Martin R. Howell wrote:
Haven't I heard somewhere that perception is reality or something to that
effect? I would say that if you think you've seen something that by its
nature is elusive in even a somewhat larger instrument then that is a
positive sighting. . .at least for the observer involved.

Do you believe everything you've heard?

More seriously, I'm not sure what you mean by "positive," and I'm also
not sure whether you're supporting my observation or casting doubt on it,
but I myself would not consider what I saw a reliable observation. In
other words, there is a significant chance that I was mistaken. (I'm
sure at the time I didn't think so, but in retrospect, there has to be
that chance.)

The reason I *did* think I had seen it, however, was that my immediate
impression was, "Hey, something is wrong; I'm seeing the wrong thing,
because the spiral is going the wrong way." Only just afterward did it
occur to me that I was observing through an SCT with a star diagonal,
and in such an arrangement, the spiral *should* go "the wrong way."

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
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