Just so's you'll know, I had the Whirlpool galaxy in mind. Not to be
confused with the Frigidaire or Kenmore galaxies.

I've got another question ready...

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

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"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"

"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves

You know, I suspected that . Just fire away with you questions...

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20 questions (yes-no) again: What is the pair of astronomical objects (i.e, two objects closely spaced on their own length scale) I am thinking of?

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: Not, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.

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Do the galaxies have an informal name which is the name of an animal?

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"

"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves

20 questions (yes-no) again: What is the pair of astronomical objects (i.e, two objects closely spaced on their own length scale) I am thinking of?

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: Not, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.
# 5: Not, the galaxies do not have an informal name which is the name of an animal.

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Are they NGC 3395 and NGC 3396?

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Curt Renz - "Centaur"
For monthly astronomical calendar visit:
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Are they in the northern hemisphere?

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20 questions (yes-no) again: What is the pair of astronomical objects (i.e, two objects closely spaced on their own length scale) I am thinking of?

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: No, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.
# 5: Not, the galaxies do not have an informal name which is the name of an animal.
# 6: No, they are not NGC3395 and NGC3396
# 7: Yes, they are in the Northern celestial hemisphere

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Tis it a winter constellation?

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20 questions (yes-no) again: What is the pair of astronomical objects (i.e, two objects closely spaced on their own length scale) I am thinking of?

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: No, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.
# 5: Not, the galaxies do not have an informal name which is the name of an animal.
# 6: No, they are not NGC3395 and NGC3396
# 7: Yes, they are in the Northern celestial hemisphere
# 8: Not, tis not a winter constellation (IF you refer to observations in the evening )

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I thought you might be looking at 'em now.

Is it a summer constellation, as per the list?

Code:

Aquarius           Aqr The Water Bearer 
Aquila               Aql The Eagle 
Capricornus       Cap The Sea Goat 
Cepheus           Cep Cepheus, a King of Ethiopia 
Corona Australis CrA The Southern Crown 
Coronas Borealis CrB The Northern Crown 
Cygnus             Cyg The Swan 
Delphinus           Del The Dolphin 
Equuleus           Equ The Little Horse 
Lacerta             Lac The Lizard 
Lyra                  Lyr The Harp 
Pegasus            Peg The Flying Horse 
Piscis Austrinus   PsA The Southern Fish 
Sagitta              Sge The Arrow 
Sagittarius          Sgr The Archer 
Scutum              Sct The Shield 
Vulpecula            Vul The Little Fox

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20 questions (yes-no) again: What is the pair of astronomical objects (i.e, two objects closely spaced on their own length scale) I am thinking of?

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: No, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.
# 5: Not, the galaxies do not have an informal name which is the name of an animal.
# 6: No, they are not NGC3395 and NGC3396
# 7: Yes, they are in the Northern celestial hemisphere
# 8: Not, tis not a winter constellation (IF you refer to observations in the evening )
# 9: No, it is not a summer constellation as per this list.

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George,

It looks to me like you've narrowed it down to the spring constellations
north of the equator but not circumpolar. e.g. Serpens Caput.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"

"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves

Are they in the Virgo Cluster?

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For monthly astronomical calendar visit:
www.CurtRenz.com/astronomical

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: No, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.
# 5: Not, the galaxies do not have an informal name which is the name of an animal.
# 6: No, they are not NGC3395 and NGC3396
# 7: Yes, they are in the Northern celestial hemisphere
# 8: Not, tis not a winter constellation (IF you refer to observations in the evening )
# 9: No, it is not a summer constellation as per this list.
#10: No, they are not part of the Virgo Cluster.

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Are they members of Arp's Catalog of Peculiar Galaxies?

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20 questions (yes-no) again: What is the pair of astronomical objects (i.e, two objects closely spaced on their own length scale) I am thinking of?

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: No, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.
# 5: Not, the galaxies do not have an informal name which is the name of an animal.
# 6: No, they are not NGC3395 and NGC3396
# 7: Yes, they are in the Northern celestial hemisphere
# 8: Not, tis not a winter constellation (IF you refer to observations in the evening )
# 9: No, it is not a summer constellation as per this list.
#10: Not, to my knowledge they are not members of Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies

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That is very astute reasoning - but why do you exclude circumpolar constellations? And circumpolar from where? Aachen (50°N) Minneapolis (45°N), Houston (29°N), Mauna Kea (20°N), VLT (24°S)...

