Current Observing Projects
The Thousand Galaxy Project
The thousand Galaxy Project is an attempt to make observations of 1,000 galaxies. The basis for selection of the galaxies was the ASCII file listing of the NGC2000 available on the Guide5.0 (and later Guide 6.0) CD ROM. A selective filter was applied to the whole of the NGC to select galaxies of magnitude 13.0 or brighter north of the celestial equator and of magnitude 12.0 or brighter between declination -20° and the equator. This produced about 1,300 galaxies and is the basic list.
For each of these galaxies a finder chart is produced from the Guide 6.0 software. The fields are 5° in size and show stars to about magnitude 12. It is attempted to get as many closely positioned galaxies as possible on a single finder chart. Each finder chart also has at least one clearly identifiable star of at least magnitude 6 on it, which can be seen through the 10x50 finder. The charts show all galaxies to magnitude 14.0 as defined by Guide. All these galaxies should be theoretically visible in the 12¼" telescope under ideal conditions. Galaxies are therefore shown with UGC and PGC designations where NGC designations to not apply. The awkward MCG and CGCG designations are largely ignored.
The magnitude of each galaxy is written on the chart next to the galaxy, to enable suitable galaxies to be selected at the eyepiece. The preferred magnitudes are those from the Deep Sky Field Guide to Uranometria 2000.0 (DSFG), a work which no serious deep-sky observer can be without. Where these are not available, they are taken directly from Guide and as such are probably not as reliable.
It is noteworthy that DSFG quotes the magnitudes of some of the 1,300 galaxies well below the cutoff employed in the original selection, and also shows some unselected galaxies as quite bright enough to be included.
It is not the intention that the 1,000 galaxies that are observed be exclusively from the 1,300 NGC galaxy selection. This merely provides a framework around which to build an observing programme.
Observing began in March, 1995.
Galaxies Observed So Far
NGC
1, 14, 16, 23, 57, 147, 185, 205, 221, 278, 404, 628, 777, 783, 1023, 1055, 1068, 1138, 1160, 1161, 1167, 1169, 1171, 1265, 2274, 2415, 2424, 2493, 2672, 2681, 2683, 2693, 2841, 2859, 2903, 2916, 3162, 3177, 3185, 3190, 3193, 3213, 3221, 3222, 3226, 3227, 3338, 3344, 3351, 3367, 3368, 3377, 3379, 3384, 3389, 3412, 3471, 3556, 3593, 3599, 3605, 3607, 3608, 3623, 3626, 3627, 3628, 3872, 3992, 4192, 4212, 4216, 4237, 4254, 4262, 4298, 4302, 4321, 4365, 4374, 4388, 4406, 4435, 4438, 4472, 4473, 4477, 4485, 4486, 4490, 4501, 4548, 4552, 4564, 4565, 4567, 4568, 4569, 4579, 4596, 4606, 4608, 4621, 4638, 4647, 4649, 4800, 5173, 5194, 5195, 5198, 5866, 6207, 6792, 6869, 6928, 7013, 7015, 7137, 7177, 7217, 7248, 7250, 7315, 7331, 7332, 7339, 7448, 7454, 7465, 7469, 7479, 7497, 7814
IC
4617
UGC
6320, 11465
Total - 137. Some way to go yet!