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Outstanding Messiers's...


Smithysteve

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Do you aspire to seeing all the Messier's? 

 

No doubt you like me love the Messier objects, some of which I have seen dozens of times, but until the last few weeks it has never really been a personal driving ambition to see them all!

 

Up until I joined EMS, I had never really documented many of my 'seeing sessions', though I knew roughly what I had been looking at. So I went through the Messier list, against what few notes I had and made a firm list of fifty outstanding targets. (See below).

 

I am only just over halfway, with just sixty definitely seen, so one of my missions is to actively seek out the remaining M's! :)

 

I have colour coded the M's according to seasons and I know some are probably too low to see from Mansfield but most on the list are available (and easy) at some point in the calendar year, so here goes!

 

 

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My favourite is still me first one. M57. Then M51, M27, M81/82, M31, M33, M101. And so on. It took me absolutely hours to find M57 back in the day, I can now do it with the finder. Just keep looking up eh!

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A few easy ones and a few challenges there Steve. I'm sure you'll soon work through most of those with the 10" and goto, apart from the ones skimming the horizon. :thumbsup:

 

Don't forget to look for the little planetary nebula in cluster M46 this winter. I saw it first in my old 10" LX200 and it was a real treat of a 2 for 1 at low and high power. :) 

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Out of the ones left I would really try for M33. When you do see it you will be gobsmacked at how large the thing is.

 

Nice spreadsheet Steve, looks really professional.

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On 12 June 2016 at 20:49, Tweedledee said:

A few easy ones and a few challenges there Steve. I'm sure you'll soon work through most of those with the 10" and goto, apart from the ones skimming the horizon. :thumbsup:

 

Don't forget to look for the little planetary nebula in cluster M46 this winter. I saw it first in my old 10" LX200 and it was a real treat of a 2 for 1 at low and high power. :) 

 

Regarding M46, Thanks Pete, I have made a note about that! Cheers! ?

 

On 12 June 2016 at 22:06, Doc said:

Out of the ones left I would really try for M33. When you do see it you will be gobsmacked at how large the thing is.

 

Nice spreadsheet Steve, looks really professional.

 

Thanks Mick, I have had a look at M33 and can see what you mean... It covers nearly a square degree! Reading up about it, under a good sky some people can see it with averted vision, (I thought the furthest we could see with the unaided eye was M31 at 2.3 mly, but this is further away at 2.8mly and it's the third biggest Galaxy in our local group after M31 and us, so again will look forward to seeing it cheers!?

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Like you say the Triangulum galaxy can be very difficult because it is so big and the light is spread out. M33 has a magnitude of 5.7, which is extremely bright for a galaxy, but its surface brightness is an extremely faint mag 14. On a 10" SCT with a maximum field of about one degree, you might have to pan around a bit to try and detect some contrast at its edges as it is a good degree across filling the eyepiece and blending with the background.

Some people have actually seen M81 naked eye from a dark site! Was that you Mick?

 

These limits are dependant on many factors. We all know how good a dark site can be when all the right factors come together. Some lucky stargazers around the world have access to dark sites that regularly have mag 7 skies! From these places limits can really be pushed. Young people usually have the largest dark adapted pupils of up to 7mm, and if they are skilled enough at observing, can see lots of stuff that us 5mm limited oldies can't. A 7mm pupil actually collects twice as much light as a 5mm one. Also, there are a lot of practical astronomy books around that tell us that certain nebulae, galaxies and clusters are naked eye objects in UK, when in reality you know there is no chance. Often when you look at the publishing date, you find it was written in the 1970's or earlier when nobody had really even coined the term light pollution.


Every so often it is nice to get a superb night when everything comes together perfectly and your own personal limits are exceeded.

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I think it was me Pete. I wasn't alone though and it was at one of the star parties. We were just sitting round before bed and we could see it. Cannot remember who the other person was though.

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Proberbly eagle eyes Mike.

 

Wouldnt have been me, I'm blind as a bat.

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It was one of the EMS star parties at Andedrby Mick, you were having a roam round with the Bino's as well.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just an update on my M'essier targets, I have seen approx 22 objects since my first post... I also found a couple of Messiers's from a report from last year...

i have made an effort to get the numbers down so now my total seen is 82, with the following outstanding...

 

 

image.jpeg

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You are whittling them down :thumbsup:

 

You must have seen M46 from a last years report, as it was on your June 12th unseen list :)

 

Unless you saw it in daylight within the last month. :D

 

I know how keen you are. :thumbsup:

 

Just wondered if your report said you had also spotted its planetary nebula.

Edited by Tweedledee
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20 minutes ago, Tweedledee said:

You are whittling them down :thumbsup:

 

You must have seen M46 from a last years report, as it was on your June 12th unseen list :)

 

Unless you saw it in daylight within the last month. :D

 

I know how keen you are. :thumbsup:

 

Just wondered if your report said you had also spotted its planetary nebula.

Ha ha you are quite right of course Pete, well spotted,

I had written down your notes on the bubble neb etc and when updating my spreadsheet thought the scribble was an indication I had seen it... You need to keep an eye on me... ?

 

File%2007-07-2016%2C%2021%2010%2044.jpeg

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Just to keep things straight, here is the amended list after M46 error ?

81 seen so far, lots to do...

 

 

image.jpeg

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Excellent. Dot those i's and cross those t's. Got to maintain proper accuracy in these important scientific reports. No dubious M46 entries. Remember the M101/102 controversy, the M40 debacle, confusion between M47 and M48? Not to mention all the spurious or missing NGC's. Serious errors causing hundreds of years of debate, sword fights and pistols at dawn. It's not astrology you know, precision is everything! :P :nonono:

 

No shoddy accounting here, and no excuse for mistakes with all this cloud. :thumbsup: :D

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Ok! Ok!

I get the message! :)

I promise to be more accurate in the future, less the wrath of tweedledee smites me down from the heavens with a bolt from his mighty -12 degree Centigrade laser!  :D

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3 hours ago, Smithysteve said:

Ok! Ok!

I get the message! :)

I promise to be more accurate in the future, less the wrath of tweedledee smites me down from the heavens with a bolt from his mighty -12 degree Centigrade laser!  :D

Don't worry, the laser has gone back for a refund. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I see you've found M76, which I found the hardest. Mag 10.1 is tough for a 127mm Mak. I first saw M41 from Down Under but it needs 70mm+ bins from the UK.

 

M46 and M47 are surprisingly near the celestial equator.

 

M70 is a tough one and must be a bit more difficult from the Midlands.

 

In my opinion, you must be 49 degrees north or more to observe all of the objects, as that was the declination that Messier did his observations from Paris.

 

I saw M79 in binoculars from Chicago but have only seen it from the UK in my 127mm Mak.

 

Perhaps a tougher challenge is to photograph all of the objects.

 

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Thanks for the comments Phil ?

One forgets where Messier was based! 

I expect to whittle the list down over the next year! I will then have to see what I end up with...

I might have to hop on a plane or two to finish it off. :D

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On ‎29‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 14:39, Smithysteve said:

Thanks for the comments Phil ?

One forgets where Messier was based! 

I expect to whittle the list down over the next year! I will then have to see what I end up with...

I might have to hop on a plane or two to finish it off. :D

If you're south of Paris, you're cheating!

 

I found the Virgo Cluster hard because of the weather. I caught much of it at 2-3 AM in winter nights.

 

Yes, I'm mad!

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