[meteorite-list] Acclaimed Canadian Astronomer Dr. David Levy's Logbooks Now Online

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:33:21 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201111301733.pAUHXM8P026098_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

November 29, 2011

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

Contacts:
Deborah Thompson / Randall A. Rosenfeld
thompson at rasc.ca / levylogbooks at rasc.ca
+1 416-924-7973 (DT)

ACCLAIMED CANADIAN ASTRONOMER DR. DAVID LEVY'S LOGBOOKS NOW ONLINE

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) in conjunction with
Jarnac Observatory is pleased to announce the launch of the David Levy
Logbooks archive. The project offers full and free access to digital
facsimiles of over sixteen thousand observing sessions by David H.
Levy chronicling more than half a century of astronomical exploration
and discovery: http://www.rasc.ca/logbooks/levy

Dr. David H. Levy, co-discoverer of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, is one of
the most acclaimed amateur astronomers of our time. He is the
discoverer or co-discoverer of twenty two comets and more than 150
asteroids, and is the first person to have discovered comets visually,
photographically, and electronically. Dr. Levy is a well-known
popularizer of astronomy, who has spent a lifetime advancing the
active engagement of others in the rich cultural pursuit of astronomy
by personal example and through live appearances, and print and
electronic media. The conviction that astronomical observation, both
recreational and scientific, provides a way to discover more about our
place in the universe and to better know ourselves is shared by Dr.
Levy and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), an
organization of which he has been a member for nearly as long as he
has been an astronomer.

The David Levy Logbooks offer a glimpse into one man's personal
engagement with the night sky, an engagement as dynamic and pristine
now as when he commenced his records at age eleven with a partial
solar eclipse in 1959. In the logbook pages readers will encounter his
personal entries of notable discoveries -- comets and near earth
objects found with Eugene M. and Carolyn Shoemaker through the Palomar
Asteroid and Comet Survey (PACS), including the unfolding drama of
Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacting Jupiter -- interspersed with records of
variable star observations for the American Association of Variable
Star Observers (AAVSO) and searches for the RASC?s COMET and NOVA
Section, along with recreational observing of deep-sky objects (DSO)
and solar-system phenomena. An attractive feature of the logbooks is
their witness to astronomical friendship -- accompanying Dr. Levy?s
notes are the autograph comments of those who have observed with him,
ranging from Clyde Tombaugh the discoverer of Pluto, to observers as
young as Dr. Levy was when he started in astronomy. Observational
sketches, photographs, and quotes from literature reflecting astronomy
can be found throughout, attesting to the wider cultural matrix in
which astronomy is embedded.

Complementing the digital logbook facsimiles are several interpretive
essays, one introducing the logbooks by Dr. Roy Bishop, a long-time
personal friend and mentor of Dr. Levy's, and another setting the
logbooks in historical context by RASC Archivist R.A. Rosenfeld.

Few primary sources of significant amateur scientists are available in
their entirety on the web. The logbooks should be of interest to all
intrigued by the variety of 20th- and 21st-century practices of
astronomy, and should prove a resource for those researching the
history of amateur astronomy, pro-am collaboration, continuities and
adaptation in modes of discovery, astronomy education and public
outreach, and the scientific notebook as a literary genre, a locus for
memory, and an agent for creating filiations and structuring
scientific communities. The pages of the David Levy Logbooks can also
aid amateur observers in finding their own voice and style of
astronomical note taking through emulation, modification, and
antithesis.

                           # # #

The David Levy Logbooks are a joint project of the Jarnac Observatory
and the RASC through its History Committee. The project team consists
of Roy Bishop, David and Wendee Levy, Walter MacDonald, R.A.
Rosenfeld, and Nanette Vigil.

Founded in 1868, The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is the
nation?s leading astronomy organization bringing together over 4,200
enthusiastic amateurs, educators and professionals from Canada and
abroad. The Vision of the RASC is to inspire curiosity in all people
about the Universe, to share scientific knowledge, and to foster
collaboration in astronomical pursuits, and our Mission is to
encourage improved understanding of astronomy for all people, through
education, outreach, research, publication, enjoyment, partnership,
and community.
Received on Wed 30 Nov 2011 12:33:21 PM PST