Well a few more hours and we'll be putting 2018 in our rear view mirror. Not quite as exciting as 2017 with that fabulous eclipse experience, but I did get some time out under the stars and a few photography runs in the book. Given the 70" of rain and the number of cloudy skies I shouldn't complain.
A few weeks ago my January Sky & Telescope issue arrived to get me started thinking about what fun may lie ahead this year. As I opened it, out fell their Skygazer's Almanac, a handy compressed ephemeris of astronomical data (As I type this I note that the Google spell checker complains on the word ephemeris - "a tabular statement of the assigned places of a celestial body for regular intervals").
As I perused the summary of what's in store for 2019 I was struck by a couple of things. First, we are likely looking at a quaint anachronism that may soon cease to be published. In today's environment most of us carry a mobile computer in our pocket that can access the Internet and retrieve anything from when the Great Red Spot will transit this evening to when Polaris will reach culmination. There's software that can help you plan your observing session targeting far more objects than displayed on the almanac. Like a sun dial, it has become more of a conversation piece that still offers some functionality in a modern world, but it no longer holds the value it did back when I was a young amateur astronomer. In that time of slide rulers a celestial graph like this was a tool you could pull out to see what was happening next month or next week. It was much cheaper than purchasing an annual Ephemeris from the US Naval Observatory.
The second observation is that although S&T does not seem to offer an acknowledgement any longer, their almanac was originally the brain child of members of the Baltimore Astronomical Society which in some ways is H.A.L.'s parent. Back in the 60's the Maryland Academy of Sciences sold a Graphic Time Table of the Heavens, a black & white chart on tabloid sized paper. It was de rigeur for any serious amateur to own a copy. Sometime later Sky & Telescope worked out an arrangement where they would include a copy in their January issue which credited the B.A.S. for the design and production.
As noted on the HAL website, it was Paul Watson who worked assiduously during the year generating the data and having it plotted on the graph. It was a labor intensive mission in an age without computers and desktop publishing, but undoubtedly a point of professional pride to offer such a useful tool to the community. I had the opportunity to meet Mr Watson when I was a teenager. I was advised ahead of time by my middle school teacher that I should be sure to face him when asking any questions as he would need to read my lips given his deafness. While I don't recall the specifics of the visit I do recall just being in awe of meeting the man who produced this amazing piece of work and was a true icon of our local astronomy community.
So if you are making toasts on New Year's Eve this year raise a glass to Paul Watson and those who helped lay the foundation for amateur astronomy. His contributions still echo in Sky & Telescope to this day.
