposed on it to scale as a result of
plate solving.
Chapter 6 is a Quick Reference Image library, showing the images obtained of
all the Messier objects in one place.
6 1 Introduction
Knowledge Level
In this chapter the necessary knowledge that you need to get started is introduced
and explained. Terms such as Stellar Magnitude, Right Ascension, Declination,
Azimuth and Altitude are explained and illustrated. There is a brief explanation of
Spectral Types. These are terms that are used regularly in the details of each
Messier object imaged. Much of this will be very familiar to readers and you can
skip over these explanations if you already have that knowledge, but I felt that I
should try to explain terms that are regularly used throughout the book.
The Telescope Network used to Image the Messier Objects
Network Summary
The remote system used in this book to image Messier objects is called “itelescope.
net,” although it is by no means the only network you could use. To begin, you must
register on the site as a subscribed member. Using this network feels just the same
as when you control a telescope with a computer. It is remarkably similar to the way
many amateurs operate nowadays, controlling the telescope from inside the house
through a cable or wireless connection. In reality, it doesn’t matter how far away the
telescope is -- 10 yards or 10,000 miles -- the experience is more or less the same.
Start by logging into the remote telescope network website, and then log into the
computer connected to the particular telescope that you have selected. The itele-
scope website will tell you which telescopes are available and when, so you can
instantly use a telescope if it is available for the period of your imaging, or you can
make an advance reservation so that the telescope will be yours for the duration of
the booking. Note that the only thing you pay for is the imaging time, so if you take
a 300-second image, you will be charged for that time only, at the rate for that
particular telescope. You buy prepaid blocks of points, with each telescope having
its own cost per point depending on the size of the telescope. All of this can be
checked by reading the guides on the itelescope website.
To start, you can just select the object from a suggested list and the system will
do the rest for you, setting an appropriate exposure time and appropriate filter (this
is the option titled “One-Click Image”). Later on you can be more adventurous.
There are many options associated with each image you take. You may wish to take
images using B and V filters to allow you to do some real science. You may wish
to track the brightness of a variable star. If you have an AAVSO account (American
Association of Variable Star Observers), you may set the option on the particular
telescope to automatically send your images to your AAVSO account for you to
analyze. When you take an image, you will receive an email within minutes of the
exposure finishing, telling you the image is complete – usually accompanied by a
preview image. You will then be able to download the full resolution image. The
email will also tell you the number of points you have spent.
The Telescope Network used to Image the Messier Objects 7
Whether you plan to use the images as book illustrations, display them on your
website, post them on social media platforms or use them in a presentation at your
local astronomical society, the images are yours to use as you wish.
It is important to have some form of planetarium software that can identify a
date and time that is appropriate for imaging the specific object that you are target-
ing. Note that while I have taken an approach involving a minimum exposure time
(to minimize costs), usually 300 seconds, do not underestimate the quality of the
telescope systems available as a result of my simple approach. If you are willing to
invest more, the telescopes can produce fantastic images of objects in the Universe
with longer exposure times and intensive processing. If you use itelescpe.net, check
the user images and the associated details of how the images were taken on the
www.itelescope.net website for guidance.
The New Mexico Site
The itelescope network consists of telescopes in four locations on three continents

covering the northern and southern hemispheres. The first location is New Mexico,
where there are six telescopes that can be used to image Messier objects (at the time
of writing). The telescopes are based at the New Mexico Skies site near Mayhill, New
Mexico. Some of the observatories at this site are shown in Figure 1.2. All of the sites
have additional private telescopes and observatories. For each Messier object image
in the book, details of the location and the particular telescope used are included.
For example, one of the telescopes used for this project in New Mexico is a
single-shot color, 6-inch telescope (Figure 1.3). This telescope was used for a number
of Messier objects, as it allows the user to obtain color images with a relatively low
Fig. 1.2 Observatories at the New Mexico site. Courtesy of itelescope.net

8 1 Introduction
Fig. 1.3 6-inch telescope in New Mexico with single-shot color camera. Courtesy of itelescope.net
exposure time, which in turn means relatively low cost. The other telescopes are
capable of color imaging, but you need to take multiple exposures with filters and
then add the separate images together later on using your own software. All the
Messier object color images in this book were taken with a single-shot color
camera.
The largest telescope available in New Mexico has an aperture of 20 inches. All
of the mounts are of top quality, as a reliable mount is essential for remote
operation.
The California Site
There is only one telescope available in Auberry, California at the Sierra Remote
Observatory. However, this is an impressive 24-inch instrument. Part of the obser-
vatory is shown in Figure 1.4.
The 24-inch telescope is shown in Figure 1.5.
Fig. 1.4 Runoff roof sheds at the Sierra Remote Observatory. Courtesy of iTelescope.net
Fig. 1.5 The 24-inch telescope at the Sierra Remote Observatory. Courtesy of iTelescope.net
10 1 Introduction
The Spanish Site
In Spain, three telescopes are available for use. They are based at AstroCamp in
Nerpio, Southern Spain. A daylight view of the collection of observatories based at
Astrocamp is shown in Figure 1.6.
A stunning view of the Milky Way over the Astrocamp observatories is shown
in Figure 1.7. Courtesy of Fernando Abalos.
The Australian Site
The final location is Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia.
There are 10 telescopes available for use (at the time of writing). Figure 1.8 shows
the closed runoff shed that contains all of the telescopes.
The image of the observatory with the roof open (Figure 1.9) shows telescopes
that all operate independently, driven by users controlling them from any part of the
world. Some of the telescopes are private and not available to public users. If you
want to own your own telescope in one of the sites, you can do so with the hosting
scheme, details of which are available online.
Fig. 1.6 Daylight view of the AstroCamp site in Nerpio, Spain. Courtesy of Fernando Abalos
Fig. 1.7 The AstroCamp observatories at night
Fig. 1.8 The runoff roof shed housing the 10 available telescopes at Siding Spring. Courtesy
of iTelescope.net
There is a small telescope based at Siding Spring that is capable of taking single-
shot color images. Shown in Figure 1.10, it is a 3-inch apochromatic refractor
capable of taking excellent images.
A larger telescope based at Siding Spring is 17 inches in aperture. This is shown
in Figure 1.11.
12 1 Introduction
Fig. 1.9 Siding Spring Remote Observatory. Courtesy of iTelescope.net
Fig. 1.10 3-inch refractor with single-shot color based at Siding Spring. Courtesy of iTele-
scope.net
Fig. 1.11 17-inch telescope based at Siding Spring. Courtesy of iTelescope.net
Using Planetarium Software to set the Location
If you are going to use telescopes on other continents, you must be able to predict
when particular objects are going to be visible from specific locations and at par-
ticular times. A range of “Planetarium” programs that can be found by searching
the internet will allow you to do exactly that. If you have an observatory in your
backyard, you can set the planetarium program to the Latitude and Longitude of
that specific location, but if you are going to be using remote telescopes in three or
four different locations you can set the software to produce a version for each
location.
All the Messier images for the book involved the use of the SkyX software from
Software Bisque, but using a free program such as Stellarium will also allow you
to plan your remote imaging. The software allows you to save as many locations as
you want, and for the purpose of imaging the Messier objects, I was able to set up
a separate document for Mayhill in New Mexico, Auberry in California, Nerpio in
Spain and New South Wales, Australia. Once you have the software opened, simply
set it to the Latitude, Longitude and Altitude of the location then save it as a docu-
ment. New Mexico Skies sits at 7300 ft (2225 m), Sierra Remote Observatory at
4600 ft (1405 m), AstroCamp at 5400 ft (1650 m) and Siding Spring at 3700 ft
(1122 m). Images in the book taken from a particular observatory include all of the
details you need to set that specific location.
14 1 Introduction
The Geometry of the Earth and Sky
Location and Time
To identify the location of a particular place on Earth, we use Latitude and

