Starland Revisted

2009 marks the 100th anniversary of a small book published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1909. The title is "In Starland with a Three-inch Telescope" and the author is William Tyler Olcott. This was the second of several books Olcott authored, "A Field Book of the Stars" being the first in 1907. Others would follow, concluding with the well-known "Field Book of the Skies" in 1929. I own several of Olcott's books and he has always been one of my favorite authors. But Olcott's book, "In Starland with a Three-inch Telescope" has always been of special interest to me. The title just brings back memories of being out under the skies with my little 75mm Unitron refractor, discovering the sky as a young amateur. However, the book has another appeal that is of particular interest to any double-star enthusiast.

On pages 2 through 80 are lists of objects found in each constellation. They certainly aren't all inclusive, but they must have been objects that interested Olcott and other amateurs of his day. As you look at the lists something stands out - every object listed is a double star! While in the text Olcott occasionally mentions other types of objects, his primary focus is on double stars. And that seems pretty reasonable, given the title of the book and the time in which he lived. Most amateurs of his day had small refractors and double stars were popular targets, many within their grasp. The book has 336 double stars (some triple) & 1 non-double listed; all with in range of a modest telescope. I always thought it would be enjoyable to go through the catalog using, of course, a three-inch telescope. This brings me to the project that I've been working on for the last few months.

If you look at the listings in the book (anyone can at links below), you see that the information is somewhat limited. You get the star's I.D., magnitudes, separation and position angle. These are of course from the turn of the century – last century. The measurements are 100+ yrs old. Think that doesn't matter? Well, here's an example entry - P.212 The "P." stands for Piazzi Smyth, son of Admiral William Smyth. Designations from his catalog don't show up on today's star atlases, paper or electronic. After determining what star it was, I found it on every atlas I own, but it was designated P.212 on only one – a 1937 copy of Norton's Star Atlas. Without that confirmation, I would have only been able to make an educated guess. Of course most of the stars are labeled with readily recognizable designations and verifying them was relatively straightforward.

Another minor problem was stars listed in connection with one constellation, but actually being from another neighboring constellation, just outside the boundaries. At first I thought these to be errors, but then soon realized that even on today's star charts these were still designated this way. Not a big problem, but they still had to be identified, so that the right WDS measurements could be cataloged.

Still one more hurdle to the updating of the catalog was dealing with a few real errors. When Olcott wrote this book he had only been interested in amateur astronomy for four years. Though you can tell he worked hard at getting things right, he was still rather new to the hobby. Olcott went on to found the AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers) in 1911 and gained considerable observing experience. This can be seen by the fact that his "Field Book" published in 1929 omits most of the entries that are in error. I could have done the same thing, but I was determined to keep the catalog in tact and set out to try and figure out where these errors came from so as to note the correct stars. This required some detective work, but I was successful in finding all but one and that one really wasn't a double at all. Each correct star was noted it in the "Correct ID" column of the spreadsheet. There were eight. The one that "was but is not" is alpha Ceti. Later in the 1929 Field Book Olcott removes alpha Ceti from the observers list and makes the comment that it makes a nice pair with 93 Ceti, but is "not a true double".

To determine modern measurements and coordinates, I used the 2000 WDS catalogue. I have this in Excel format, which made it much handier for locating and recording measurements for each double star in Olcott's catalog. Today, all the doubles in the catalogue remain within the range of a "three-inch telescope", with the exception of now "well-known" star gamma Virginis. And if you wait a couple of years, it too will return to "3-inch" status

Below are: (1) two links to the book in PDF format or read online; (2) The updated catalog in Excel format to download; (3)The updated catalog. I arranged the spreadsheet the same way Olcott arranged his lists - by season - by constellation - with the page numbers in order. I have noted the page number and have kept the list from each page in tact. I have assigned each object a number in the order in which they appear in the book. This gives each an Olcott designation of O1, O2, O3, etc., simlar to Messier's list. This will be my observing list over the next year or so and I hope to find all the objects in my 80mm telescope. If you should decide to join me, I wish you success and "Good Hunting"!!

