Messier Objects (In the order observed)
M42 M43 M44 M93 M47 M46 M79 M50
M35 M78 M48 M31 M76 M33 M34 M36
M67 M1 M38 M37 M53 M104 M4 M80
M19 M13 M99 M98 M100 M68 M85 M83
M86 M87 M59 M60 (the latest ones’ notes are not
uploaded yet)
In the order observed since January of 2005.
More will be added. If you’re interested in
seeing these beautiful Messier
objects, you may like find this book and this
software useful.
If you are really into Astronomy, this is a great book and my favorite.
Thank you for enjoying the heavenly treasures
with me!
The great Orion nebula. I've seen it with a 80-mm refractor long time ago.
But the view of it in the 150-mm DSH is superb. I can see the Trapezium
clearly, and with higher power eyepiece, the Trapezium turns out to be 7
individual stars.
I don't see any color in M42, which is normal in small aperture
telescopes.
It's a close neighbor of M42. In my telescope which shows north on the
bottom of the FOV, it's smaller than M42. They are actually members of
the same nebula system.
The "beehive", one of the most exciting open clusters. The first time I
saw it I was standing on my apartment's corridor wondering what that
little smudge of light is, between Regulus of Leo and Castor/Pollux
of Gemini. Then with tiny 30mm binoculars, I saw a beautiful open
cluster. In the 150-mm DSH, it shows at least 50 stars. This is a
big bright lovely surprise.
I should have seen M35, M36, M37 and M38 earlier than I saw M93. But
things don't always turn out the way they should be. I "think" I saw
M35 but I couldn't make sure because I didn't have the big 150-mm
DSH that night so I wasn't able to confirm. In my binoculars, "M35"
is just a small dim "cluster or nebula" area.
However, I was able to confirm M93 that night. It's also just a very
dim cluster in my 16x50 Bushnell binoculars. But I was able to see
all its neighbor stars on the star atlas which showed stars to 8th
magnitude. I wish I could observe it again with the big reflector to
see all its beauty.
Following a triangle from Sirius to Mullphen; then a "diamond", another
triangle and a "butterfly" from Mullphen to M47. It takes some serious
star-hopping! :)
I could see about 5 stars clearly in M47. It's bigger and brighter
than its close neighbor M46.
Just like its name, M46 is a "rich congregation of faint stars". Reason?
Because it's so much farther from us than M47. It's featureless in
my binoculars but I can still see it.
Said to be the only globular cluster visible in the winter sky.
And it's really dim. Its neighboring stars are easy to find, but
once I star-hopped there, I can't see M79 clearly. All I saw was
something faint beside a star. And that's M79. My book says high
magnification (around 100x or 150x) is needed in order to view M79's
structure. But I consider myself lucky to find it.
From Sirius, imagine a big triangle (Sirius, Mullphen and Theta CM)
to Theta CM; then a group of small quadrilateral stars on the left;
then a "diamond", a triangle, and you reach M50. Not very easy to
find. It's a smudge of light, not big.
It's the first Messier Object I tried to find from my apartment's
balcony (and among tree branches). :) The first time I didn't succeed
because it's too close to the top of the balcony.
But it turned out to be an easy target once I moved outside to
watch it. I wrote in the observation log that day that M35 was
"beautiful, can see star-ish things in it. shape: triangular?"
Whenever the words "Orion" and "nebula" are used together,
people think of the great Orion Nebula M42. But it's not the
only nebula in Orion!
M78 was easy to find, mainly because the stars I used to navigate
are comparatively bright. It's near the "hook" on Orion's belt's
left side. I saw it as a long, slim stretch of light, not "bright"
as its name suggested from the book "Star Watch".
I had fun finding M48. My observation site (the great Verano parking
lot) was far from ideal. However, M48 is close to a celestial
"bouquet" of stars in hydra. The 4 closely related stars had a
nice shape in my binocular field of view. From the bouquet,
imagine a triangle and a rectangle, and you'll see M48 above
that rectangle of faint stars. M48 looks like a nebula in my
binoculars. It's pretty big and not so bright. I could see
3 distinct areas inside.
Also in the FOV, M32, Elliptical Galaxy in Andromeda
and M110, Elliptical Galaxy in Andromeda
I've visited the spiral galaxy in Andromeda before, but
this was my first time "official" visit with binoculars.
Observation site: the lawn in front of Verano Housing Office.
Why? Because it's the best place to see Northern stars here.
It's easy to find and identify. Down from Algol of Perseus,
it's the second star on the right.
I could tell the shape of the galaxy. But since the light
pollution problem was really serious, that's all I could
say about it.
But imagine something not in our galaxy! It's amazing
what people can see with their own eyes. Lights (photons)
from a world so far away we can't even imagine.
In Perseus. ***Honorary Mention***
In my guidebook "Star Watch", M76 is said to be "not resolvable"
in binoculars. But.....though I didn't "see" it, I think I
saw something that resembles a nebula hard to see.
It's hard to explain what I saw. But I could find all the
small faint stars closeby, and I know M76's neighborhood
pretty well. Given my big scope, I'm sure I'll see it.
