Starship Asterisk*

Volunteers needed to preserve astronomical history and promote discovery

Before iPhones and laptops there were human computers, some of whom worked at the Harvard College Observatory. Women like Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Williamina Fleming, and Annie Jump Cannon made some of the most important discoveries in astronomy in the early 20th century. Their work was even featured in the TV series Cosmos, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Now, Harvard is seeking your help to transcribe the logbooks that record the century-long observations behind (and beyond) their discoveries.
... The telescope logbooks record vital information associated with a 100-year-long effort to record images of the sky. By transcribing logbook text to put those historical observations in context, volunteers can help to unlock hidden discoveries.

To participate in this new "citizen scientist" initiative, interested parties are invited to sign up at https://transcription.si.edu/browse?filter=owner:11

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A sample logbook page. Harvard is seeking volunteers to help transcribe these entries as part of the Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH) preservation project Credit: Harvard College Observatory

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-09-volunteers ... y.html#jCp

geckzilla wrote:I did this the other day. Rather than asking people to work on small bits at a time, they offer the entire page at a time. It's daunting at first but it's useful to see context and you can stop in the middle or whenever you feel like.

Williamina Fleming wrote:My son Edward, now a junior in the Mass. Inst. of Technology, knows little or nothing of the value of money and, therefore, has the idea but that everything should be forthcoming on demand.

The first part of this morning at the Observatory was devoted to the revision of Miss Le[a?]mons work on the classification of the bright Southern stars, which is now in preparation for the printer. The table giving the classification and the general table of stars arranged in the order of right ascension were assigned their places in the volume and several pages of the remarks on the individual stars were read, critiqued, corrected, or questioned.

The work already done in the classification of the spectra of the faint stars for the Southern Draper Catalogue next came under discussion. It is proposed to divide this work into four zones, having declinations +90’ to +30’, +29’ to + 0’, -0’ to -29’, and -30’ to -90’, inclusive. The work of measurement is already well advanced, and we expect to accomplish much during the coming summer.