h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Woodpigeon.

I never figured out the anagram of Crymonal: the nearest I got was Normalcy.

There is a small error in your article A301870 about Astronomy for Amateurs. You list the Andromeda Galaxy as M30. It is actually M31. And it is possible to see it with the naked eye, although it's not very exciting.

The most interesting thing about M31 in my opinion is that it is huge but very dim. If it was shining out brightly, it would look bigger than the moon in our sky. Most people don't believe this when I tell them.

Gnomon

Oh darn! And I also have to admit it wasn't a deliberate mistake either. It's one of those gremlins at work again, I'm afraid...

As with most people, M31 was the first non-Milky Way object I ever saw, and I have to say that at the time I was pretty impressed, given that it is so different an object compared to all the stars in the sky (I am talking about binocular observing here). Also, for myopically challenged people such as myself, it is a bit of a challenge to find, so eventually when I did find it, my first reaction was fairly jubilant...

Thanks for the info though, I didn't know it was really so big!

As for my name, normalcy certainly doesn't describe it, although the name "Woodpigeon" is a clue. You will need to get your old Irish books out though....

CR

Colm Coille

Solved!

Or you could have spoken to Azara