Messier’s catalog of 110 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies is the most popular list of deep sky gems. The first edition of this stunning reference atlas was hailed as the most comprehensive, detailed, and beautiful account of the Messier objects then available and the second edition continues this trend.
Each object is presented with:
- Updated historical information, including from new sources, such as William Herschel, featuring accounts and anecdotes from Messier and other prominent visual observers who followed him
- Thoroughly researched astrophysical information, the results of an investigation of more than 500 recent scientific papers including, for the first time, fully consistent distance data from the Gaia space observatory
- Extensive information on visual observing using the naked eye, binoculars, and amateur telescopes from modest sizes up to 20 inches aperture.
- New large-scale color photos from some of the world’s best amateurs displaying the objects’ splendor, as well as close-up images from the Hubble Space Telescope, for some objects, showing the fine details.
The introductory section includes an extensive biographical portrait of the life of Charles Messier, his observations and his telescopes, and his contemporaries, and a complete translation of Messier’s original catalog. There is also detailed information on how to observe the Messier objects and advice on how to conduct a Messier Marathon.
For those seeking even more, the author provides the Herschel 100 list.
In addition, many objects feature historical sketches from classical observers from the nineteenth century alongside the author’s modern deep-sky drawings.
The author Ronald Stoyan is the proprietor of the independent German publisher Oculum-Verlag, which specializes in amateur astronomy books. He has authored or co-authored twelve books on practical astronomy, including Atlas of the Messier Objects, The Cambridge Photographic Star Atlas, The Atlas of Great Comets and interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas.
