Date: | Fri, 3 Feb 1995, 14:44:53 -0500 |
From: |
Tony Cecce, Corning, NY
<CECCE_AJ@corning.com> |
Subject: | Messier Objects for February |
As promised here is my first installment of my twelve month Messier
Series. This is a first draft, if you have any recommendations or
suggestion please e-mail them to me. I can really use your help.
I still need to write up the introduction to this series, including
definitions and reference lists.
Remember, the goal is to help beginners walk through all 110
Messier objects within a year. And help them acquire the deep sky
observing skills.
Tony
Twelve Month Tour of The Messier Catalog
February Messier Objects
rev 1.0
This month highlights 10 messier objects, most are within reach of
binoculars, and over half can be seen with the naked eye.
- M1
- The Crab nebula is a supernova remnant in Taurus. It is a hazy
patch in small telescopes, large scopes can resolve some detail. It
is difficult but possible to see in binoculars.
- M45
- The Pleides are a large open cluster in Taurus. Easy to resolve
six stars naked eye. Binoculars provide the best view. Large telescopes
can show some nebulosity.
- M35,
M37,
M36,
M38
- A series of open clusters in the winter milky way.
M35 is in Gemini, the others are in Auriga. All can be seen naked eye
as faint fuzzy stars, binoculars reveal fuzzy patches, low power
telescopes can resolve these rich clusters.
- M42,
M43
- M42 is the great Orion Nebula. It can be seen as small
fuzzy patch naked eye. Binoculars show some detail, and the view
is superb in most any scope. M43 is a small region of nebulosity
next to M42, and probably requires the use of a telescope to view.
Use low to moderate powers for the best view of this pair.
- M78
- A small emission nebula in Orion, a tough binocular object.
Best viewed in a telescope at moderate powers.
- M79
- One of the smallest and dimmest globular clusters in the
catalog. A tough binocular object in Lepus, best viewed in a
telescope at moderate powers.
Last Month
- M33, M34, M52, M74, M76, M77, M103
Next Month
- M41, M44, M46, M47, M48, M50, M67, M81, M82, M93
Twelve Month Tour Index -
February tour in Ascii
Hartmut Frommert
(spider@seds.org).
Christine Kronberg
(smil@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
Last Modification: 6 Apr 1998, 21:30 MEST