Viewable Objects
(Alphabetical)
Viewable Objects
Links
(By Month)
Astronomy for beginners
When the sky is observed by the naked eye, most of the objects will actually look like small or big stars. Already, you will notice stars with blueish or redish tints of colors, which identify certain type of stars. However, when observed with binoculars, those same stars will appear as singular stars, star clusters or "a cloud of dust around a star". Then when observed with telescopes, you will resolve smaller stars and sometimes cloudlike structures. Note that most objets are also "black & white", with some tint of red or blue; but don't expect a whole array of dazzling colors like in magazines.Most pictures I have found for you on the WWW are long exposures, with "good" telescopes and, in most cases, with color combinations associated to different wavelenghts which are not the way you would see them with your own eyes. I wish to someday replace these pictures with some of my own, or by amateurs like myself, for pictures of what you can actually see.
Observation by constellations
My approach to night sky observations is to pick a constellations for the season and then find objects near it. This is a form of sky hopping.
At first, finding your favorate constellation, then observing with binoculars, and finally with a telescope; hence my definition on bright object (with the naked eye or binoculars) and deep sky object (with a telescope). But then some might point out that what you see depends on the price of your binoculars and even of your telescope; but must importantly, the quality of the sky.
As the months change, so does the sky, so it is important to plan what objets are in season. All the stars (viewable from your hemisphere) will go through the sky in one day, but some during the day! Even during one viewing night, as the earth turns, the stars move 15 degrees per hour, here is 5 minutes of the sky in a 12 seconds movie (4MBytes). (Click here to see) (12 pictures, 1 picture every 20 seconds)
What do astronomers do at the end of an observerstion night ... watch more stars! (Click here to see)
Sky Charts
The charts are similar from year to year for most of the "stars". The major difference is only the position of the planets
(which are not on a 1 year cycle) and other objects like comets and asteroids (which are not on these charts).
December's sky at approx 22:00 Montreal time (no DST), (
at approx 24:00)
(image by Carte du ciel)
( Jan /
Feb /
Mar /
Apr /
May /
Jun /
Jul /
Aug /
Sep /
Oct /
Nov /
Dec )
Messier's list
Charles Messier assembled, in the 18th century, a list of bright objects he could see in his clear sky in France. He was aided only with a small two inch telescope. A few of the objects are visible by sight, most with binoculars and the remainder with a small telescope. The list is still popular today, because it is a good first list of bright objects, although not being used for its original purpose which was simply a list of bright objects not to be confused for comets (since Messier was a comet hunter).
March is the month for the Messier marathon. The Messier marathon has for target to find all of Messier's objects in one night.
This is possible because it is around the time of year of the longuest nights. The marathons are usually planned by amateurs
on a weekend so they can have the next day to recover before work (realy an all night event) and also near a new moon,
to have minimal interference from its brightnest which hides the fainter objets. Get organised, in 2008, March 8
(March 29, for higher latitudes) weekend is the one. Don't except to do the hole list if you don't practice before hand.
Here are some links for references:
The Ultimate Messier Object Log (TUMOL)
Messier planner v1.3
/
Night planner v1.0
SEDS - The Messier Catalog
/
fr
The sky as it turns all night - animation of sequence for marathon (Montreal,
Canada; March 8th, 2008 - 18:36 to 5:30 (4MB))
Messier circuit in tree slides (beginning, middle & end of the night) - animation
To see what is viewable by period
Constellations (by Alphabetical)
Constellations (by Month)
Messiers objects (by Alphabetical)
Messiers objects (by Month)
| Montreal, Qc |
| Clear Sky Chart |
| . | Going across Est Canada | |
| Bramton (Toronto), Ont |
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| Nepean (Ottawa), Ont |
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| Hemmingford, Qc |
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| Montreal, Qc |
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| Mont Megantic, Qc |
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| Quebec, Qc |
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| Amherst, NS |
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