A year after beginning the Astronomical League’s Messier Observing Program,  I have completed half of the list. With 55 objects down and 55 to go, it has been a wonderful year of deep-sky observations. I anticipate the second half to go a bit slower than the first. Two factors will contribute to this. The first is light pollution from my primary observing location. I have run into difficulty finding galaxies and globular clusters that are dimmer than +9.00 magnitude. The second is my wife and I expecting our first child in July. Between light pollution and a little one, it will definitely take me longer to complete the second half of this list.

Objects Observed:

M1, M2, M3, M5, M9, M10, M11, M12, M13, M14, M15, M19, M22, M25, M28, M31, M32, M34, M35, M36, M37, M38, M39, M40, M41, M42, M43, M44, M45, M46, M47, M48, M50, M51, M52, M53, M54, M56, M57, M63, M64, M67, M73, M76, M77, M78, M79, M80, M81, M82, M92, M93, M94, M103, M110

Favorite Objects:

• M11-Wild Duck Cluster
• M13-Hercules Cluster
• M31-Andromeda Galaxy
• M37-Open Cluster
• M42-Orion Nebula
• M45-Pleiades
• M57-Ring Nebula
• M67-Open cluster
• M76-Little Dumbbell Nebula
• M81-Bode’s Nebulae
• M82-Bode’s Nebula