Slight Change of Plans

I have been doing some research recently and it seems as though there might not be 30 messier objects to observe. I knew that fall didn't contain the most objects but now I'm doubting that I could find thirty. I know of two possible changes in the original plan. I could reduce my original goal of thirty to twenty, I am confident that I could find twenty objects now. Or I could change my goal from thirty Messier objects to thirty deep-sky objects. This would include objects from other catalogs such as the new general catalog or the Herschel catalog. However the Messier objects are typically the brightest and objects from any other catalog would be dimmer and much more difficult to locate. Well, I'll will do some more research to find if I could find more non-messier objects. If I can't I'll be able to reduce my goal to thirty. I wish I had done this in the middle of Summer, then there would be easily thirty, but oh well. I'll figure it out.

A clear night finally

Over the period of time since my last blog I have done some research about Messier and his catalog. Upon researching the Messier catalog I have discovered the mystery of m102 (an m before a number signifies that it is part of the Messier catalog.) It was originally discovered by Pierre Mechain who collaborated with Messier to form this catalog of deep sky objects. He later revealed that his discovery of m102 was a repeat observation of m101. Yet some people believe that m102 was actually ngc5866 (ngc is the new general catalog.) Ngc5966 is relatively close to Mechain's observations that he wrote in Messier's notebook. While ngc5966 was likely discovered by Mechain and Messier in 1781 it was officially observed by William Herschel in 1788. Finally, one clear night. But however it was a full moon, a full moon is bad because it is so bright that it makes it difficult to see anything else. However I did manage to locate four objects, including the ring nebula and the dumbbell nebula. I am hoping soon that I will be able to get a clear night before the moon rises to find some more.

Introduction

That's right guys, I have another 30 day challenge and this one is awesome! As you can probably tell by the title, this one is in spaaaaaaaaace. My 30 day project this time is to locate 30 of the 110 messier objects. But what are these and what do they have to do with space? Charles Messier was a french astronomer in the 1700's who hunted comets. But in his hunts for comets he discovered things that looked like comets but weren't comets. He made a list of 110 of these objects. Now viewing all of them is a common challenge for amateur astronomers. But why am I only tring to find 30 of them when 110 would be more of a challenge. Well, there are 30, so that's one per day. Also, they are seasonal so there are winter ones, summer ones etc:. I believe that there about 40 or so that are visible now. There is a day in Spring that if you stay out all night you can see all 110. It is called the Messier Marathon and is a challenge for advanced amateur astronomers. Unfortunately as of now I haven't been able to see any of them because of clouds and a ton of rain. But I know that as soon I get a nice clear night I will be able to get right back on track. When I finish this 30 day challenge I will present it by making a power point containing all of the objects that I have found as well as a brief description of each.