Messier objects observed from my observatory

Since the Observatory went back online earlier in 2012, I’ve had a few months to start working my way through the Messier Objects. While there are literally hundreds of observer lists to choose from, the Messier list is probably the best known and it seems to me to be a good starting point from which to launch an observing programme.

For anyone thinking of working through the Messier Objects, I can highly recommend Stephen James O’Meara’s book ‘The Messier Objects’ . The author has prepared a visual feast for the observer. Using a humble 100m premium refractor, he describes and sketches the view from the telescope as never before. There are new drawings, improved finder charts, and new astronomical data on each object, including findings from the Hubble Space Telescope. I love his writing style and find his enthusiasm for astronomy highly infectious.

The observing project was finally completed on 6, August 2015, with my final observation of M55.

Objects that I have made at least one observation is given in the ‘Observations’ column.