Appendix A -- Column Headings
CATALOG -- Messier Catalog number
COMMON NAME -- Common name given to object
TYPE -- OC: Open Cluster, PN: Planetary Nebula, BN: Bright or Emission Nebula
GC: Globular Cluster, followed by roman numeral for Shapley and Sawyer
classification, EG: Elliptical Galaxy, SG: Spiral Galaxy IG, IG: Irregular
Galaxy, AS: Asterism
CONSTLN -- Constellation where the object is found, using the IAU three letter
abbreviation
DISTANCE thousands of LY -- Distance from Earth expressed in thousands of light
years. Distances were taken from Wikipedia articles of each object. Keeping
track of this statistic taught me a lesson in perspective. Planetary nebula are
our closest Messier neighbors. They are no doubt common throughout our galaxy
and other galaxies, but they are so dim that only the closest ones can be
observed from Earth. Bright or emission orreflection nebulae are brighter and
can be seen at a greater distance. Open clusters can be seen much further out,
probably only limited by the ability to resolve individual member stars.
Globular clusters which tend to be found in a halo around the core of the
Milky Way are even further away, but still within our galaxy. Globulars have
been observed in other galaxies of the Local Group, but were not detectable with
the telescopes of Messier's day. Spiral, elliptical and irregular galaxies are
the farthest Messier objects.
MAGNITUDE -- Relative brightness of each object. Data gathered from Sky &
Telescope's Messier Card.
SIZE -- Apparent size of each object in arc seconds. Also from S & T Messier
Card. Magnitude and size data became invaluable to me, helping me to know
"how big and how bright" was the object which I was looking for.
DATE -- Date of first observation of each object. Many of the objects have been
revisited multiple times, but each listing is the first recorded observation.
TIME -- Time of observation. All times are Mountain Standard or Mountain
Daylight time, regardless of the location of the observation.
LOCATION -- Observations were made at many different locations. Detailed
information of each location can be found in
Appendix B.
ELEVATION -- Elevation of location in feet above sea level. Data from
www.freemaptools.com/elevation-finder.htm.
BORTLE -- The dark sky quality of each location measured by the Bortle Scale,
with 1 being the darkest possible sky. Bortle estimates gathered from
http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html
CONDITIONS -- Subjective appraisal of cloud conditions. Also unusual
conditions such as smoke or dust.
SEEING -- Indication of atmospheric turbulence, bad to excellent. Data from
www.cleardarksky.com, I used the chart closest to observation location.
This data is indicated on a scale of one to five, with 1 of 5 being bad and 5 of
5 being excellent. When this data was unavailable, subjective assesment made based on stellar
scintillation and quality of planetary or lunar observations.
TRANSPARENCY -- Transparency of atmosphere from ground to space. Data from
www.cleardarksky.com is indicated on a scale of one to five, with 1 of
5 being poor and 5 of 5 being transparent. When this data was unavailable, subjective
judgement of transparency was based on daytime observation of distant objects and
limiting magnitude of dim stars.
HUMIDITY -- Factor in seeing and transparency. Lower humidity generally
means better seeing conditions. Data from www.weather.gov, the National Weather
Service website. Addtional data from
www.wunderground.com historical archives.
MOON% -- Percentage of Lunar illumination on date of observation. Data taken
from
http://www.aa.usno.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php (U.S. Naval
Observatory Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day). At remote
locations, data is from closest major city. New=new moon.
RISE/SET -- Time (local time zone) of Moonrise or Mooset (R=rise, S=set) on
the date of observation. Also from USNO website. New=new moon.
EQUIPMENT -- Telescope or binoculars and eyepiece(s) used for each observation.
Equipment details on this page.
MAGNIFICATION -- Magnification of binoculars or telescope/eyepiece combination.
FOV (degrees) -- Actual field of view, expressed in degrees.
COMMENTS -- My personal notes describing each object. Brief notes are taken from
my observation journal. About halfway into the project I began using a digital
voice recorder to document my observations, which were later transcribed intomy
journal. I have not included my complete
journal as it is
nearly one hundred pages in length and includes Lunar, planetary, NGC and double
star observations in addition to my Messier observations. I am currently in the
process of putting my full journal online on my personal website. I will provide
more detailed observation notes upon request.