messier objects

the wonder of a new discovery...well strictly speaking not new. I felt a little lazy the other night so I took out my 15x70 celestron binos during an unusual clear period. I was scanning Auriga and Gemini when I feasted my eyes on M36, M37, and M38 but could not locate m35?. Well I think I did anyway. I never studied this part of the sky as closely before, some of these objects were fairly easy to spot, and I am sure for many among you it's old hat - but i am still an inexperienced star-gazer.

Anyway I will bring my skylux or 5.1" reflector to bear on these the first clear night there is, but does anyone know what instrument Charles Messier used to create his list of objects..?

M35 is one of the most beautiful objects in the sky as seen from a dark sky location.
(Even moderate light pollution washes out the 3D effect.)
Best seen in binoculars.

seds.org/Messier/m/m035.html

Messier's Telescopes:

seds.org/MESSIER/xtra/history/m-scopes.html

Thanks for the link. It was an interesting read. It's a measure of greatness that these astronomers of the 17th and 18th century mapped so much of the night sky, when you consider the instruments they had to work with - mind you, they had one advantage of sorts, they had little or no light pollution.

Declan

Thanks for the link. It was an interesting read. It's a measure of greatness that these astronomers of the 17th and 18th century mapped so much of the night sky, when you consider the instruments they had to work with - mind you, they had one advantage of sorts, they had little or no light pollution.

Declan

Yea ... the lack of light pollution is a very big deal. I got to experience perfect skies just once and I could see M81 and M82 with binoculars as well as M65 and M66! That was the first time I understood how it was physically possible for Messier to make the discoveries he did. That doesn't take away from them at all though. the vast majority of the sky is empty. When you have no idea where to look to see something interesting there is an aweful lot of blank sky out there!

Bart.

I can only imagine how dark the night sky was then

Keith..