| Description | Sometimes I think the Messier Catalog gets way more credit than it deserves. Yes, it's the oldest catalog, and some of the most beautiful, and bright, DSOs are listed in it. But this hides a larger truth that Messier was creating a list of places he DIDN'T want to observe. In particular, what we today call open clusters were "objects" which Messier's terrible 18th century telescope (way worse than yours and mine) couldn't resolve as individual stars. He saw them as an extended blur that he could mistake for the tail of a comet. Frankly, except for the fact that his cluster is in the Messier Catalog, I would never choose to observe it. That it kept me awake past 1 AM on a crazy night with a nearly full moon and multiple layers of clouds makes it worse. Sigh. Do I sound bitter? Not really. But it's one of those unintended consequences of taking on a challenge like "observe every Messier Object". |
