Date:	Fri, 30 Jun 1995, 17:53:42 -0500 (EST)
From:	Tony Cecce, Corning, NY <[email protected]>
Subject:	July Messier Tour

My latest edition is attached. It sure would be nice to be able to see

some of these things myself. Oh well, it can’t be cloudy and/or hazy

forever. What is amazing is that my region (upstate New York) has been

having a fairly sever drought.

Tony

Twelve Month Tour of the Messier Catalog

July Messier Objects

This will be a light month as we wait for the summer Milkyway to rise into

better view later this summer. Our quarry will consist of six globular

clusters and one very bright galaxy. All of these objects are possible

with binoculars, most are down right easy even with small binoculars.

M3

This globular cluster in Canes Venatici is one of the brightest objects

in the sky. In binoculars this object is definately not star like, but more

of a bright, small snowball easy to see. Small telescopes will begin to

resolve M3 into individual stars. The hardest part of this object is

locating it in a portion of sky that contains few bright landmarks.

M53

Another globular cluster in Canes Venatici. While not quite as big

or bright as M3 it is still an obvious binocular object. Resolvable in

small telescopes, it as easy object to find sharing the same low power

telescope field as fifth magnitude Alpha Coma Berenices.

M5

A big, bright globular cluster located in Serpens Caput. M5 is as

nice as M3 but lies near a fifth magnitude naked eye star (5 Serpentis)

making it an easy object to find.

M68

An eighth magnitude globular cluster in Hydra, M68 is a difficult

binocular object for Northern observers. It appears as a faint fuzz

spot in binoculars, you may need to use averted vision or large binoculars

to find this one. Appearing as a round fuzzy patch in a 8″ telescope, you

will need a much larger aperature to really resolve it.

M83

A face on spiral in Hydra. M83 is fairly easy in binoculars as a

faint, fuzzy patch of light. In a telescope look for a large patch of

light with a bright center.

M4

A big bright globular in Scorpius, easily located near Antares.

This is an easy binocular object appearing as a round snowball.

Partially resolvable in a telescope, the trade mark of this globular

is a line of bright stars crossing the center.

M80

This is the smallest and faintest globular cluster this month.

Located in Scopius, M80 is a very tough binocular object appearing as

a faint star with slight fuzziness around the edges. This is confirmed

with a telescope, M80 has a bright central condensation in the middle of

faint fuzz. It is one of the Messier objects that even through a medium

telescope still looks like a comet.

Last Month

– M58, M59, M60, M84, M86, M87, M88, M89, M90, M91, M98, M99, M100

Next Month

– M6, M7, M8, M9, M10, M12, M19, M20, M21, M23, M62, M107

A.J. Cecce Revision 6/95

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Twelve Month Tour Index –

July tour in Ascii

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Hartmut Frommert

([email protected]).

Christine Kronberg

([email protected])

Last Modification: 6 Apr 1998, 21:30 MEST