Longitude. We have a grid with coordinates that are based on the equator as a zero
point for Latitude, and Greenwich UK as a zero point for Longitude. Going north
from the equator, we start with Latitude 0° and move up to 90° at the North Pole.
For example, the New Mexico Skies site used for imaging has a Latitude of 32° 54’
11.91” north of the equator. The Siding Spring site in Australia, being in the south-
ern hemisphere, has a Latitude of 31° 16’ 24” south of the equator.
The zero point for Longitude is Greenwich, near London UK, and measurements
are made east or west of Greenwich. The New Mexico site is 105° 31’ 43.32” west
of Greenwich. Siding Spring has a Longitude 149° 03’ 52” east of Greenwich. The
earth rotates from west to east, and a full rotation is 360°, or 24 hours. One hour is
equivalent to 15°, so the difference in Longitude between Greenwich and New
Mexico of 105° is equivalent to 105 divided by 15, which is 7 hours. Thus, New
Mexico time is always 7 hours behind Greenwich time, subject to daylight savings
variations.
If you happen to live in the UK in the Greenwich time zone, this means that you
could log into a telescope in New Mexico at 9 am (UK time) and immediately start
imaging with an exposure start time at 2 am in New Mexico. Be aware of local
daylight savings time variations, which will affect this. When you log into a tele-
scope, it will always tell you the local time and the Coordinated Universal Time
(UTC or just UT), which is the same as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Siding Spring is 149° to the east of Greenwich, which is equivalent to a roughly
10-hour (149 divided by 15) time difference. Time zones exist so that we are never
dealing with differences less than one hour. So, if it is 9h 30m 10s in Greenwich
(9:30 am) it will be 19h 30m 10s in the evening of the same day in New South
Wales – again, you need to check for daylight savings variations. If you live in the
UK, you can start imaging from Siding Spring during UK daylight hours – simply
check and make sure that the sun has set in New South Wales. If you live in
New York, which has a Longitude of 74° west, there is a time difference of 5 hours
(74 divided by 15 to the nearest hour) between New York and Greenwich, and 2
hours between New York and New Mexico Skies. Nerpio, Spain has a Longitude
of 2° 19’ west but strangely has a time zone of +1 -- a relic of the 20th century mili-
tary general Francisco Franco’s support for Nazi Germany, for which he aligned
Spain’s time to German time. In reality, it is 2° W and should be in the Greenwich
Time Zone. If you live in New York and it is 3 am, then it will be 8 am in Greenwich
and 6 pm in Siding Spring. At 9 am in New York, it will be 2 pm in Greenwich and
midnight in Siding Spring. At other locations on Earth, you can use the above cal-
culations to determine the local time zone and work out the best times to use those
telescopes.
The Geometry of the Earth and Sky 15
The Celestial Equator and the Zenith
To begin remote telescope imaging, it helps if you have an understanding of the

way in which stars, galaxies, nebulae and other objects are located through the
celestial equivalent of Longitude and Latitude. If you can imagine Earth’s equator
extended and projected onto the sky, it will form the celestial equivalent, or the
celestial equator. If you are at the Latitude of New York, face north, and look up
at an angle equal to your Latitude of 40.7°, you will see the star Polaris – the
North Star (i.e. its altitude is 40.7°). Figure 1.12 shows the position of Polaris at
roughly 41° above the northern horizon. This means that it is 90° - 41° = 49° from
Polaris to the zenith – the point in the sky over your head. Moving 90° from
Polaris straight through the zenith takes you to the celestial equator – again, the
earth’s equator projected onto the sky. Looking to the south, the angle between
the horizon and the celestial equator will be 49° -- that is to say its altitude is
90° - 41° = 49°.
Fig. 1.12 The celestial equator and meridian

