SEARCHING FOR SUPERNOVAE - VISUALLY AND OTHERWISE

The main features of visual searching for supernovae in other galaxies by amateur astronomers are described, and an outline is given of the results which have been achieved so far by this method. A short compar ison is made between visual searching and photographic searching. A mo re extensive comparison is then made between visual searching for supe rnovae in Australia, and the work of the Berkeley Automatic Supernova Search at Leuschner Observatory, since 1986. Among the conclusions is the claim that a competent visual observer could produce similar resul ts to those produced by the Berkeley group if a telescope of similar a perture was used for a similar amount of observing time, and from a go od observing site. Indeed, visual searching might possibly produce mor e results, and such a search would only cost a small fraction of what was spent on this automatic search. It would be a worthwhile project t o conduct a visual search with a suitably designed 76-cm telescope, or a one metre telescope, over a period of a few years, to see if this c onclusion could be supported in practice.