110 Things to See With a Telescope: The World’s Most Famous Stargazing List

Product Description

This book and a telescope are all you need to find, view, and record your observations of the 110 most popular stargazing targets. But what makes this list of objects so famous? Over 200 years ago, the French comet hunter Charles Messier published a list of fuzzy, comet-like objects he saw through his telescope. To him, they were a nuisance. We now know them as star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies! Modern astronomers later expanded his list from 103 to 110 objects – and they’re some of the finest celestial sights to explore with your backyard telescope, especially after you’re ready to move beyond the Moon and planets. This book is your guide to seeing each deep sky object in Messier’s list – plus a complete how-to for budding astronomers.

Finding the 110 Messier (pronounced Messy-ay) objects has never been easier! We provide a star map for each target – plus written directions for how to find it by star-hopping, an “eyepiece view” image to confirm you’re seeing it, observing tips from two veteran stargazers, and interesting facts. We also highlight additional nearby objects.

These objects are presented in their recommended viewing order – either by season, or during an all-night marathon! Each page contains an observation log so you can track your progress, and later apply for a Messier Observing Certificate from the Astronomical League and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Certificate Application instructions are provided in the appendix of the book.

Review

“There are times during the viewing sessions when people sincerely express an interest in the hobby, and ask me how to get started.  The next time they do, I will simply refer them to this book, as in my opinion, it is the definitive guide to amateur astronomy!”
~ Tim Russ, Actor, Musician, Astronomer.

About the Author

JOHN A. READ is a telescope operator at the Burke-Gaffney Observatory and a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC). In 2020, he graduated with an undergraduate degree in astrophysics from Saint Mary’s University and was presented with an RASC award for Excellence in Science Communication.

CHRIS VAUGHAN is an award-winning Astronomer and Earth Scientist with a lifelong passion for visual observing. He operates the David Dunlap Observatory’s 74 inch telescope, volunteers for RASC, and visits schools with his Digital Starlab planetarium. His Astronomy Skylights blog at AstroGeo.ca is read worldwide, and he is a regular contributor to SkyNews magazine, Space.com, and popular astronomy apps.