Beyond the NGC
Back to Index of Observing Articles by Members
By Steve Mencinsky, 1992-1998
This series (creative juices and editorial whim permitting) will be an occasional column of SUCCESSFULLY OBSERVED examples of deep sky objects that are neither in the NGC or IC lists.
The vast majority of these needles-in-the-celestial-haystack are either very small or very faint or both. Like observing quasars, the satisfaction of the observing is not in the spectacle of the object observed - it is the knowledge of seeing something beyond some arbitrary boundary; in this case the Herschel catalogues.
Why do we (whoever "we" are) follow these ethereal wisps, these Everests-of-the-sky? Well, to paraphrase Sir Edmund Hillary: "Because they might be there!" - Steve Mencinsky
The articles are all re-printed from the ASNSW's monthly Journal UNIVERSE (members can filter UNIVERSE and other Documents to access all back-issues), and can be found in the issue listed beside each title below.
| 1. The Inaugural BNGC | July 1992 |
| 2. Contemplating The Galactic Navel | September 1992 |
| 3. Backpacking in the SMC | October 1992 |
| 4. For A Fistful Of Globulars | November 1992 |
| 5. Snow White And Only One Dwarf | January 1993 |
| 6. The Jewel On The Cloud | February 1993 |
| 7. An Ancient Supernova Remnant | March 1993 |
| 8. The Grandest Supernova Of Them All | April 1993 |
| 9. A Very Personal Edition | May 1993 |
| 10. A Beautiful, Large Planetary Nebula | July 1993 |
| 11. Towards Trantor | August 1993 |
| 12. For A Few Globulars More | September 1993 |
| 13. The A-B-C Of Galaxies | October 1993 |
| 14. I Can Feel A Fornax Coming On | November 1993 |
| 15. Mati Morel Maps Magellanic Marvels | January 1994 |
| 16. Rich & Poor, Black & White, North & South, Hot & Cold | May 1994 |
| 17. Return Of the Centaur | June 1994 |
| 18. A Crowded Tour Of Ara | September 1994 |
| 19. A Toadstool And A Mystery | November 1994 |
| 20. Eclipsed By the Shadow Of The Mighty | May 1995 |
| 21. Centaurus Near And Far | August 1998 |