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Are they in a circumpolar constellation (from Aachen)?

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20 questions (yes-no) again: What is the pair of astronomical objects (i.e, two objects closely spaced on their own length scale) I am thinking of?

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: No, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.
# 5: Not, the galaxies do not have an informal name which is the name of an animal.
# 6: No, they are not NGC3395 and NGC3396
# 7: Yes, they are in the Northern celestial hemisphere
# 8: Not, tis not a winter constellation (IF you refer to observations in the evening )
# 9: No, it is not a summer constellation as per this list.
#10: Not, to my knowledge they are not members of Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies
#11: No, they are not in a circumpolar constellation (from Aachen).

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Hmm, beginning to look like Leo...

Are they in a constellation named after a real animal?

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20 questions (yes-no) again: What is the pair of astronomical objects (i.e, two objects closely spaced on their own length scale) I am thinking of?

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: No, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.
# 5: Not, the galaxies do not have an informal name which is the name of an animal.
# 6: No, they are not NGC3395 and NGC3396
# 7: Yes, they are in the Northern celestial hemisphere
# 8: Not, tis not a winter constellation (IF you refer to observations in the evening )
# 9: No, it is not a summer constellation as per this list.
#10: Not, to my knowledge they are not members of Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies
#11: No, they are not in a circumpolar constellation (from Aachen).
#12: Yes, they are in a constellation named after a real animal.

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Why Leo, Eroica? His hints lead us to Spring constellations, I think. [Not a question, btw.]

Canes Venatici CVn The Hunting Dogs
Corvus Crv The Crow
Draco Dra The Dragon
Lupus Lup The Wolf
Scorpius Sco The Scorpion
Serpens Caput Ser The Serpent's Head
Serpens Cauda Ser The Serpent's Tail

Ursa Major UMA The Great Bear [Added: also circumpolar]
Ursa Minor UMI The Little Bear [but circumpolar!]

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Is it a four-legged animal?

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20 questions (yes-no) again: What is the pair of astronomical objects (i.e, two objects closely spaced on their own length scale) I am thinking of?

# 1: No, they are not within our own galaxy
# 2: No, they are not within our Local group of galaxies.
# 3: No, none of the constituent parts is what an amateur astronomer would consider "prominent".
# 4: Yes, the two objects are galaxies.
# 5: Not, the galaxies do not have an informal name which is the name of an animal.
# 6: No, they are not NGC3395 and NGC3396
# 7: Yes, they are in the Northern celestial hemisphere
# 8: Not, tis not a winter constellation (IF you refer to observations in the evening )
# 9: No, it is not a summer constellation as per this list.
#10: Not, to my knowledge they are not members of Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies
#11: No, they are not in a circumpolar constellation (from Aachen).
#12: Yes, they are in a constellation named after a real animal.
#13: No, it is not a four-legged animal

One thing: Again, circumpolar from where. To my knowledge, the Big Bear is not circumpolar from Hawii...

One more thing (hey, it's Macworld time ): By the time you sort out the constellation, you may be at # 15 or 16, 17 if you're unlucky. By that time you'll be squeezed for questions and still not have learned anything ybout the object itself past # 5.

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Leo is indeed a spring constellation. It culminates around 21:00 local time during mid-April. Scorpius does so in July.

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Curt Renz - "Centaur"
For monthly astronomical calendar visit:
www.CurtRenz.com/astronomical

From Aachen, as per your answer 11.

Yes, we haven't really estabilished a consistent carving procedure. The multiple approach method costs many questions, but the variations of the carvings can add some character and fun to the hunt, I suppose. Besides, there aren't a lot of solid ways to pin down two galaxies that I know of.

The Spring Constellation list came from an amateur web site, so I should have used another one or two to compare. So we can add it to the Spring list then throw it out since Leo is four-legged.

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Carving... well, didn't you call it by an altogether more violent name some time ago?

My head feels like it has 13 carves in it.

Some amateurs you have there, calling Scorpius, but not Leo a Spring constellation...

Yes, how to pin down two galaxies. Hmmm, they might have a special, uuh, relation? Interaction? Something?

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That's a safe bet, but I don't recall. I am trying to sound more craftmansy.

Choosing the first Google site has its drawbacks.

That's why someone threw out the cheese but no mice came out. So, here we are carving away.

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Is it in big ole Serpens? [One of them, that is]

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