Page 121 - BBC Sky at Night Beginners Guide to Astronomy - 2017 UK

WHAT TO SEE

TOP NAKED-EYE MESSIER OBJECTS

M42 M45 M13 M31
The Orion Nebula is a vast The Pleiades, also known as The hundreds of thousands of The Andromeda Galaxy is
cloud of dust and gas – what’s the Seven Sisters, is an open stars that make up the Great without doubt the most distant
known as an emission nebula. star cluster in the constellation Globular Cluster in Hercules are object visible to the naked eye,
It’s easy to spot with just your of Taurus. Depending on your just visible to the eye from dark being about 2.8 million lightyears
eyes as a misty patch below eyesight and how dark the sky locations. It’s one-third of the way away. Find it in the constellation
the three belt stars in the is at your location, you’ll be able south on the line between the stars of Andromeda as a faint smudge
constellation of Orion. to see between six and 12 stars. Eta Herculis and Zeta Herculis. in very dark, Moonless skies.

TOP SMALL-SCOPE MESSIER OBJECTS

M81 M51 M3 M57
Looking at Bode’s Galaxy in the The Whirlpool Galaxy in the This globular cluster, also in The Ring Nebula in the
constellation of Ursa Major with constellation of Canes Venatici Canes Venatici, is an easy constellation of Lyra is a shapely
a 3- to 4-inch scope, you’ll see is a face-on spiral galaxy. Small target for a small telescope. It’s planetary nebula, and one of
it as the brighter of two fuzzy scopes reveal the basic shape one of the largest and brightest the easiest of its kind to observe.
patches close to each other in the and the smaller companion with globulars in the sky; a small With a 3- to 4-inch scope it’s
night sky. The second patch is which it is interacting. Larger scope will reveal great detail easily seen as a misty but quite
another galaxy, the fainter M82. instruments reveal more structure. and a compact core. defi ned oval patch.

galaxy in the constellation of they endeavour to observe Of course, the Messier databases of deep-sky objects.
Andromeda, made its way all 110 objects in one night. Catalogue is not the only They have less appeal for amateur
into the catalogue as the fi nal Another reason is that list – there are more than 110 astronomers because many of
offi cially recognised object. Messier used a variety of objects out in space after all. their entries are too faint to see
There are several reasons different sized scopes in his The New General Catalogue without a professional telescope.
why Charles Messier’s ‘list of comet searches, including a (NGC), for example, lists nearly There is, however, one
objects to avoid when looking 3.5-inch refractor. The objects 8,000 objects, followed by an other list that’s worth a
for comets’ has become so in his catalogue don’t need extension known as the Index mention: Patrick Moore’s
readily accepted as targets massively powerful instruments Catalogue (IC) that adds more own compilation, the Caldwell
to seek out with a telescope. to be seen: they’re within reach than 5,000 on top. You’ll also Catalogue. This is, in effect,
One is that it isn’t too long: of small telescopes. Finally, it’s fi nd that many objects appear an extension to the Messier
110 objects makes it a nice, a pretty comprehensive list, in multiple catalogues: M42, Catalogue. It includes many
manageable number. So encompassing almost all of the the Orion Nebula, is also more bright, deep-sky objects
manageable, in fact, that some wondrous sights that novice designated as NGC 1976. that are perfect for you to
amateurs like to undertake stargazers would wish to see, However, the NGC and train your telescope on
Messier marathons, where many of them bright objects. IC lists are little more than from your back garden.
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