Observing the Messier Objects with a Small Telescope: In the Footsteps of a Great Observer / Edition 1

by Philip Pugh

Overview

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!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387853567
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	11/01/2011
Series:	The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
Edition description:	2012
Pages:	387
Sales rank:	665,307
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Philip Pugh is a mathematician, member of the Institute of Technical and Scientific Communicators, and travels the world as a freelance trainer in science and business. He has had his articles published in Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, and Astronomy Now, and is the author/editor of Springer's forthcoming book, Observing the Sun with Coronado™ Telescopes.

Table of Contents

Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Charles Messier: His Life, Discoveries, and Legacy.- Introduction to the Messier Objects.- Part I: M1 - M22.- Part II: M23 - M45.- Part III: M46 - M68.- Part IV: M69 - M91.- Part V: M92 - M110.- Glossary.- Index.