Applying Historical Observations to Study Transient Phenomena

Abstract

Astronomy has an enviable wealth of historical observations. Some verge on the archaeological, and display rare events such as novæ and supernovæ; others range up to 100 or more years in age, and bear unique information about events that will never repeat in detail. Yet most astronomers today know little of those resources and the scientific potential which they harbour, so rather infrequent use is made today of those historical data. The problem is that historical data were perforce obtained in analogue formats, and because of those formats the data too tend to be regarded as hailing from a culture whose scientific significance is passé. But the medium is not the message! Astronomy’s archives of photographic observations constitute an irreplaceable resource. The change in technology from analogue to electronic recording in the late 20^th Century was abrupt, and it left most of today’s astronomers unable to handle and use photographic data, and led to a general skepticism of the value of photographic observations for present-day studies of variability in the cosmos. But that is precisely what older data can do; in particular, the older the data the more reliable the base-line against which one can measure new trends, refine orbital parameters, discern period modulations, etc.