New book out

[Philip Pugh]

How to view Messier objects the hard way, similar to Charles Messier himself:

http://philippugh.fortunecity.com/ObservingMessier.html

Only modern 'cheats" were a 9x50 finderscope and light pollution reduction filter.

[MistrBadgr]

Thanks, Phillip!

I have gotta get me one of those!

Bill Steen

[Philip Pugh]

Thanks, Bill. Please also give as many as you can to friends and family for Christmas, as I'm skint.

It was a real labour of love, as it meant staying up to 4am checking out the Virgo Supercluster.

Many Messier objects are great through small telescopes but others are more ones to cross off the list before you die. They need big apertures to really enjoy them.

[MistrBadgr]

Philip,

I recieved an email from Amazon that the book is on its way.

After just purchasing a bigger house, the book will probably be MY Christmas present.

What size of small scope did you use for your work?

A friend recently gave me a pair of Lumicron 25X100 binoculars that he bought in China for $30 a few years ago.

Would that be big enough to find them all, or is something bigger needed.

Bill

[Dennis_S4321]

Interesting that you did this project. I was thinking of doing the same thing. I was using an old B&L Criterion 4000 SCT. I probably have 60 or so on my list so far. The fork mount with the SCT just makes it to hard to see a lot or the objects. I don't think I need a book. I thought others might like a good read. Hope things go well for you.
Clear skies....

Dennis

[Philip Pugh]

Philip,

I recieved an email from Amazon that the book is on its way.

After just purchasing a bigger house, the book will probably be MY Christmas present.

What size of small scope did you use for your work?

A friend recently gave me a pair of Lumicron 25X100 binoculars that he bought in China for $30 a few years ago.

Would that be big enough to find them all, or is something bigger needed.

Bill

I'm sure you can find them all from the USA with binoculars that size. I saw M79 through 15x70 "bins" from Chicago but I can never see it from the UK except through a telescope. I used a 127mm Maksutov.

[Philip Pugh]

Interesting that you did this project. I was thinking of doing the same thing. I was using an old B&L Criterion 4000 SCT. I probably have 60 or so on my list so far. The fork mount with the SCT just makes it to hard to see a lot or the objects. I don't think I need a book. I thought others might like a good read. Hope things go well for you.
Clear skies....

Dennis

Where are you and what aperture does your telescope have? I'm in SW England and 2.5 degrees north of Paris, where Charles Messier saw most of the objects from. I don't have an SCT so I'm curious about your comment about the fork mount. Does it have GOTO capability? Like Messier, I don't have it but did use a 9x50 finderscope.