Stoyan R., Binnewies S., Friedrich S., Schroeder K.-P. Atlas of the Messier Objects Highlights of the Deep Sky

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. – 2008. – 370 p. The catalog gathered by the French astronomer Charles Messier (1730–1817) has been the most popular compilation of astronomical objects beyond our Solar System for more than 200 years. It contains 110 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies, among them most of the brightest and finest deep sky highlights that are visible from northern skies. This book is the first scholarly look at the catalog since Glyn-Jones, and that effort is almost half a century old. Stoyan explores the latest astrophysical research concerning each of Messier’s 110 deep sky objects. Stoyan could well devote his entire book to the astrophysics of Messier’s first object, the Crab Nebula, and I still subscribe to the belief that I read years ago that astronomy has two parts: that of the Crab and that of everything else. A major part of the book is the more than 150 fantastic photos by leading amateur astrophotographers from all over the world. Occasionally, these images are accompanied by photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope, where this adds value. In addition, an extensive collection of visual drawings is shown, both from the classical era of the nineteenth century, as well as modern sketches drawn by the author himself.ForewordUser guide
Charles Messier
The Observations
The Catalog
Statistics of the Messier objects
Visual observation of the Messier objects
Photography of the Messier objects
The 110 Messier objects
Glossary of technical terms
Index of figures
Index of sources