Nebula andM45thePleiades. and telescopeareM42theOrion with theunaidedeye, binoculars, for winterviewing inurbanskies prominent inthenightsky. Two suchobjectsfavourably positioned constellations andarebestobserved whentheconstellationis skies arenecessarytoresolve someofthedimmerobjects. objects rangeinbrightnessagainstthenight-timesky anddarkrural that arereadilyavailable toamateurastronomyenthusiasts. The comfortably withbinocularsandallcanbeseeninsmalltelescopes skies. Moreoftheobjectscanbeobserved beautifullyand Objects canbeseenwiththeunaidedeye underlightpollutedcity regions, gasclouds,galaxiesandmore.Even better, someMessier collection ofstarclusters,supernova remnants,starforming background ofstarsfromnighttonight. telescope, but unlike acometthey didn’t travel acrossthe sky astronomicalobjectsthatlooked sortoflike acometin objects hecataloguedexcept thatthey were vague cloudlike deep on lookingatthingsthatwerenotcomets. hunters couldefficiently searchforcometswithoutgettinghungup and compiledpublishedbyMessiersuchthatothercomet sky. to fame among amateurastronomersandenthusiastsofthenight known todayastheMessierCatalogue,andisMessier’s mainclaim expanded toinclude110“Messier”objectsinall.Itiscommonly Nebulae andClustersofStars. The cataloguewas eventually of 45astronomicalobjectspublishedin1771hisCatalogue too aboutamonthlater. the nightofDecember25-26,1758.Messiereventually spottedit and therebyconfirm the76year orbitalperiodofHalley’s Cometon astronomer JohannGeorg Palitzsch was thefirst toobserve itsreturn first toobserve thepredictedreturnofHalley’s Comet.German the sky accordingtovarious orbitalcalculationslookingtobethe Comet), have orbitalperiodsoflessthan200years. discovered byEnglishastronomerEdmundHalley in1682(Halley’s millions ofyears.Someshort-periodcomets,suchastheone ice anddustwithorbitalperiodsusuallyrangingfromhundredsto orbits aroundtheSun. Today, weunderstandthatcometsareballsof Messier began hissearchexcept thatthey have very longelliptical M42 theOrionNebula Messier Objectscanbelocatedintheproximityofindividual Today, weknow thattheMessierObjectsareaspectacular Messier Objects As withcomets,littlewas known inMessier’s timeaboutthe The objectswerediscovered byMessierand otherastronomers It was duringthis cometsearchthatMessierdiscovered thefirst Messier Catalogue In 1757and1758Messierotherastronomerswerescanning hunter. Lookagainwith constellation Orionthe the sword ofthe eye asthemiddle“star”in Nebula withtheunaided Look forM42theOrion Little was known aboutcometsin1758when stationary backgroundofstars. movement ofacometagainstthe telescope todiscover thenightto C observed thenightsky withasmall comet hunting. Thus herepeatedly astronomer was mainlydevoted to in Franceandhiscareerasan H Comet Hunter Charles Messier(1730-1817)lived A R L M42 TheOrionNebula E S

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o first tobeattemptedbytheaverage observer. accessibility oftheMessierCataloguemake itsobjectssomeofthe as theNew GeneralCatalogue(NGC), however, thesimplicityand telescopes ofreasonablequalitythatarereadilyavailable. they canbeobserved byamateurastronomyenthusiastswith objects weremainlydiscovered insmalltelescopes,consequently, night sky ishisbeautifulcatalogueofobjectstoavoid! These discovery of20comets,however, hislegacy toenthusiastsofthe astronomical objects. automatically find themalongwithplanets,starsandmany other telescopes have thelocationofall110objectspre-loadedandcan positioned forobservingeachmonth.Computerized“go-to” featuring theconstellationsandMessierObjectsfavourably http://www.skyandtelescope.com/ publishsky mapsinevery edition Skynews http://www.skynews.ca/ andSky & Telescope searching ontheInternet.Popularastronomymagazinessuchas course ofanallnightobservingsessioncalledaMessierMarathon. (clear skiespermitting)all110MessierObjectscanbeviewed inthe however, twiceayearduringtheautumnal&vernal equinoxes Most observers completethelistover thecourseofayearoryears, offers MessierCertificates formemberswhoobserve all110objects. 108 togo! The Royal Astronomical SocietyofCanada(RASC) born. from whichthesestarswere nebulosity ofthegascloud will reveal thefaint new bornstars. A telescope colour orthesehotyoung binoculars revealing theblue when seenthrough unaided eye. It’s magnificent about sixstarswiththe will seeanicegroupof to exist sinceantiquity. You of starsalsoknown astheseven sisters. This clusterhasbeen known first timetelescopeusers. the first deepsky objectattemptedbymost winter MessierObjectsandisprobably will beobserved. M42isoneofthebest the gascloudandsmallerfainter stars telescope moredetailwillbeapparentin gassy starformingregion. Through a star-like andmorelike whatitreallyis,a binoculars andtheareawillappearless T

H y There areothercataloguescontainingthousandsofobjectssuch In hislifetimeCharlesMessierdiscovered andsharedinthe Conclusion The fulllistofMessierObjectscanbeeasilyobtainedby Successfully observe theseobjectsandyou’ll have two down and Observe them All High andtotherightofOrionisM45Pleiadesanopencluster M45 thePleiades personal goals? find peoplewhodedicatethemselves and ortheirlives toachieve search for comets.Lookingthroughout The Telegram, canyou compiled listsin The Telegram? astronomical objects.Canyou find anexampleofsimilar o www.thetelegram.com E 2. CharlesMessierwasdedicatedthroughout hislifeinthe 1. The above articletalksaboutcompilinglistsofobserved u

M b y E For moreactivitiesgoto

S S I E R

Doug Grouchy RASC, St. John’s Centre John’s St. RASC, Grouchy Doug O A B C J M45 ThePleiades T and click on E I V C I T T I S E S Charles Messier(1730-1817) E lt (dwarf planet) Pluto north ofJupiter. Jupiter conjunctionontheevening ofDecember19th,Neptunewillbejust0.6° Jupiter andisdetectableinagoodsetofbinoculars.LookforNeptune Neptune during earlyevening. Uranus fromedge-ontous. Its ringsarestillnarrow, tilted4.5° midnight or1a.m.,anditshineshighinthesoutheastbeforeduringdawn. Saturn southwest intwilight. Jupiter far below CastorandPollux(intheconstellationGemini)toeast. Mars emerge intoview againintheearlyNew Year, duringsunset. appears lower eachmorninguntillitdissappearsintheglareofsunto Venus 40 minutesaftersunset. Mercury a m P t t Boötes, andDracomeetinthesky. The showers peakisearlymorning January3rd. Muralis. Onmodernstarcharts,thisradiantislocatedwheretheconstellationsHercules, Quadrantid meteorsappeartoradiateislocatedwithintheextinct constellationQuadrans observers canbedisappointed dotoweatherconditions. The pointfromwherethe The QuadrantidsJan 3rd-

Centre, atwww.rasc.ca/stjohns/ You cancontacttheRoyal Astronomical SocietyofCanada,St.John’s

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