Word: marsden
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...While Marsden has been running the Bureau for 16 years, the idea of an astronomical information clearinghouse dates back to the early 19th century when information of interesting astronomical phenomena was reported through newsletters...
...Marsden's system, however, is most useful in handling transient phenomena-short-lived astronomical happenings...
...Bureau works is quite simple: when someone sights an unusual occurance-most commonly an asteriod, nova, supernova or comet-he contacts Marsden, who then performs some preliminary calculations to verify the accuracy of the report. He then sends out a telegram from the telex machine located in his office to the service's 800 subscribers...
...Marsden's busiest times, he recalls, was in 1975 during the nova in Cygnus, one of the brighest novas-star formations-of this century. Marsden received a report in his office on the Friday afternoon of the Labor Day weekend from an astronomer in Japan...
...about 6 p.m. that same day, additional reports of the nova began pouring in from Europe, and overnight over 30 telegrams arrived in his office. The barrage continued until Monday when Marsden decided to write a longer more comprehensive circular of the complete list of citings...