The Last Messier

[dick_dangerous]

Hi All,

Showing off time - like those annoying Facebook status updates about what a great time I'm having on holiday - but I'm here in deepest, darkest Madeira with my first report in what seems like a while... It's a benchmark moment though.

First (milking this a bit) the place - Madeira is not as famed as it's Macaronesian cousins to the South in the Canaries for its dark skies. If, however, you're looking for a budget destination with more southerly stars for not too much money then I heartily recommend it. Plus there's jaw-dropping scenery, friendly people and year-round clement weather.

Skies-wise it's dark - with nothing else around, outside Funchal, the ambient light-pollution is low, provided you don't have a street-light right next to you. We're talking M33 being a finderscope object territory. Being at 32 degrees south means everything is higher up too - Fomulhaut (and Pisces Australis) is prominent at 10pm. The only caveat is that the island's formidable relief attracts clouds - I've only had one hour window for observing. But I made the most of it!

With binoculars I got some gorgeous views of galaxies M31 and M33, the Double cluster like a sprinkling of caster sugar and the Auriga clusters like fuzzy patches.

But of course my ST80 is travel-ready, so I've bought it to southerly climes! After last year's success in Asturias, I trained it on the Veil and was rewarded with some wispy nebulosity, enhanced with a UHC filter. M15 was disappointing with the small aperture, although the telescope excels on extended clusters such as the Pleiades.

The best is for last though - like many of us, I've spent the last couple of years tracking down all of the 110 objects that Charles Messier didn't want us to confuse with comets. I have found all but one, and on Sunday night I finally tracked down M74, sometimes known as the Phantom Galaxy. It was a bit of a wing and a prayer thing - I tried for it with the ST80 in the Dordogne and failed, but the Madeiran skies proved ideal because with minimum of fuss, there it was, a faint haze of light against the black skies, and my Messier marathon was completed.

From there I wanted to move on to the Sculptor Galaxy and the Helix, but the notorious Madeiran weather changed and the clouds came back so I wait in hope that one of my three remaining nights will be better. Hey, if they aren't, the island is beautiful and I spotted a Madeiran Firecrest on one of the Levadas!

Thanks for reading - and if you're chasing Messiers with a small aperture scope then remember that it's more than possible with the right skies!

Paul

[Knighty2112]

Awesome! Well done on tacking down and viewing all the Messier objects. Would love to view them all myself, so hopefully with my new ST120 refractor I have a good chance of doing so as long as I can find some good dark skies to view them from. It might take quite a while to do so, but at least I know that it is doable now and you don't always need a large Dobsonian telescope to see them all with.

Cheers!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Well done. For my last two Messier objects (M72 and M73) I had a bigger gun at my disposal: Olly's 20" Dob. Well done catching M74 with the little ST80.

[laudropb]

Congratulations on completing the Messiers. I am off to Tenerife in January and I hope to add some of the Southern fuzzier to my list.

[Paul73]

Congratulations. A milestone! Sometimes it ain't all about the aperture.

My last two Messier's were with my 10x50s in my back garden!

Paul

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

So what next? Caldwell? Herschel 400?

I must try to get down-under with a scope so I can mop up some of the last Caldwells.

[dick_dangerous]

My next challenge is Caldwells, although now I know I can find all the Messiers, I also know which ones to revisit! I'm also planning on taking up sketching soon...

Paul

[Astro Imp]

Well done Paul, a great effort and an enjoyable read as always.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

[clarkpm4242]

I recommend the 'Finest NGC' List from the Royal Astronomical Society Canada as an alternative to the Herschel 400.  They are the 'finest NGCs' whilst many of the Herschel objects are 'ticks' and tend not to have visual merit.

http://messier.seds.org/xtra/similar/rasc-ngc.html

Good hunting

Paul

[dick_dangerous]

I recommend the 'Finest NGC' List from the Royal Astronomical Society Canada as an alternative to the Herschel 400. They are the 'finest NGCs' whilst many of the Herschel objects are 'ticks' and tend not to have visual merit.

http://messier.seds.org/xtra/similar/rasc-ngc.html

Good hunting

Paul

An intriguing list - there's a few favourites on there and a few I've never heard of - will keep on observing to try and pick up all of these!

Paul