16 1 Introduction
The Meridian, Altitude and Azimuth
Pretend that you are in your favorite observing location on a dark, clear night, and
that this location is in the northern hemisphere, facing south. Now imagine a hoop
that emerges from the southern horizon in front of you, rises vertically in the sky,
then curves over your head and down behind you to the northern horizon. This is a
fixed imaginary hoop -- the meridian. It is always there and does not move. The
meridian (Figure 1.12) passes through the north polar point close to the star Polaris.
Still looking due south, as the earth rotates from west to east, the stars in the sky
appear to move from east to west, approaching, then crossing this hoop known as
the meridian. Any object in the sky will always be at its highest as it crosses the
meridian line. The height of a star or other object above the horizon is its altitude.
The other term that you should be familiar with is azimuth. If you stand looking
north, a celestial object to the north will have an azimuth angle of 0°. If you turn to
the right from your north-facing position, the azimuth angle increases up to 90° as
you face east, then goes up to 180° as you face south, 270° as you face west and
then back to 360°, or 0°, as you return to north. This is illustrated in Figure 1.13.
Fig. 1.13 The azimuth circle

Declination
The position of a celestial body can be indicated by means of its azimuth and alti-
tude. The problem with this is that the altitude and azimuth of the star constantly
change as the object rises in the east, moves to the west, crosses the meridian at its
highest altitude (when its azimuth angle is 180°) and then drops back down in the
west. Some objects are circumpolar, so they never set.
On Earth, we have Latitude and Longitude to specify the exact position of a city
or town. The equivalent of Latitude in the sky is declination. The zero point for
Latitude is the earth’s equator, and in the sky, the zero point for declination is the
celestial equator. Thus, declination is 0° at the celestial equator and goes up to 90°
at the north polar point. This direction is regarded as positive, so, for example, the
declination of Messier 31 would usually be written +41° 21' 38", or it may be
shown as 41° 21' 38" North. If you need to point an equatorial telescope at an object
in the sky, this is one value you will need to know. M31 was chosen randomly, but
referring back to the New York diagram in Figure 1.12, you will notice that coinci-
dentally, the Latitude of New York and the declination of Messier 31 are both
around 41°. When this happens -- that is, the declination and the Latitude of the
observing location are the same -- the object will always pass overhead through the
zenith as shown in Figure 1.14.
Fig. 1.14 M31 from New York

18 1 Introduction
Fig. 1.15 Messier 7 from Paris
Objects that are below the celestial equator are given negative declinations. For
example, M7, which is the most southerly of the Messier objects, has a declination of
-34° 48' 31", or 34° 48' 31" S. Charles Messier was observing from Paris with a
Latitude of 49°, so a large part of the southern sky was not available to him. Of
course, in taking the image of M7 for this book, I cheated slightly by using a telescope
based in Australia! Figure 1.15 illustrates how M7 is situated for a Paris observer.
So which objects will be circumpolar from a particular location? Using the
example of New York, Figure 1.16 illustrates this case. If you visualize yourself
standing and facing north, the stars will rotate in a counterclockwise direction
around Polaris. Some will make the full rotation and still be visible the entire time,
while others will drop down below the northern horizon. It is 41° down from Polaris
to the stars just being cut off, and those stars will rotate 41° up 12 hours later. The
angle from the Celestial Equator to those stars will be 49°, the minimum declina-
tion required to be circumpolar.
The Ecliptic, Equinoxes and Right Ascension
Declination is one thing we need to know when identifying the position of an object
in the Sky. On Earth, we refer to the Latitude of a town or city and its Longitude.
Longitude has a zero point at Greenwich, a value that is now accepted worldwide
(it was not always so). What we need is a “Greenwich in the sky.”
Fig. 1.16 Which objects will be circumpolar?
We have to imagine that we are inside a celestial sphere on which all of the
objects in the sky are positioned. The zero point that was chosen for the celestial
equivalent of Longitude was the Vernal Equinox – the point where the Sun crosses
the celestial equator from south to north in the spring. The path of the Sun and
planets is called the ecliptic. This crosses the celestial equator twice, corresponding
to the Sun crossing it in a northerly direction in spring (Vernal Equinox) and a
southerly direction in autumn (Autumnal Equinox). Right Ascension (RA) is the
equivalent of Longitude in the sky but uses hours rather than degrees and increases
from the Vernal Equinox towards the east. It increases in hourly increments equiva-
lent to 15° per hour until it returns to the start at 24 hours, or 360°.
he First Point of Aries, Precession, Epochs

T
and Local Sidereal Time
When Hipparchus of Rhodes was investigating the equinoxes, the position of the
sun’s south to north crossing was in the zodiacal constellation of Aries at the time,
but he discovered it was slowly shifting westwards. This is because the earth spins
on its axis rather like a wobbling top. It goes through one cycle in about 26,000
years. This is called precession, so we refer to the “precession of the equinoxes.”
The zero point for RA is the First Point of Aries. Of course, this zero point keeps
moving, so RA changes slowly. Declination (Dec) also changes. In terms of objects
20 1 Introduction
in the sky, the RA and Dec will change with time. Specific Epochs are defined so
that a star map can be drawn with RA and Dec axes just like Longitude and
Latitude, but for a specific date. The current Epoch is for the year 2000 and is called
“J2000,” with the J referring to the Julian calendar. The “First point of Aries” is now
located in the constellation of Pisces! Note that the RA and Dec given for each
Messier object in this book is for the date and time that the image was taken. This
will differ from J2000 coordinates.
As the earth rotates, the sky moves from east to west and objects cross the merid-
ian. At any particular time, there will be a specific RA on the meridian. This is what
is known as the Local Sidereal Time, or LST. Knowing the RA of a particular object
and the Local Sidereal Time means that you can work out when that object will cross
the meridian and be at its highest altitude in the sky. Messier 31 has an RA of 00h
43m 41s, so if the LST is 23h 43m 41s, the RA on the meridian has that value, and
it will be 1 hour exactly until M31 crosses the meridian. If the LST is 4h 43m 41s,
then M31 crossed the meridian 4 hours ago. Your planetarium program will tell you
the LST for the particular local time that it is set to at a particular location.
Figure 1.17 shows the situation in the northern hemisphere with east to the left
and west to the right. North is up.
The celestial equator crosses the chart at the vertical center, with its declination
of 0° (+00) marked. The chart goes down to roughly -20° declination and up to +20°
declination. In the center of the chart is marked the Right Ascension figure of 00h.
As referred to previously, RA increases to the east (left) going up to 02h on the chart.
On the west (right) side of the chart, you can see the hours of 22h, 23h and then 24h,
which is the same as 00h. The Ecliptic crosses the chart diagonally -- imagine the
Fig. 1.17 Right ascension and declination

