Each spring, amateur astronomers attempt the ultimate stargazing challenge—an overnight quest to spot every galaxy, nebula, ...

French astronomer Charles Messier did not intend to be remembered for his discoveries of galaxies, nebulae, and stars ...

Charles Messier was a French comet-hunter who occasionally spied objects masquerading as comets due to their fuzzy appearance through his small scope. But they didn’t move against the starry ...

Join Custer Observatory for our first-ever Messier Marathon! This is the ultimate deep-sky challenge: we’ll attempt to locate all 110 objects in Charles Messier’s famous catalog—from galaxies to ...

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. March 20: The Moon passes Venus on the vernal equinox This is the ideal night to run the 2026 Messier marathon. This annual ...

Why doesn't Astronomy magazine recognize Messier 110? Keith LankfordHarvest, Alabama Amateur astronomers dubbed this object M110 in the 1960s, so we choose not to include it. Charles Messier's list ...

Custer Institute will host their first ever Messier Marathon, a deep-sky challenge trying to find all 110 of Messier's ...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - “When I was a kid, my cousin showed me Saturn from a telescope when I was young and that got me hooked.” Tom Weber, the President of the Cedar Amateur Astronomers recalled.

Last summer, the global amateur astronomer community was rocked when it lost one of its giants. Don Machholz from Arizona passed away suddenly on Aug. 9, 2022, at the age of 69. Don was a preeminent ...

People have long been interested in comets. They are very scientifically interesting, and at the time, astrologers would ...