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esiegel | December 16, 2013"Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to take in the vastness of the universe." -Maria Mitchell
It's time again for Messier Monday, where we highlight the various wonderous deep-sky objects of the night, and show you how to find them against the expansive backdrop of stars. The (almost) full Moon is out tonight, polluting your night sky with as much light as a large-sized urban area, but that doesn't mean all of the 110 deep-sky objects that make up the Messier catalogue are off-limits!
Image credit: Mike Keith’s delightful (a)periodic table of Messier objects!
While extended…
esiegel | November 12, 2012"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sure sign you're getting old." -Mark Twain
Welcome to yet another installment of Messier Monday, where each week, I'll pick one of the 110 Messier Objects -- deep-sky objects catalogued to avoid confusion for comet hunters -- to highlight for you.
Image(s) credit: SEDS -- http://messier.seds.org/.
So far, we've taken a look at a supernova remnant, a young open star cluster, and an active star-forming nebula, a testament to the great diversity of these faint, fuzzy objects that might be easily confused with a comet. Today…