Practical Considerations 21
Sun in the sky sliding up the ecliptic, then crossing the center point of the chart in
the spring. There will be a gradual westward shift of the point from east to west (left
to right) as the years progress.
Practical Considerations
Plate-Solving
Good Planetarium software is essential for planning your remote telescope ses-
sions. Further, software that includes a plate-solving facility adds another very
useful dimension to your imaging. The word “plate,” which originates from the
period when astrophotography involved the use of glass plates, simply refers to the
image. You will find the expression “solving the plate” used frequently throughout
the book in the descriptions of the imaging and object identification process. Put
simply, plate solving involves matching the stars in your image with a star chart
through the use of software.
Once a successful match is obtained, the plate is “solved,” and the software
superimposes the image on top of the star chart. Your image has effectively become
a star chart! For example, you can click on that fuzzy blob on your image and the
planetarium software might inform you that it is a remote galaxy and even identify
which one for you. This can be especially useful when you find an object that was
not present on previous images you had taken of the same field. Say you spot an
unidentified point-like object or apparent 'star' that happens to be in the field of
view of your plate solved image. When you click on it, the software might identify
it as a known minor planet or asteroid. (This assumes that the appropriate minor
planet database is loaded into your software). This did happen while imaging two
Messier objects for this project (See Messier 23 and the minor planet 346
Hermentaria, and Messier 105 and the minor planet MPL 26 or Prosperpina). Of
course it could also be a previously unknown minor planet, a new nova, supernova
or other ‘transient’ object that the software would not be able to identify.
Note that for the software to identify an asteroid (for example), you would need
to make sure that a minor planet database has been loaded into the software. New
Minor Planets are always being discovered so it is important to make sure that you
have uploaded the latest verion of the database. All good planetarium software has
a facility for loading databases of stars, galaxies, nebulae, double stars, minor plan-
ets and comets. In this case, using the SkyX software allowed each of the 110
Messier object images to be plate-solved in about 3 seconds after initiating the
command. When an image is plate-solved in SkyX, there is a click and a
locked padlock icon in the corner of the image appears, signifying that the image
and chart are locked together, meaning that the ‘plate’ has been solved. Dragging
the chart around the screen will now drag the image with it. You can click on the
image to identify objects that have been recognized by the plate solution. The chart
for each Messier image includes the “padlocked” solved image.
22 1 Introduction
FITS and TIFF Images
All the cameras used to image the Messier objects save images in the FITS
(Flexible Image Transport System) format. This is a specialized format for astro-
nomical images, where metadata is saved with the image listing the time the image
was started, the date, the resolution and other useful information. Thus, once you
have the image, you automatically have all the relevant information stored with it.
The itelescope network also offers the option to save images as TIFF files in
addition to FITS files. A preview JPEG file is emailed to you very shortly after the
image is taken, which you can check immediately. If the image outcome is unsatis-
factory, there is a procedure on the website for asking for a points refund. If it is
satisfactory, however, you may go to the website and log in to download all the
relevant files to your laptop. It is easiest to zip all of them up using the online zip
facility before downloading them. For this book, I saved images in FITS and TIFF
format, then use Photoshop to open the TIFF image and process it for the main
image. Photoshop allows easy cropping of an image when necessary. I would open
the FITS image in the SkyX software, and a simple instruction “Set Chart to Photo
Time” adjusted the charts to the time the image was started. This means that the
chart will automatically show the exact sky view at the time the image was taken,
including the location of neighboring minor planets etc. at that time. Once opened,
the image could be plate-solved, locking the image to the chart which is set to the
time the image was taken.
Camera Position and Position Angle
The way the camera is attached to the telescope varies between different telescopes
in the network. The images taken for the book are all displayed in landscape format,
but that does not mean north is at the top. Position angle is measured clockwise
from the north. For example, the image of M1 has a position angle of 88° 11’ from
the north. This means that the image has to be rotated by 88° 11’ counter-clockwise
to get north at the top. So, in the original image position, north was towards the
right and east was towards the top. When the image is plate-solved, it automatically
determines the position angle by checking the image against the chart.
Another example is the image of M77, which has a position angle of 270° 10'
from North. This means that the image has to be rotated by 89° 50’ clockwise to
get north at the top (or by 270° 10' counterclockwise). In the original image posi-
tion, north was towards the left and west was towards the top. The camera used to
take the image of M77 had a rectangular chip so that, when rotated, the embedded
image shown on the M77 pages would change to (approximate) portrait format.
Many cameras have square chips. The position angle for each image is supplied in
the data on the appropriate Messier pages. Planetarium software includes tools to
allow rotation of the chart.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
“Is it marble?” I asked, in order to have something to say. I felt
worried by all this admiration.
He looked at me almost scornfully, and replied:
“Marble, marble, no indeed. These are slabs of petrified wood.”
I supposed that we had seen M. Groult’s collection, for there
were enough rooms in it to fit out a little museum. I discovered,
however, that we had seen nothing at all. M. Groult opened a door
and bade us enter a large gallery where sixty-two Turners awaited
our attention.
He raised his forefinger to impose upon us a silence that no one
had any intention of breaking. Then he took us from one picture to
another, indicating what in his view constituted the charms of each
canvas. Finally he came near to me and then, embracing the hall
with one big sweep of the hand, said:
“These are your colours. Turner certainly foresaw you when he
created them.”
Next he showed his collection of engravings, etchings, and prints,
representing the most glorious dancers. All these, he said, were to
reveal to me what I based my art upon when I danced. He pointed to
a celebrated frieze from Pompeii and then, looking at me fixedly,
said:
“Look at that. Those are your motions.”
He drew back to present the pose, and he reproduced one of the
motions very seriously in spite of his rheumatism, which hardly
allowed him to stand on his legs.
“Now,” said he, “I am going to show you the work of art I am most
attached to.”
And, in a large glass-covered recess, he showed me the thing
which gave him special pleasure. It was a basin in which a fountain
was playing, while around it numerous turtle doves were fluttering.
“It is these cooing birds that make you happy,” I cried. “It is too
bad that everybody cannot observe this beautiful and natural picture,
side by side with your wonderful collections.”
“Allow my collections to be seen?” he cried. “Never. No one
would understand them.”
I realised then to what an extent he cherished each one of these
objects, which ought, according to his view, to be regarded only with
devotion. In each visitor he saw only an inquisitive person and
nothing more. From his standpoint the creators of these
masterpieces had entrusted them to him in order that he might care
for them and protect them from profane inspection.
“I should like,” he said in his mystic way, “to burn them every one
the night before my death if I could do it. It is discouraging, is it not,
to abandon them to idle curiosity and indifference?”
M. Groult gave me a new perception of the nature of art and its
value. He was acquainted with all the circumstances that had
attended the birth of his masterpieces. He spoke of them both as a
man of sensibility and as an art critic.
As he bade us adieu he asked me to come again.
One day the curator of the museum at Bucharest came to Paris,
and a common friend brought him to my house. Among other things
he spoke to me of M. Groult’s famous collection, which no one was
permitted to see. I promised him to do my best to secure an
invitation for him and I accordingly wrote to M. Groult.
He replied at once, asking me to bring the museum curator to see
him.
When the curator expressed his gratitude to M. Groult, he replied:
“It is she whom you ought to thank. I do not care to have
strangers here, but she is part of my collection. You will find her here
everywhere. Just look.”
He then told the story of the butterflies, adding:
“This is nature as no one can paint it exactly. She has succeeded
in it. She is a painter of nature.”
Then he showed the petrified wood and spoke of it, with some
difference of expression, much as he had spoken the first time in my
presence. Finally he begged his visitor to call upon him every time
he came to Paris. As we went away I was obliged to promise to visit
him again soon. But, when I had leisure to do so, M. Groult was
already too ill to receive me and I never saw him again.
I am glad to have known him, for he was an extraordinary man.
XIII
MY DANCES AND THE CHILDREN
C HILDREN brought up on fairy tales and stories of adventure,

