Notes on Cannon's notebooks on her work on the telescope in Harvard Observatory in Cambridge Massachusetts.
Observations on Annie Jump Cannon Notebooks
Useful Sites for Transcribing Cannon
The observations Cannon made are of variable stars, written in pencil, with later calculations of magnitude written in pen. The observations for a single day take up between one and five pages, and last two to three hours, depending on the time of year. She generally ends the night at 10:00 pm, unless it is too cloudy or the moon is too bright to proceed.
She starts a night of observations by writing and underlining the date at the top of the page: subsequent pages have the date but not underlined. She indicates if the moon is in the sky by writing the letter M in the upper right-hand corner under the date and sometimes underlining it. Each set of observations is of a different variable star, and she names the star using an abbreviation of the genitive constellation name, one or two capital lettersor Greek symbols (I don't think these are Greek symbols after all), and sometimes a six-digit catalog number, which is sometimes underlined. She puts in a time stamp on the left margin of the page (e.g., 8 00 or 9 30), and subsequent time stamps typically just use the minutes (20, 23, 45, etc). Because these are not measurements or identifying codes, it's essential to segregate them out.
Colors are marked as c = 9 or 9^[[c]], and were begun recording some time in late 1906.
Eventually, and I can only assume it was after she was done with her observations for the night, she calculates the magnitude based on the known magnitudes of the comp stars, and then calculates the average. This bit is always written in ink, and consists of three to four numbers, some of which are underlined. The last one is the average.
https://transcription.si.edu/transcribe/54001/ETZnF
She described what the specific numbers in rows meant somewhere; look for "ledger" or "ledgered" in 1903-1904 or so. At a guess, I'd say the first row is likely "number of vars observed." The first column of three numbers is clearly what she's done for the day, the second column is a running total, but I don't know if it's for the year, or for the entire time she's been doing this.
Honestly? Feels a little like a private joke, because she uses her best copperplate to write "LPP." I'm sure the data was requested. Or maybe this is somebody else, initials something like DPP https://transcription.si.edu/transcribe/54004/ETZC5
The counts stop and begin again about October 1st 1907. The first row appears to be number of vars posted, the last one (of four now) appears to be colors assigned, but that might just be me.
The charts that she used are still available and may even be online (I found Circ 74 as Harvard College Observatory Circular 74 without looking too hard), so just do the best you can with describing the names and catalog numbers of the stars from her writing.
Also, beginning in early 1909, she appears to be computing ST from MT (Mean Time). In her head. Because the last page of XI shows her working through it. I suspect she's calculating all of the magnitudes in her head, very rapidly.
https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/GAST
Observations on Annie Jump Cannon Notebooks
Useful Sites for Transcribing Cannon
The observations Cannon made are of variable stars, written in pencil, with later calculations of magnitude written in pen. The observations for a single day take up between one and five pages, and last two to three hours, depending on the time of year. She generally ends the night at 10:00 pm, unless it is too cloudy or the moon is too bright to proceed.
She starts a night of observations by writing and underlining the date at the top of the page: subsequent pages have the date but not underlined. She indicates if the moon is in the sky by writing the letter M in the upper right-hand corner under the date and sometimes underlining it. Each set of observations is of a different variable star, and she names the star using an abbreviation of the genitive constellation name, one or two capital letters
Comp Stars and Variables
The observations are of the comparative magnitudes of nearby stars ("comp. stars") : "v" always refers to the variable itself, comp stars are lower case letters a-z and alpha-omega, but sometimes include primes: a', alpha", etc. I think these are named in order of brightness, but I could be wrong about that. The readings start with the stars closest to the variable. "c 3 v" means the c star is 3 magnitudes brighter than v, "v 1 d" means the variable is 1 mag brighter than the d star. Based on two to three readings, she then estimates the magnitude of the variable star (est = 11, or simply 10 1/2 or 8.4 or sometimes 8th). If she can't find the variable she'll write "var. not seen" or "var. invis". If she can't find a comp star she'll write "e not seen" or "e n.s."Colors are marked as c = 9 or 9^[[c]], and were begun recording some time in late 1906.
Eventually, and I can only assume it was after she was done with her observations for the night, she calculates the magnitude based on the known magnitudes of the comp stars, and then calculates the average. This bit is always written in ink, and consists of three to four numbers, some of which are underlined. The last one is the average.
LPP
The last page for the day includes the total numbers of observations for the day and a running total, seen as a series of six numbers in three rows and two columns, sometimes marked by parentheses, and usually including the notation LPP, which is shorthand for "Ledgered, Plotted, Posted," according to this page:https://transcription.si.edu/transcribe/54001/ETZnF
She described what the specific numbers in rows meant somewhere; look for "ledger" or "ledgered" in 1903-1904 or so. At a guess, I'd say the first row is likely "number of vars observed." The first column of three numbers is clearly what she's done for the day, the second column is a running total, but I don't know if it's for the year, or for the entire time she's been doing this.
Honestly? Feels a little like a private joke, because she uses her best copperplate to write "LPP." I'm sure the data was requested. Or maybe this is somebody else, initials something like DPP https://transcription.si.edu/transcribe/54004/ETZC5
The counts stop and begin again about October 1st 1907. The first row appears to be number of vars posted, the last one (of four now) appears to be colors assigned, but that might just be me.
Annotations
She sometimes annotates readings with the sources of the star names: charts, photographic sequences (often abbreviated photog. seq), enlargements, published records (Hagen, Circ 74 and 74-II. etc.). Frequently, she'll report that she has entered the stars into the chart, or make comments about the chart's usefulness or say that it is not "to hand". She also refers to the "photo enlargement" and writes about marking that or a chart with the star designations.The charts that she used are still available and may even be online (I found Circ 74 as Harvard College Observatory Circular 74 without looking too hard), so just do the best you can with describing the names and catalog numbers of the stars from her writing.
Constellation Sequences
In 1906, she focused on compiling complete constellation sequences, which appear as long vertical or horizontal lines of star letters and magnitude variances, and I believe that she begins these sequences with the brightest and then goes as far as she can to the faintest. Not sure that "constellation" is perfectly correct here, she might mean "bright stars in the vicinity of the var" for all I know. She often references a chart or photo enlargement by which she maps the star designations (a-z, alpha-omega, etc).ST, HA, MT
I think these are measurements or calculations of Hour Angle and Sidereal Time. Most of the time, HA and ST are not referenced, but on this one page they are so defined. Not sure what that means, but it may become clearer later on. I think the x's are checkmarks. https://transcription.si.edu/transcribe/54007/ETZIeAlso, beginning in early 1909, she appears to be computing ST from MT (Mean Time). In her head. Because the last page of XI shows her working through it. I suspect she's calculating all of the magnitudes in her head, very rapidly.
https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/GAST