Occasionally, I get a letter from someone who is in 'contact' with aliens. I am invited to ask them anything. And over the year's I've prepared a little list of questions. The aliens are very advanced remember. So I ask things like, 'Please provide a short proof of Fermat's Last Theorem'. I write out the simple theorem equation with the exponents. It's a simulating exercise to think of questions to which no human today knows the answers, but where a correct answer would be recognised as such. It's even more challenging to formulate such questions in fields other than mathematics. Perhaps we should hold a contest and collect the best responses in '10 Questions to Ask an Alien'.

/ Carl Sagan /

Need advice? Want to discuss an observation? Feel free to contact me at flovro gmail*com.

ÚJ! Amennyiben elérhető, a ikonra kattintva magyarul is olvashatod az észlelést.

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By type:

open clusters [67]

globular clusters [14]

diffuse nebulae [3]

dark nebulae [0]

planetary nebulae [27]

variable stars [18]

binary stars [23]

asterisms [2]

galaxies [119]

quasars [1]

planets [2]

minor planets [1]

comets [5]

Sun [0]

Moon [5]

other objects [8]

By catalogue:

Messier 1-50 [20]

Messier 51-110 [18]

NGC 1-1000 [17]

NGC 1001-2000 [21]

NGC 2001-3000 [32]

NGC 3001-4000 [25]

NGC 4001-5000 [18]

NGC 5001-6000 [22]

NGC 6001-7000 [40]

NGC 7001-7840 [35]

IC 1-5386 [1]

other catalogues [71]

uncataloged [10]

[25]

By constellation:

Andromeda Antlia Apus Aquila Aquarius Ara Aries Auriga Boötes Caelum Camelopardalis Capricornus Carina Cassiopeia Centaurus Cepheus Cetus Chamaeleon Circinus Canis Major Canis Minor Cancer Columba Coma Berenices Corona Austrina Corona Borealis Crater Crux Corvus Canes Venatici Cygnus Delphinus Dorado Draco Equuleus Eridanus Fornax Gemini Grus Hercules Horologium Hydra Hydrus Indus Lacerta Leo Lepus Libra Leo Minor Lupus Lynx Lyra Mensa Microscopium Monoceros Musca Norma Octans Ophiuchus Orion Pavo Pegasus Perseus Phoenix Pictor Piscis Austrinus Pisces Puppis Pyxis Reticulum Sculptor Scorpius Scutum Serpens Sextans Sagitta Sagittarius Taurus Telescopium Triangulum Australe Triangulum Tucana Ursa Major Ursa Minor Vela Virgo Volans Vulpecula

NGC 4565 (Galaxy) Also known as: Needle galaxy Right ascension: 12h 37m Declination: 25° 56' Constellation: Coma Berenices Date/time: 2009.04.24 21:00 UT Equipment: 12" f/5 Newtonian FoV: 28' Magnification and filter(s): 100x Seeing: 4/10 Transparency: 2/5 Location: Nádasdladány, Hungary Observer: Ferenc Lovró Description: A truly gigantic galaxy even with direct vision, many sources indicate a surface brightness of 9.6 magnitudes, however it looks fainter than suggested because of the large surface area. I estimate a core brightness of about 11.3m and the surrounding areas of nearly 13.5m, therefore this may be an achieveable target for smaller aperture telescopes too. The farthest regions pop in and out with direct vision making it look like two laser beams leaving the core. With averted vision these regions show up clearly, and make the apparent size of the galaxy from large to huge! I estimate a dimension of 16' x 2'. This object reminds me of NGC 5907 (Splinter galaxy), however that has no such a sphere-like core. Hi-resolution image: [ reversed sketch | original sketch ]

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