have an imagination that is easily kindled by suggestions of the
supernatural. From the unearthly appearance of my dances,
caused by the light and the mingling of colours, they ought
particularly to appeal to the young, making them believe that the
being flitting about there before them among the shadows and
flashes of light belongs to the unreal world which holds sway in their
lives.
You can hardly conceive of the genuine enthusiasm I have
aroused, or, to express it more exactly, since my personality counts
for nothing, of the enthusiasm my dancing has aroused amongst
children. I have only to go back in memory to see enraptured groups
of children, caught under the spell of my art. I even have literary
testimony to this effect, since I find among my papers this note,
signed by one of my friends, M. Auguste Masure:
“Dear Miss Loie: We have formed a plan of taking the children to
see you at a matinee next week. Our third, the youngest, is a little
boy whom you have never seen. He looks at all your lithographs and
always asks to have them explained. He is only three and a half, but
his brother and sister have so filled his head with Loie Fuller that
when he sees you it will be worth while observing what he has to
say.”
If I cite this circumstance it is, let me repeat, because written
testimony is involved—testimony that proves clearly the profound
impression my dances make on children. Here was a little one, three
and a half years old, who was possessed of a desire to see me
simply through having heard my praises sung—in what language
one may conjecture—by two other children.
Here is a story that if not more convincing is more characteristic.
One afternoon the daughter of an architect, very well known in
Paris, had brought her little girl to a matinee in the course of which I
came on. The child, I was told, seemed fascinated and dazed. She
did not say a word, did not make the slightest noise, hardly dared to
stir. I seemed to have hypnotised her.
At the end of the performance the young mother, whom I knew
very well, said to the little girl:
“We are going to see Loie Fuller in her dressing-room.”
Photo Müller
THE DANCE OF FLOWERS
A light was kindled in the child’s eyes, and she followed her
mother, clutching at her hand nervously. If the little girl was so visibly
affected it was not at the idea of seeing me, but of being in the
presence of an extraordinary creature, a kind of fairy. The conclusion
of this incident proves that.
The mother and the child found their way to my dressing-room.
An attendant opened the door. She asked them to be seated until
I should be able to receive them. The keenest emotion was still
imprinted on the child’s little features. She must have supposed that
she was going to be taken into some celestial place. She looked
round with restless eyes, surveying the bare walls, the uncarpeted
floor, and seemed to be waiting to see the ceiling or the flooring open
suddenly and permit an entrance into Loie Fuller’s kingdom.
Suddenly a folding screen was drawn and a young woman came
forward, who looked tired and in whose appearance there was
nothing supernatural. With arms outstretched she advanced smiling.
The child’s eyes opened wider and wider. The nearer I came the
further she shrank away.
Quite astonished her mother said:
“What is the matter, dear? This is Miss Fuller, who danced for you
so prettily a few minutes ago. You know you begged me so hard to
bring you to see her.”
As if touched by a magic wand the child’s expression changed.
“No, no. That isn’t her. I don’t want to see her. This one here is a
fat lady, and it was a fairy I saw dancing.”
If there is one thing in the world of which I am incapable, it is
consciously to cause anyone pain, and, with my love of children, I
should never have been happy again if I had caused my little visitor
to be disillusioned. I endeavoured therefore to be equal to the
situation, and I said to the child:
“Yes, my dear, you are right. I am not Loie Fuller. The fairy has
sent me to tell you how much she loves you and how sorry she is not
to be able to take you to her kingdom. She cannot come. She really
cannot. She told me just to take you in my arms and give you a kiss,
a good kiss for her.”
At these words the little one threw herself into my arms.
“Oh,” she said, “kiss the pretty fairy for me and ask her if I can
come again to see her dance.”
There were tears in my eyes as I replied:
“Come as often as you like, my dear little girl. I hear the fairy
whispering in my ear that she would like to dance for you all the time,
all the time.”
Photo Langfier
THE DANCE OF THE BUTTERFLY
At Bucharest Princess Marie of Roumania had sent all her
children to see me at a matinee. The royal box was occupied by a
chattering and noisy little regiment of princes, princesses and their
friends. When my turn came to go on the lights were turned down
and, in the silence that ensued, one could hear distinctly, coming
from the royal box, the words:
“Hush. Keep quiet.”
Then, when I appeared:
“Oh, it is a butterfly!”
All this was said in a very high voice. Then I recognised the voice
of the oldest of the princesses, the one who is so remarkably like her
grandmother, the late Queen Victoria. In a tone of the utmost
contempt she declared: “You don’t know what you are talking about.
It’s an angel.”
At each change in the dance the oldest of the little princesses
made some further remark, explaining everything from her point of
view, as if her utterances were authoritative.
Some days later I went to the palace. Princess Marie sent some
one to look up the children. They came in one after the other, as
timidly as so many middle-class children might in the presence of a
stranger.
When the princess explained to them that I was the lady whom
they had seen dance at the theatre, the oldest of them did not say a
word, but, despite her careful training, her face said plainly enough:
“You don’t fool me. This woman is telling fibs.”
I should have had to dance for them at the palace to convince
them that it was really I whom they had taken for an angel. This part
of the affair, though already arranged for, was given up at my
request. I wanted to avoid disillusioning these children.
Accordingly, when I danced at the palace the little princes and
princesses were not present at the performance. They came back,
on the other hand, to the theatre, where they were confirmed in their
conviction that the lady whom they had seen with their mother and
who tried to pass herself off as Loie Fuller was an impostor. The
eldest of the little princesses called out so loudly as to be heard all
over the house:
“This time it is really Loie Fuller.”
She pronounced her words with a distinctness that proved clearly
that the subject had been discussed at length among the children,
and that this affirmation was the result of mature deliberation.
M. Roger Marx has two sons, who, when they saw me for the first
time, were respectively four and six years old. The elder took a
notion to dance “like Loie Fuller,” using a table cloth for drapery. I
gave him a robe modelled after one of mine and, before we knew it,
the child was evolving new dances.
The way he expressed joy, grief, ecstasy and despair was
admirable. His memory of me, or rather his memory of my dances,
remained so vivid and epitomised so precisely the conception he had
of beauty and of art that he became a “poet.”
Here are some verses which, two years later, I inspired in this
little boy, and which his mother, Mme. Roger Marx, turned over to
me:
Pale vision
A l’horizon
En ce lieu sombre
Fugitive ombre ...
Devant mes yeux vague

