messier marathon
esiegel | March 18, 2013"Every star may be a sun to someone." -Carl Sagan
Welcome back to yet another Messier Monday! Each week, we highlight one of the 110 deep-sky objects that make up the Messier catalogue: Charles Messier's legacy to comet-hunters and amateur astronomers, pointing out some of the most easily visible deep-sky objects as seen from our vantage point on Earth.
Image credit: Yvett Bass (M1-M55) and Josh Sanford (M56-M110), via Dan Bruton of SFASU.
Once-a-year, around the new Moon nearest to the vernal equinox, many amateur astronomers around the world attempt to view all 110 objects in the same…
esiegel | March 11, 2013"When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time." -Haile Gebrselassie
Welcome to a very special Messier Monday, which just happens to be the twenty-first consecutive week we've taken a look at one of the 110 fixed, deep-sky objects that Messier and his collaborators catalogued to avoid confusion with comets.
Image credit: Tenho Tuomi, of his completed Messier Marathon.
Today's Messier Monday is very special, because today is the new Moon closest to the vernal equinox. Each year, on (or very close to) the vernal equinox --…