Observing the Messier Objects with a Small Telescope: In the Footsteps of a Great Observer (The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series)

Observing the Messier Objects with a Small Telescope contains descriptions and photographs of the 103 Messier objects, with instructions on how to find them without a computerized telescope or even setting circles. The photographs show how the objects appear through a 127mm Maksutov (and other instruments, where applicable). The visual appearance of a Messier object is often very different from what can be imaged with the same telescope, and a special feature of this book is that it shows what you can see with a small telescope. It will also contain binocular descriptions of some objects. Messier published the final version of his catalog in 1781 (it contains 103 different objects), a catalog so good that it is still in common use today, well over two centuries later. In making a catalog of all the 'fixed' deep-sky objects that observers might confuse with comets, Messier had succeeded in listing all the major interesting deep-sky objects that today are targets for amateur astronomers. Messier's telescope (thought to be a 4-inch) was, by today's amateur standards, small. It also had rather poor optics by modern standards. Thus - and despite the fact that he was a master observer - all the things Messier saw can be found and observed by any observer using a commercial 127 mm (5-inch) telescope. __Observing the Messier Objects with a Small Telescope__ lets the reader follow in Messier's footsteps by observing the Messier objects more or less as the great man saw them himself! Observing the Messier Objects with a Small Telescope lets the reader follow in Charles Messier's footsteps by observing the Messier objects more or less as the great man saw them himself! This book contains descriptions and photographs of¡ his 110 cataloged objects, with instructions on how to find them without a computerized telescope or even setting circles. Messier's telescope (thought to be a 4-inch) was, by today's amateur standards, small. It also had rather poor optics by modern standards. The visual appearance of a Messier object is often very different from what can be imaged with the same telescope, and this book shows what you can see with a small telescope or even binoculars! Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Charles Messier: His Life, Discoveries, and Legacy....Pages 1-24 Introduction to the Messier Objects....Pages 25-29 M1–M22....Pages 31-99 M23–M45....Pages 101-166 M46–M68....Pages 167-231 M69–M91....Pages 233-299 M92–M110....Pages 301-351 Back Matter....Pages 353-387 Presenting descriptions and photographs of the 103 Messier objects, this volume describes how they can be located without a computerized telescope or even setting circles. Illustrations show how the objects appear through a 127mm Maksutov (and other instruments, where applicable)