Mtg&Talks: Charles Messier & My Favorite (and Least Favorite) Messier Objects

The Warren Astronomical Society meets on the first Monday of the month in the auditorium of the Cranbrook Institute of Science.

We simulcast meetings online using Zoom. Meetup charges even more money to set up hybrid meetings, so subscribe to our email list on warrenastro.org to get the Zoom links! Meetings are also livestreaming on our YouTube channel.

At the meetings, we spend the first hour or so of the meeting on club business and observing reports, then have two presentations, one short and one full-length.

Main Talk:
Charles Messier
Ken Bertin

My presentation covers the life and contributions of Charles Messier to the field of astronomy. Messier was a comet chaser who catalogued the permanent objects that could be confused with comets passing by the Earth - a list that now forms the backbone of many amateur astronomers' nightly observations.

Ken says: I have been an amateur astronomer since the age of six. I organized an Astronomy club in High School, after which I attended the University of Arizona and knew head of the astronomy department GP Kuiper. Professor Kuiper convinced me to keep astronomy as an avocation. He stated that as the head of the college astronomy department he only made $29,000 a year. He said I should go into business, where I could make enough money to buy a large telescope, take trips around the world to see eclipses and other astronomy events. I could write lectures (I have well over a hundred of them) to give clubs and schools. I joined the Warren club in the nineties and was President and Vice President. I am also a lifetime member and recipient of the John Searles Award. I contributed the finder scope to the 8 inch Kalinowski reflector. I was married to my wife Linda for 51 years until her passing. I have a daughter Gennifer married to Jeffrey Thav and I have 3 college grandsons. I have seen 15 total solar eclipses, both transits of Venus across the sun, and numerous Lunar eclipses.

Short Talk:
My favorite and least favorite Messier objects
Jonathan Kade

Jonathan Kade has seen the entire Messier catalog, even if he doesn't have the Astronomical League certificate to prove it. He can tell you that not all of them are equally interesting to the eyes and the mind. In this short talk he'll celebrate his ten favorite Messier objects and reflect on five of his least favorite - while still recognizing their good points.

Jonathan is the first vice president of the Warren Astronomical Society and is entering his third decade as a member of the WAS. He is not usually given to speaking in the third person but he makes an exception for occasions like this.

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If you would like to present either a short talk (10-15 minutes) or a full-length talk (45-60 minutes) at a future meeting, please email Jonathan Kade at firstvp@warrenastro.org.

The views expressed in presentations are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent, and should not be attributed to, the Warren Astronomical Society.