Public Lectures for the Session 2000-2001 held in the Godlee Observatory, UMIST.
Delivered to the Manchester Astronomical Society

14th December 2000

The Presidential Lecture, 'The Caldwell Catalogue'

Guy D Duckworth, BSc.,
President Manchester Astronomical Society

The president said that in 1781 the French astronomer, Charles Messier, had comiled a list of 103 objects that could easily be mistaken for comets, his chief interest. This had been extended to include 110 nebulae, star clusters and faint asterisms.

A new list, complied by the writer and broadcaster, Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore was published in the mid 1990s. This includes 109 deep sky objects, in both hemispheres of the sky, that are bright enough to be seen in amateur telescopes.

Mr Duckworth illustrated his talk with many slides and described the salient points of many objects from the Caldwell catalogue. Members and visitors were invited to purchase copies of the list at cost.

Synopsis by Kevin J. Kilburn (Secretary)

Maintained by Michael Oates
Page modified 28 October, 2006