Deep Space Hunt

Amateur astronomers set challenges upon themselves by patiently searching for deep sky objects.These tasks will often carry the challenge well over 12 months, and even longer at times, due to weather as well as other unforeseen reasons.  One of the most important rules is that all objects must be hunted by way of star hopping, therefore computerised go-to telescopes are strictly not allowed.  If you are interested in conducting your own hunt and don't know where to begin. Drop us a line and we would be more than happy to help you out.

The Messier List

One of the deep sky catalogues which is mostly used is the Messier Catalogue which was created and compiled by  a French astronomer Charles Messier during the years from 1758 to 1782. Charles Messier compiled a list of approximately 100 diffuse objects which were difficult to distinguish from comets through the telescopes of the day. The way to make a name for yourself in astronomy in the 18th century was by discovering comets. Charles Messier's aim was to catalogue the objects that were most often mistaken for comets.

There are 110 messier objects on this list, however being in Australia, only 100 out of the 110 can be seen.

You can download this Printable List for your use.

30 Messiers	60 Messiers	90 Messiers	100 Messiers
Paul O'Neil	Lloyd Wright	Ivan Fox	Peter Elston
	Chris Malikoff	Bob Bee	Bobbie Elston
	Henry Swierk	Trevor Rhodes	John Rombi
	Debra Taylor		Dick Everett
			Daniel Ross
			Ian Cook

 

The Dunlop List

In the years 1823-1827, James Dunlop, (1795-1848) observed the southern skies from the Brisbane observatory at Paramatta, New South Wales, Australia. He compiled several catalogs, among them the Brisbane Catalog of over 7000 southern stars, and 'A Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars in the Southern Hemisphere' observed in New South Wales of 629 entries for deepsky objects.  The top 100 objects have been selected to make up the Dunlop 100 for observers to hunt down as per the above Messier List.

You can download this Printable Listfor your use.

25 Dunlops	50 Dunlops	75 Dunlops	100 Dunlops
	Trevor Rhodes

 

The Bennett List

For two decades, starting in the late 1960's, the southern sky was patrolled by a dedicated South African comet-hunter named Jack Bennett. He observed from his urban backyard with a 5-inch low-power refractor. Among the 152 objects are the Tarantula, Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, Sombrero and the Silver Coin.

You can download this Printable List for your use.

40 Bennetts	80 Bennetts	120 Bennetts	152 Bennetts

The Caldwell List

This is a short catalog of bright objects not contained in the Messier catalog. All the objects in this list can be seen in typical amateur telescopes.

30 Caldwells	60 Caldwells	90 Caldwells	100 Caldwells