Well, while NGC 7293 (the Helix) is probably the largest planetary visible to the amateur, there is at least one which is larger in angular extent. PuWe 1 has a listed angular diameter of a whopping 1200 arc seconds (a third of a degree), although you will only find it on some deep photographic images like those of the Palomar Sky Survey. By contrast, the Helix is only about 980 arc seconds across, although it is visible in a good pair of binoculars on a good dark night. For those interested, PuWe 1 is located at R.A. 6h 19.57m, Dec. +55 deg. 36.7' (eq. 2000). Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely KA0CZC@navix.net
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

Far-fetched , but true! As Eroica noted, they are all associated with Bavaria - in particular with Nuremberg, the second largest Bavarian city after Munich, and the surrounding area (Franconia and Upper Palatinate). Now my location (Fuerth) is only 5 km from Nuremberg, and that's why the planetoids are interesting. Nuremberg's local amateur astronomy club, with a fine observatory (named after Regiomontanus and bothered of course by light pollution) and a broad range of activities, has an observation project going for these and other regionally associated minor planets, as well as for moon craters with the same connection.

Over to you, mantiss!

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Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem.

Oh, who would have thought - I am caught actually a bit off by this Give me a few hours to think up a worthy quiz question

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The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.

Ok here we go, I don't expect this one to be too much of a challenge to some.

In his treatise published in the 1760's, what observations did Maximilian Hell note and what controversy was it trying to end?

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The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.

Precise times for the start to finish of the Venus transit on 3. June 1769.
The controversy was the distance to the sun.

It sparked additional controversy as his observations didn't fit the observations of other astronomers.

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And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

Henrik you are very close because these observations led to another conclusion as well close, think optics and effects. I had something else in mind for the controversy But I suspect you will nail it with your next post.

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The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.

Unless we're looking at atmospheric refraction's modification of his measurement because he was the only one to observe the sun at what for him was the middle of the night (he observed from a point north of the arctic circle), I'm drawing a blank.

Incidentally, there's a fairly large norwegian project running with the purpose of translating Hell's diary from his journey, Maximilian Hell og Joannes Sajnovics, from Vienna to Vardøhus 1768-1770. Two Jesuit Scientists Exploring the Far North

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And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

I guess I have to put in an extra hint then, but it might make it much easier. Maximilian Hell's observations refuted observations made by other astronomers, notably: Short in 1740, Mayer in 1759 and Lagrange in 1761.

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The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.

A search for a moon of Venus; lack thereof established

YES! This hypothetical moon was dubbed Neith, and reported by some of the big names of the time. Father Hell (yes, I get a kick out of that too) established that the most likely cause was that Venus was so bright in the telescope that it reflected at the back of the eye and created a ghost image, smaller, but showing the same phase as Venus, as would be the case for a venusian moon.

Information can be read at: http://www.nineplanets.org/hypo.html

Now to you IMO!

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The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.

OK ... in line with my occassional queries about women in astronomy.

This wife of the director of a major observatory was an astronomer in her own right. In her dissertation she reported several discoveries about what would eventually be called the interstellar medium.

Would the answer happen to be Margaret Burbidge?

Dave Mitsky

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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Wow ... good try. I had forgotten that Geof had been director of KPNO. Nope, Margaret's work is much more recent than the subject I had in mind. Another clue: The husband has what once was one of the world's largest telescopes named after him.

IMO, I think we need another hint or another question...

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Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem.

OK She made her discoveries while observing spectroscopic binary stars with the second largest telescope of its type. In recent times her discovery has been mentioned as the first observation of "the raw materials of life". After he became director, she and her husband became well known in astronomical circles for the hospitality offered at their mountaintop home.

My first hunch was to guess Cecilia Payne.

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the universe to do..." Author: Galileo supposedly.

Good grief no ... Sergei (Sirgay) Gaposchkin was never director of a major observatory. Folks working on this should focus on identifying the observatory (that should be trivial) and then look at director's wives.

Actually, it was Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9.

Dave Mitsky

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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

David,

Apparently, there is an even larger planetary nebula, one with a diameter exceeding 2 degrees.

http://citebase.eprints.org/cgi-bin/...311087#history

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.