Back in the 1950s, I was a volunteer member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, the AAVSO, that I became aware of through my monthly subscription to Sky and Telescope magazine.
They sent me a set of printed star charts of specific parts of the sky that showed the magnitude of stars in a field of view centered around a variable star under study. Based on the apparent magnitude of each nearby star, and using my six inch reflecting telescope, my task was to estimate the magnitude of a selected short term variable and record the time and date. The reports were sent to the AAVSO.
Thank you for the post that recalled that memory.
Wow, that seems like a great adventure and working on the 1950's that was like the early stages of this field. I am happy that I recalled you at that time.
It was an adventure for a young kid and I felt that I was participating in something worthwhile.
Wow nice @willymac , These observations are still being done today, using the very same techniques. Not too much has changed apart from the increasing use of CCD photometry.
@rifkan, good work on this article. The magnitude scale is a bit confusing at the start, not only is it logarithmic but also smaller numbers are brighter. So at one end we have the sun at mag -26.7, but at the other end I think mag 31 is the faintest detection ever recorded (I remember reading this somewhere).
I remember the angst from trying to decide if the star being studied was closer in brightness to this star or that star. It was as if the structure of the universe were hanging in the balance.
Thanks, yes it is -26 for sun and faintest for 31 in modern measurement but in the beginning, I talked about Hipparchus scale when we didn't have a telescope. the scale was only between from 0 to 6 then it was broadened in both negative positive axis.I am not sure as well that the concept of negative number existed during his time as I am talking about ancient Greece. Logaritmic scale is basically a law in psychology which later modified is Astronomy as it obeys the relation between absolute and apparent magnitude @terrylovejoy