I am at least fourth off the blocks here … but I recommend you go visit http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/skyphoto , get a piece of history, help a very sick child, and give yourself a nice warm christmassy glow. The basic idea is selling framed prints from old Palomar Sky Survey plates, to raise money for Alexander Thatte, the son of two Oxford astronomers, who is battling leukaemia, and whose last chance may be a new anti-body treatment. I haven’t met Alexander, but his parents are lovely people and they all deserve a break. Apparently there are even copies signed by Jocelyn Bell Burnell … oooohhh
Old plates really are beautiful … like a few other locals, I rescued a few glass positives from the non-survey part of the UK Schmidt collection, and a lot more went to the local art school .. but framed prints for charity is a great idea.
Visit the web site and do something.
The e-Astronomer 
You need the http:// in front of the address, Andy.
Thanks Tony, will fix
A good cause indeed. And those Palomar prints are great. I remember poring over them for my first astronomy practicals as a teeny undergrad… *nostalgic*
Andy
It’s just so nice this isn’t a scam. We disposed of our paper copies of the survey prints recently (at least I think we did) because nobody had a good enough idea of what to do with them. The Oxford folk got it just right – I hope they raise some serious money.
I remember making a tense phone call from the Leicester Ariel V computer room to the magical and distant CalTech to order those prints! Way back then it was kinda scary calling all the way to California where it was still morning and promising them thousands of dollars. How quaint.
So… did you save one for me, Mike?
No, ‘fraid not. We’ll have to reminisce about polaroid finding charts instead.
I Just visited the site and they are SOLD OUT! They had a final eBay auction that closed Dec 13.
Sounds like they did very well.
we were in the process of working out what to do with our copies of the sky survey prints at durham. i wonder if oxford have enough interest to reopen the site for sales and see if we can add to the funds they’ve raised…
Tragically Alexander lost his battle on Sunday, Jan 4, and his funeral is on Friday. Niranjan and Dimitra have requested any donations to be sent to a fund designed to help families with children undergoing cancer-related treatment at the Oxford John Radcliffe Hospital:
Oxford Children’s Samaritan Cancer Fund 0103
Steve – thanks for letting us all know. I just tried out the donation process and also exchanged emails with Dimitra as well as yourself. In an earlier version of this comment I posted instructions for online donation, but apparently that specific fund only works by cheque rather than online … updated instructions a little later.
[…] was reading through some items on the e-astronomer this morning, and found a comment by Steve Warren conveying the sad news that Alexander lost his battle against leucaemia and passed […]