Links to the book " In Starland with a Tree-Inch Telescope" on the internet:

Internet Archive - American Library Google Books

Catalog for "In Starland with a Three-Inch Telescope" By William Tyler Olcott - 1909

Download Catalog in Excel file

MY NOTES:

note#1	Olcott duplicates star ph2 Cancri. According to WDS STF 1223 and phi2 are the same. STF 1223 is omitted from his Field Book list.
note#2	measurements given indicates 24 Cancer (STF1224) which is only 1.1° away WDS gives first position angle as 37° which matches figure given by Olcott
note#3	Olcott duplicates star STF 1223 in Cancer. According to WDS STF 1223 and phi2 are the same
note#4	This pair is labeled OSS 93 on chart #7 of Norton's Star Atlas (6th edition -1937). Webb refers to the pair S 565 as STT 93. Olcott makes reference to Webb's book.
note#5	In Norton's Star Atlas (6th edition -1937) it is labeled - H h. 376. In WDS it is labeled Herschel 96
note#6	WDS reveals large change in position angle since discovery
note#7	From data given by Olcott, STF 2194 is a better fit for this entry. Located just 19' from 83Her. 83 is omitted from his Field Book list.
note#8	STF 2007 is in Serpens and not Hercules
note#9	In Norton's Star Atlas (6th edition -1937) it is labeled - 23 Her. However it shows it in Corona Boealis. WDS shows it to be - H V 38
note#10	WDS shows large change in position angle
note#11	WDS shows large change in position angle and separation. Current separation >1", beyond resolution limit of 3 inch telescope
note#12	STF 1669 in Corvus and not Virgo. No explanation for difference in posotion angle.
note#13	WDS shows large change in position angle.
note#14	STF 1919 in Serpens and not Bootes
note#15	WDS indicates motion has exeeded 360° since first position angle and separation were reported, therefore both have changed significantly.
note#16	STF 1615 in Coma Berenices and not in Canes Venatici
note#17	15 CVn is a double, but the WDS first separation is 1.3"- far from 290" Olcott gives. 17 CVn, just 4.6' away, has measurments that better match the data Olcott gives
note#18	WDS shows large change in position angle.
note#19	This star is marked 212 in Norton's Star Atlas (6th edition - 1939). Using map #12 of that atlas and the WDS, I identified it as Herschel 8
note#20	This star is marked H4783 in Norton's Star Atlas (6th edition - 1939). Using map #12 of that atlas and the WDS, I identified it as South 672
note#21	WDS shows large change in position angle.
note#22	WDS shows large change in position angle.
note#23	This star is marked 236 and is Ophiuchus in Norton's Star Atlas (6th edition - 1939). Using map #12 of that atlas and the WDS, I identified it as SHJ 240
note#24	WDS shows large change in position angle.
note#25	STF 645 in Taurus and not Auriga
note#26	WDS shows large change in position angle.
note#27	Wide optical double, not in WDS. The blue 5.5 mag star in field mentioned by Olcott is 93 Ceti. Alpha Ceti is later omitted from his Field Book list for Cetus.
note#28	WDS measurements for chi1 do not match. 17 Cyg is just 1° northwest and ithe WDS first p.a. (73°) and sep. (26") do match. Ch1 is later omitted from his Field Book list.
note#29	3 Vul is not a double star. STT181 is less than .5° northwest and the WDS lists a first separation of 54" and a first position angle 5° matching Olcott's listed measurements.
note#30	WDS shows large change in position angle.
note#31	Position angle differs 110° from Olcott's figure - all other measurements OK
note#32	Orbit appears short. The first PA given in WDS is 213° - very close to Olcott's
note#33	It appears Olcott mistook SHJ 45 for omicron2. SHJ 49 is 1.2° northeast of omicron2 and is a triple that matches the measurements given by Olcott
note#34	STF 422 is in Taurus and not Eridanus
note#35	WDS first and last position angles (270° - 66°) show orbit to be short - thus large difference in position angle with Olcott's figure.
note#36	This star is marked by a bracketed 4 in Norton's Star Atlas (6th edition - 1939). Using map #8 of that atlas and the WDS, I identified it as Bur 17 in Lepus. In the WDS the first position angles match those measurements given by Olcott
note#37	31 Hydrea is tau whose WDS measurements are no match and wrong location. Using the chart and measurements from Olcott, I determined it to be S 579 in Hydra
note#38	Position angle differs 256° from Olcott's figure - all other measurements OK
note#39	Omicron2 is a very tight double. However, there are two stars, close in magnitude, parallel to o1 and o2 and of equal distance apart and are just 1.2° to the northeast. I believe Olcott mistook these two stars for o1 and o2 and mistakenly labeled the triple star SHJ 49, o2.
note#40	Separation has narrowed from 1.7" in Olcott's day to 1.1" today. Split is now beyond resolution limit of 3 inch refractor

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