Deep-Sky Companions: The Messier Objects

Author of several highly acclaimed books, including others in the celebrated Deep-Sky Companions series, Stephen James O'Meara is well known among the astronomical community for his engaging and informative writing style and for his remarkable skills as a visual observer. O'Meara spent much of his early career on the editorial staff of Sky and Telescope before joining Astronomy magazine as its Secret Sky columnist and a contributing editor. An award-winning visual observer, he was the first person to sight Halley's Comet on its return in 1985 and the first to determine visually the rotation period of Uranus. One of his most distinguished feats was the visual detection of the mysterious spokes in Saturn's B-ring before spacecraft imaged them. Among his achievements, O'Meara has received the prestigious Lone Stargazer Award, the Omega Centauri Award and the Caroline Herschel Award. Asteroid 3637 was named O'Meara in his honor by the International Astronomical Union. In his spare time, he travels the world to document volcanic eruptions. He is a contract videographer for National Geographic Digital Motion and a contract photographer for the National Geographic Image Collection.

• Preface to the first edition; Preface to the second edition; Acknowledgments to the first edition; 1. A glimpse into the life of Charles Messier; 2. How to observe the Messier objects; 3. The making of this book; 4. The Messier objects; 5. Some thoughts on Charles Messier; 6. Twenty spectacular non-Messier objects; Appendix a: objects Messier could not find; Appendix b: why didn't Messier include the Double Cluster in his catalogue? Appendix c: a quick guide to navigating the Coma–Virgo cluster; Appendix d: Messier marathons; Appendix e: alternate name and object index; Image credits; Index.