Une forme vague,
Suis-je fascine?
Une blanche vague.
En volutes d’argent
Sur l’océan immense,
Elle court follement,
Elle s’enfuit et danse
Protée reste! Ne fuis pas!

Sur la fleur qu’on ne voit pas
Palpite, hésite, et se pose
Un papillon vert et rose:
Il voltige sans aucun bruit

Étend ses ailes polychromes
Et maintenant c’est un arum
Au lieu d’un papillon de nuit....
The little fellow ended by making wax figurines, representing

“Loie Fuller,” works of art that I treasure with great care.
Another curious incident is that of the daughter of Madame
Nevada, the great American singer. The child always called me “ma
Loie” and, after her first visit to the theatre to which she had gone to
see me dance, she tried to imitate me. She was so remarkable that I
had a little robe made for her. Her father, Dr. Palmer, arranged at his
house a magic lantern with variable lights. The little girl danced and
invented strange and remarkable forms, which she called “the birth
of spring,” “summer,” “autumn,” and “winter.” She was able to make
use of various expressions and to combine motions of the arms and
the body harmoniously.
The little dear was so successful among the few intimate friends
who saw her, that Mme. Nevada was obliged to give some recitals in
her luxurious appartement in the Avenue Wagram, so that her
friends might applaud the delightful child. At one of these recitals
some Catholic priests were present, and when they expressed
themselves as delighted by the child’s charm of manner, she said to
them quickly:
“Do you like these dances? Then you ought to go and see ‘My
Loie.’ She dances at the Folies-Bergère!”
Here is quite a different impression I once made.
Long before my debut as a dancer, I was a little ingenue, and
was playing the burlesque role of Jack Sheppard in the play of that
name, supporting the distinguished comedian Nat Goodwin. The
Editor of one of the principal papers in New York one evening
brought his wife and daughter to the theatre to see me in my popular
part.
The Editor’s daughter became very anxious to make my
acquaintance. Her father looked me up and wrote to ask me if he
might bring his daughter, a young person six years old, to call upon
me.
I had succeeded so perfectly in taking a boy’s part that the little
girl could not believe but that I really was one, and when she had
been presented to me, she asked:
“Well, why does Jack wear girl’s clothes?”
That was another time when I did not undeceive a little admirer.
To-day she is a fine young woman who has always been a faithful
friend of mine.
When I was sixteen years old I made the acquaintance of a
young widow who had two sons, seven and nine years old
respectively. The elder fell in love with me. In spite of everything they
could do to take his mind off it he became worse and worse. He fell
behind in his studies and he broke away completely from his
mother’s control. Things came to such a point that it was necessary
to give the child a change of scene. The widow accordingly left for
England with her boy. After a little time she supposed that he had
ceased to think of me.
Nine years passed. In the meantime I had become a dancer and
in London I happened upon the widow and her sons. Forgetting all
about my little admirer’s former passion—he was now a big boy of
eighteen—I engaged him as my secretary.
Some days after he said to me quietly:
“Do you remember, Miss Fuller, that when I was nine years old I
told you that at eighteen I should ask you to be my wife?”
“Yes, I remember it.”
“Well, I am eighteen years old now and I have not changed my
mind. Will you marry me?”
Very lately my admirer has repeated his declaration that he will
never marry. He is thirty years old to-day, and who knows, perhaps
the man’s heart has remained the same as the heart of the boy of
nine.
XIV
PRINCESS MARIE
I T was the evening of my first appearance at Bucharest.

