Date:	Mon, 27 Feb 1995 09:57:58 -0500 (EST)
From:	Tony Cecce, Corning, NY <[email protected]>
Subject:	March Messier Tour

Twelve Month Tour of The Messier Catalog

March Messier Objects

This month we will look for 10 objects, 8 open clusters in the southern

milky way and a pair of galaxies, all are within reach of binoculars.

The open clusters are easy binocular targets and most are visible with

the naked eye. M81 and M82 are difficult binocular targets that offer

a stunning telescopic view.

M41

This cluster in Canis Major is visible as a hazy patch to the

naked eye just below Sirius. M41 is resolvable in binoculars and

appears fairly loose in telescopes at low power.

M93

This is a small fuzzy patch of light in Puppis, partially

resolvable in binoculars. The hardest part of finding this cluster in

binoculars is picking it out of a fairly rich region of the milky way.

Use low power to examine this cluster and the surrounding richness in

a telescope. Medium power provides a nice view of the cluster itself.

M47

A bright cluster in Puppis, easily visible as a hazy patch to the

naked eye. Binoculars will show a large hazy patch with many stars

resolvable. Telescopes show a fairly loose cluster with stars of wide

variety of magnitudes.

M46

This cluster is right next to M47 and is also visible to the

naked eye. In binoculars M46 appears as a large hazy patch with no

stars resolvable, giving a nice contrast to M47. In telescopes at

low powers this cluster evenly fills the eyepiece. While you are here

go to medium or high power and look for the planetary nebula NGC2438.

It will appear as a faint uneven ring, with a blue/green color.

M50

An open cluster in Monoceros. This is a small hazy patch in

binoculars, partially resolvable. Like M93, the richness of the

surrounding field is the only difficulty in finding this object.

This is a fairly tight cluster at low power in a telescope.

M48

Moving on to Hydra, we find another naked eye cluster. M48 is

a large fuzzy patch in binoculars, partially resolvable. Use low to

medium power in your telescope for a spectacular view.

M67

In the southeast portion of Cancer is another open cluster,

barely visible as a fuzzy patch to the naked eye. Binoculars show

M67 as a large hazy patch of light, similar to M46. Use low power

to resolve this large, rich cluster in a telescope.

M44

Known as the Praesepe or Beehive Cluster, this open cluster

is easily visible to the naked eye as a large, fuzzy patch bigger

than the moon. Binoculars or rich field telescopes provide the

best view of M44.

M81,

M82

This pair of galaxies in Ursa Major are very possible to

see in binoculars, they look like a pair of fuzzy stars. Both

galaxies will fit into the same low power telescope field. M81 will

appear as a large oval gray patch of light. M82 is a pencil like

streak of light next to and perpendicular to the long axis of M81.

Last Month

– M1, M35, M36, M37, M38, M42, M43, M45, M78, M79

Next Month

– M40, M65, M66, M95, M96, M97, M105, M106, M108, M109

A. J. Cecce rev 1.0, 1995

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Twelve Month Tour Index –

March tour in Ascii

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Hartmut Frommert

([email protected]).

Christine Kronberg

([email protected])

Last Modification: 6 Apr 1998, 21:30 MEST