In view of what has happened both to myself and The Nearsighted Astronomer in the recent dwarf discovery string, I would like to propose that the membership generate a permanent onboard resource: a Census of the Local Group. I would suggest images in a variety of wavebands, and categories of information, such as:

1) Name
2) Alternate names and catalog designations
3) Discoverer
4) Date of discovery
5) Galaxy type (Hubble or Revised?)
6) Estimated population
7) Estimated mass
8) Constellation and coordinates
9) Dark matter map
10)Estimated age
11)Character of population: i.e., mostly old dwarfs, mostly new giants, etc. Since this is subject to both detection bias and observer bias, perhaps a selection of attributed remarks?
12)Structural details: i.e., has/has not globular clusters, has/has not starburst activity, has/has not a central (or other) black hole. I would expect this category to be frequently edited due to advancing knowledge.
13)Observer capabilities: What size and type of scope have the members used to personally observe the object, anecdotal descriptions, characterization of difficulties, etc.
14)Characterization of spectrum-- more discussion here
15)Gas/molecular cloud map

Perhaps this should have been submitted as a poll, but I would first like to see discussion as to what should be included, and what limits, if any, should be placed on the entries and their categories. Also what level/type of documentation, and source/attribution for data. What has been left out? What has been included that should have been left out?

What's your pleasure? Steve

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Ignoramus et ignorabamus.-- Reymond

Wir mussen wissen. Wir werden wissen.--Hilbert

Pick one.

I must have missed something. Did something happen?

I think it might be a good idea to create a web-site with Local Group information. I don't have stron feelings about whether it should be a UT-based resource specifically, but I can keep an eye open in the journals to see who is mostly writing about the local group and doing research on it. This has to be a fairly small number of astronomers. I bet at least one of them already has such a web-site.

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Forming opinions as we speak