Some one came to tell me that the Prince and Princess Royal
were in the royal box.
After the performance they sent an officer to tell me how greatly
my dances had interested them. They promised to come again and,
as they wanted their children to see me, they asked if I would not
give a matinee.
I was in the act of putting on my clothes.
It was impossible for me to receive the officer, who accordingly
gave the message from their Royal Highnesses to my maid.
Next day I wrote to Princess Marie to thank her, and proposed to
give a performance at the palace, if that seemed to her desirable.
The reply came without delay. The princess sent for me.
That is called a “court order,” but it came in the guise of a
charming letter, which said that the princess would be very glad to
see me if I was not incommoded by the hour which she set.
When I arrived at the palace I was taken up a great staircase and
then introduced to a little salon, which was like every other little salon
in every other palace. I thought how disagreeable it must be to live in
an atmosphere that has been created by a hundred other people
before your time, and in which nothing really belongs to you. I was
engaged in thinking this when an official opened the door and asked
me to follow him.
What a change!
In a most delightfully arranged room I saw a young woman, tall,
slender, and extremely pretty. The surroundings, the furniture, the
style, all were so personal to the young woman that the palace
dropped out.
I actually forgot where I was, and I fancied myself in the presence
of a legendary princess in a fairy-tale-chamber.
Accordingly the first words I uttered, as I took the hand which the
pretty princess extended toward me, were:
“Oh, how exquisite this is! It is not at all like a royal palace—any
more than you seem like a princess receiving a stranger!”
She began to smile and after we were seated she said:
“Do you think that a princess should always be cold and
ceremonious when she receives a stranger? Well, so far as I am
concerned, you are not a stranger at all. After having seen you in
your beautiful dances it seems to me that I am well acquainted, and I
am very glad indeed that you have come to see me.”
Then she asked if I could secure all my effects in an ordinary hall.
She was thinking of the performance which I was to give at the
palace.
I told her that this would be quite possible. Then, and almost
without knowing what I was saying, I murmured: “Heavens, how
pretty it is! What a wonderful view you get from these windows!”
“Yes. It is chiefly on account of this view that I wanted to live here.
The landscape which we overlook reminds me of England; for, as
you see, standing by these windows when I look out I can fancy
myself once again in the dear country in which I was born.”
“Then you still love England?”
“Have you ever met an Englishman yet who loved another
country better than his own?”
“Don’t you love Roumania?”
“It is impossible to live here without loving both the people and
the country.”
She then showed me a big picture. It was her own portrait in the
national Roumanian costume. But on account of her blonde hair and
her fair complexion the contrast with the other Roumanians whom I
had seen was very striking. It seemed that the picture was tinged
with sadness, and I wondered whether the princess would not some
day regret her enforced exile. To me she gave the impression of a
lily, planted in a field of wild poppies.
When we returned to our seats I looked at the princess. I admired
her excellent carriage, her friendly smile.
She showed me a large portfolio in which she had painted some
flowers. One of these pictures represented some Chinese plants
drooping in a melancholy fashion. I could not help looking at the
princess as she turned the page.
“I painted them one day when I was feeling very blue,” she said.
“We all have such days, do we not?”
“Yes, your Highness, but you ought not to have them.”
“Well, let me tell you, there is no one alive who has no cause for
sadness. I am certainly not exempt.”
Then, changing the topic of conversation, she said:
“See these chairs. Do you like them?”
The chairs were exquisite. The princess had painted them. The
upholstery and the woodwork were both adorned with flowers she
had painted. By the fireplace the princess had arranged a little
corner with divans and low seats covered with Liberty silk. The room
was huge, with windows along one side. This row of windows was
parallel to a sort of colonnade, which had been there before the
room was transformed by the princess, and made a kind of corridor.
One might have wished it removed to enlarge the room, but the
princess had it now, and, from a decorative standpoint, she had
made the best of it. The ceiling was inlaid with golden panels. I am
not sufficiently versed in architecture to state to what style this room
would be said to belong; but nothing that I had ever seen before was
just like it. It seemed to me to have originated in the brain of some
one who had quite new ideas, for the arrangement was absolutely
original. The room was panelled in blue faiënce and heavy oriental
tapestries.
I write this from memory, five years after my visit, but I am certain
that I have not forgotten a single detail.
Then we spoke of dancing.
“Have you ever danced before my grandmother?” asked the
princess.
“No, never. At Nice once I was to have the honour of appearing
before Her Majesty Queen Victoria, when my manager suddenly
obliged me to leave for America. I have always regretted it, for a
second opportunity never offered itself.”
The princess then asked me if the King and Queen of England
had seen me dance.
“No, but I suppose they think they have seen me, for in my little
theatre at the Exposition of 1900, on the days when I was engaged
elsewhere, I was sometimes obliged to be represented by an
understudy. During one of my absences the King and Queen of
England, who were then the Prince and Princess of Wales, took a
box to see the little Japanese tragedienne who was playing at my
theatre. That day an understudy was dancing for me, but the King
and Queen probably supposed it was I whom they had seen.”
“Oh, well, you will have to dance for them some day.”
Then she asked me if I had danced before her cousin, the
Emperor of Germany.
“No,” I answered regretfully.
“Very well, let me know when you will be in Berlin and I will try to
have him go and see you. He loves artistic things, and he is an
accomplished artist himself.”
Later I did dance before the Queen of England, but I was far from
suspecting under what circumstances it would come to pass.
I asked Princess Marie if she had ever been interested in the
dances of the Hindus and the Egyptians, their funeral dances,
sacred dances, dances of death and the rest. She, in her turn,
questioned me as to the methods by which I thought it would be
possible to reconstruct these dances.
“There are very few documents treating of the subject, but it
seems to me that it should be easy, if one put oneself into the state
of mind that prompted the dances in times past, to reproduce them
to-day with similar action and movement. If the custom still existed of
dancing at funerals, a little reflection will show that the dances would
have to suggest and express sadness, despair, grief, agony,
resignation and hope. All this can be expressed by motions and
hence by the dance. The only question is whether the dancer should
express the grief she feels at the loss of a loved one, or if she should
reveal to the people who are in mourning resignation and the hope of
a future life. In other words, pantomime should be a sort of silent
music, a harmony of motions adapted to the situation, for there is
harmony in everything—harmony of sounds (which is music),
harmony of colours, harmony of ideas, harmony of motions.”
We talked for a long time about these dances, and the princess
asked me:
“Shall we be able to appreciate pictures of this kind when you
come to dance at the palace?”
I replied that I was thinking of dances of this sort when I wrote to
her, for these reconstructions would naturally interest her beyond
what she had seen at the theatre.
Then the princess asked me a thousand other questions and we
were so absorbed in our conversation that her luncheon waited more
than an hour for her.
The evening when I danced at the palace I supposed that the
princess would be alone, for we had agreed, as I have already
explained, that the children were not to be present at my
performance. They were not present, as a matter of fact, but the
princess had invited the King and the Queen and all their retinue,
limiting the invitations strictly to habitués of the court.
When I saw the crowd of guests, I could not help wondering how
they were going to seat everybody.
We had chosen the dining-hall in which to place an improvised
stage, and I had brought two electricians in order to be prepared, if
the princess wished me to do so, to present one or two of my radiant
dances.
The court pianist, in the meantime, had instructed me in some of
Carmen Sylva’s songs. The evening entertainment began with
expressions in pantomime and dance of several of those songs.
It was nine o’clock. At one o’clock in the morning I was still
dancing; but I felt myself so utterly exhausted that I had to stop. The
princess observed my fatigue and came to me.
“What selfishness on our part not to have thought earlier of how
tired you must be!”
“Oh, I am so pleased that it seems to me I could go on for ever, if
I could only get a minute’s rest. You are the one who must be tired.”
Supper had been waiting for a long time, and the performance
ended then and there.
The King asked, I remember, if I could dance “Home, Sweet
Home.” I had never tried it, but it did not seem to me difficult—with
the accompaniment of the exquisite melody—to express the words,
“There’s no place like home.”
DANCE TO GOUNOD’S “AVE MARIA”
I had danced that evening Gounod’s Ave Maria some bacchanal
dances, some other dances, based upon slow movements of
Mendelssohn’s concertos for the dances of death, and on Chopin’s
Marche, Funèbre for the funeral dances. My excellent orchestra
leader, Edmond Bosanquet, had, furthermore, composed some
perfect music for dances of joy and of grief. In brief, I must have
danced at least twenty times, and we had ended with the radiant
dances, which the King had never seen. Everyone, it is needless to
say, congratulated me in a most charming way, but the loveliest of all
was Princess Marie, who brought me a large photograph of herself,
on which she had written: “In memory of an evening during which
you filled my heart with joy.”
The day before our departure from Bucharest some money,
which was to have been wired me, had not arrived, and I found
myself in a genuine predicament. I had twelve people and several
thousand pounds of baggage to get to Rome, where I was to make
my first appearance on Easter Day.