Finding M76 is enjoyable too. Especially the star Phi Andromeda,
very interesting to watch. (I think I like the bow-arrow
type of stars!)
Triangulum
I like M33 for the same reason I like the Andromeda
galaxy. Just because it's a galaxy.
Finding M33 is a fun process. Triangulum is a small
constellation, but that doesn't mean its stars are
boring! Instead, Looking at Beta Triangulum and Gamma
Triangulum appearing in the same field of view is
one of the best views I've ever had in my binoculars.
It's like a arrow waiting to dash out.
From the beautiful bow and arrow, search down (pass
a faint star), and you'll see Alpha Triangulum. Turn
right to a faint star, turn right again, you'll find M33.
M33 is disappointing in binoculars, but the process
of reaching it is such a joy.
Perseus
I like M34! It has more features and is more exciting
than lots of other Messiers. Plus, it's close to Algol,
one of my favorite stars, and it's in Perseus, my favorite
constellation.
To find it, imagine a square in Algol's neighborhood.
There're quite a few squares you can imagine here,
so you'll need a good atlas to pick out the correct one.
Then connect to two overlapping triangles -- you reached
M34. I think M34 is a little like M35.
Auriga
M36 is the easiest to find among the Auriga open clusters.
I should have found it earlier, but due to underestimation
of the difficulty (it's my first attempt after getting the
book "turn left at orion"), I didn't do serious star-hopping
and just wanted to find it with the ease of finding Orion
nebula.
Well, it needs a little bit of star-hopping to reach. But
once you learn the pattern it'll be easy. I usually navigate
by the faint stars close to Beta Auriga (called "El Nath").
I found the description in "Star Watch" very suitable in
my case: in binoculars, it is "a dim patch of fuzzy light nestled
in between 2 faint stars".
Cancer
I find the most difficult thing in searching for M67 lies in the
fact that we city dwellers aren't likely to have a breeze finding
M67's close neighbor, Acubens. Once I reached Acubens, M67 is
an easy target.
Though M67 is not a bright cluster, it's not difficult to confirm
its presence. Just sweep your binoculars several times in slow
small motion, you'll see it in every angle in the FOV. When it's
actually on the side of the FOV, it's easier to see.
Diffuse Nebula in Taurus
I was told several times that it's hard to see M1 in binoculars.
So I didn't want to see it till this day! It's not that hard to see.
In fact, it's very close to a bright star, Zeta Taurus. From Zeta
Taurus, just turn right a little, crab nebula is there.
Though it's not bright or exciting visually, I still love
to see it. Because about 1000 years ago, Chinese observers
recorded the appearance of a bright supernova that outshined
every other stars in the sky in this exact location. And Crab
Nebula was proved to be the remnant of that supernova.
Staring at it, I feel I had some connections with the distant
past. Just a wonderful feeling.
Auriga
M38 turns out to be very easy to find now that I
have a dark
observation site. It’s 3 “bright” stars away from M36.
I realize that the reason why I didn’t find it
before is not
I looked at wrong places, but simply light
pollution.
Here in the dark, M38 looks bigger than I thought
(so does M36,
which has a elongated figure). It’s obviously darker and bigger
than M36, but not very much.
Auriga
M37 is also easy this time under clear starry
no-pollution
night. M37’size is more similar to M36’s, not as bright
though.
Coma
Berenices
It’s bright and fabulous! Detailed description here (in
Chinese).
(nicknamed
I can tell it’s a spiral galaxy in the telescope. Very distinctive
shape. Detailed description here (in
Chinese).
Scorpius
M4 is one of the easiest Messier objects. It’s in
a neighborhood
of highly
concentrated Messier objects, especially globular clusters.
It’s pretty round in my binoculars, and its area
is pretty large.
Its shape is definitely different from M80, my
next new friend,
which is not as round as M4. To find M4, just aim the telescope
or binocular at Antares, the big reddish star.
Scorpius
M80 is also easy to find, because it lies between
Antares and
Beta Scorpius. Its shape is that round – this is the only feature I
have to say about it. So the fact that it’s a globular cluster
means
I have to get the big telescope out and see for myself that it really
is a globular cluster.
Ophiuchus
To find M19, aim at the brightest star of
Ophiuchus that’s
close to Antares (that’s Theta Ophiuchus, and you’ll see it
is in a diamond shape group), then move to its neighbor star
below. From that star, move to the star at
right. And below two
very obvious double-ish star groups, you’ll find M19. It’s not
easy but still not hard.
Hercules
M13 is the largest globular cluster visible in the
Northern Celestial
Hemisphere. I found it first with binoculars and then with the Hardin
DSH. It’s very easy and obvious in my 16x50 binoculars
but not
very obvious in the finderscope of the DSH. Nevertheless
it’s one
of the most beautiful things I had seen. Having already seen
the great
Omega Centauri cluster, I was not surprised to see
a globular cluster
this big and bright. But it still had a very high
“wow” factor on me.
It’s very moving.