Textbook Imaging The Messier Objects Remotely From Your Laptop Len Adam Ebook All Chapter PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Textbook Imaging The Messier Objects Remotely From Your Laptop Len Adam Ebook All Chapter PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Imaging the Messier Objects Remotely

from Your Laptop Len Adam

Operating System Forensics 1st Edition Messier

Learning from Animations in Science Education

Pro Angular: Learn to harness the power of modern web

Fintech Fundamentals 1st Edition Len Mei

How to Create Your Garden: Ideas and Advice for

Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through

Insights from imaging in bioinorganic chemistry First

The Unofficial Guide to Disney Cruise Line 2018 2018th

The Patrick Moore

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/3192

ISSN 1431-9756 ISSN 2197-6562 (electronic)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017964662

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

Printed on acid-free paper

Part I Background and Resources

Part II The 110 Messier Objects – Images and Corresponding Data

The Remote Telescope Messier Imaging Project

The Advantages of Remote Imaging

The Messier Objects

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 3

Fig. 1.1 My non-remote telescope

How the book is organized

The Telescope Network used to Image the Messier Objects

The New Mexico Site

The itelescope network consists of telescopes in four locations on three continents

Fig. 1.2 Observatories at the New Mexico site. Courtesy of itelescope.net

The California Site

The Spanish Site

The Australian Site

Fig. 1.7 The AstroCamp observatories at night

Fig. 1.9 Siding Spring Remote Observatory. Courtesy of iTelescope.net

Fig. 1.11 17-inch telescope based at Siding Spring. Courtesy of iTelescope.net

Using Planetarium Software to set the Location

The Geometry of the Earth and Sky

Location and Time

To identify the location of a particular place on Earth, we use Latitude and

The Celestial Equator and the Zenith

To begin remote telescope imaging, it helps if you have an understanding of the

Fig. 1.12 The celestial equator and meridian

The Meridian, Altitude and Azimuth

Fig. 1.13 The azimuth circle

Fig. 1.14 M31 from New York

Fig. 1.15 Messier 7 from Paris

The Ecliptic, Equinoxes and Right Ascension

Fig. 1.16 Which objects will be circumpolar?

 he First Point of Aries, Precession, Epochs

Fig. 1.17 Right ascension and declination

FITS and TIFF Images

Camera Position and Position Angle

C HILDREN brought up on fairy tales and stories of adventure,

Devant mes yeux vague

Protée reste! Ne fuis pas!

Il voltige sans aucun bruit

The little fellow ended by making wax figurines, representing

I T was the evening of my first appearance at Bucharest.

You might also like

Part II The 110 Messier Objects – Images and Corresponding Data

The Remote Telescope Messier Imaging Project

The Advantages of Remote Imaging

The Messier Objects

How the book is organized

The Telescope Network used to Image the Messier Objects

The New Mexico Site

The California Site

The Spanish Site

The Australian Site

Using Planetarium Software to set the Location

The Geometry of the Earth and Sky

Location and Time

The Celestial Equator and the Zenith

The Meridian, Altitude and Azimuth

The Ecliptic, Equinoxes and Right Ascension

he First Point of Aries, Precession, Epochs

FITS and TIFF Images

Camera Position and Position Angle