Recipients
2009
Jeff Donaldson (Halifax)
Quinn Smith (Halifax)
Hughes LaCombe (CF de Montreal)
Keith Johnstone (Calgary)
2008
Linda Pulliah (Unattached)
Donna-Lee May (Edmonton)
Terry Leeder (Toronto)
Robert Lewis (Niagara)
Doug Wayland (Prince George)
Brent Burlingham (Saskatoon)
Elizabeth Van Akker (Victoria)
2007
Doug Bates (Kitchener-Waterloo)
Charles Banville (Victoria)
John Bohdanowicz (Toronto)
Kim Hay (Kingston)
Donald A. Kelly (New Brunswick)
Graeme Stemp-Murlock (Unattached)
Richard Stankiewicz (Unattached)
Maryanne Weiler (Kitchener-Waterloo)
2006
Faye Bontje (London)
Ted Bronson (Thunder Bay)
Robert Casgrain (Edmonton)
Lynn Chetwynd (Toronto)
Michael T. Clancy (Saskatoon)
Adam Clayson (Toronto)
Les Dempsey (Belleville)
Les Dickson (Saskatoon)
Tom Luton (Toronto)
Gilbert Raineault (Winnipeg)
Roger Vail (Charlottetown)
2005
Chris Anderson (Regina)
Randy Attwood (Toronto)
John J. Brooks (California, USA)
Graham Budd (Edmonton)
Lynn Chetwynd (Toronto)
Denis Grey (Toronto)
Edward Hitchcock (Toronto)
Dean Huxley (Calgary)
Robert Johnson (Saskatoon)
Stephen Keefer (Toronto)
Derek J. Lapointe (New Brunswick)
Michael McAllister (Toronto)
Jack Milliken (Calgary)
David Player (Okanagan)
Paul R. Sheppard (Ottawa)
Steven Swiryn, M.D. (Illinois, USA)
2004
Andrew Beaton (Toronto)
Tim Bihuniak (Edmonton)
Trent Bjorndahl (Edmonton)
Leo Brodeur (Kingston)
Jnani Cevvel (Edmonton)
George Charpentier (Saskatoon)
Bob Crossman (New Brunswick)
Charles Doucet (New Brunswick)
Philip Downey (Niagara Falls)
Ray Drouillard (Windsor)
Ted Dunphy (New Brunswick)
Marie Fisher (Sarnia)
Alden Foraie (Regina)
Daniel LeBlanc (New Brunswick)
Norman Leier (Regina)
Emma MacPhee (New Brunswick)
Christopher Mulders (Calgary)
Christopher Novak (Montreal)
Roy Ramdeen (Edmonton)
Larry Scott (Saskatoon)
Joseph Shields (Belleville)
Chris Teron (Ottawa)
Norm Willey (Victoria)
2003
Riyad B. Abu-Laban (Vancouver)
John Appleyard (London)
David Barrie (Regina)
Martin Bonert (Toronto)
Bob Brann (Regina)
Sean Ceaser (Winnipeg)
Jason Colley (Ottawa)
Michael A. Earl (Ottawa)
Sam Ferris (Regina)
Paul Heath (Halifax)
Andre Hiotis (Ottawa)
Michael K. Holzer (Regina)
William R. Hydomako (Saskatoon)
Michael Karakas (Winnipeg)
Mark Kaye (Kingston)
Kevin Kell (Kingston)
Geoff Meek (Ottawa)
Stephen B. Meister (Regina)
Berni Plett (Winnipeg)
Wendell Shuster (Okanagan)
Jenn Tigner (Ottawa)
Jim Tisdale (Okanagan)
Tenho Tuomi (Saskatoon)
Harold Tutt (London)
Norman F. Welbanks (Kingston)
Dan Williams (London)
2002
Donna-Marie Bonnett (Toronto)
Jim Fisher (Okanagan)
Bill Gardner (London)
Michael Gatto (Halifax)
Harold Healy (Toronto)
Stewart Hill (Okanagan)
Tim Hunter (Toronto)
Keith Lowe (Halifax)
Terry Millard (Unattached)
Vance Petriew (Regina)
Vic Smida (Kingston)
Martin Weatherston (Unattached)
Matthew Weeks (Ottawa)
Bill Weir (Victoria)
Scott Wilson (Regina)
2001
Pat Browne (Ottawa)
Joyce Carly (Toronto)
Robert R. Chapman (Toronto)
David Halliday (Toronto)
Michael Hanes (London)
Stan Runge (Winnipeg)
Michael Stephens (Saskatoon)
2000
Raymond J. Andrejowich (Winnipeg)
Lawrence J. Burgess (Windsor)
Paul Ellard (Okanagan)
David Marchand (Windsor)
Ken Noesgaard (Saskatoon)
Jose C. Ordenes (Sarnia)
Dunstan Pasterfield (Regina)
Michael Pataky (Windsor)
Roland Prevost (Ottawa)
Arnold L. Rivera (Edmonton)
Susan Sawyer-Beaulieu (Windsor)
Janice Tokar (Ottawa)
Brian White (Hamilton)
Gail Lorraine Wise (Winnipeg)
1999
Doug Angle (Kingston)
R. O. Christie (Saskatoon)
John Douglas (Ottawa)
Marc Dumais (Toronto)
Alexander Dutkewych (Unattached)
Geoff Gaherty (Toronto)
Johanne Gamache (Montreal)
Charles (Chuck) Johns- (Montreal)
Guy Mackie (Okanagan)
David Prudhomme (Edmonton)
Ron C. Scherer (Okanagan)
Richard Taylor (Ottawa)
Richard Weatherston (Sarnia)
Jan Wisniewski (Victoria)
Timothy George Zacharias (Winnipeg)
1998
Harry Adams (Ottawa)
Darrell Chatfield (Saskatoon)
Sandy Ferguson (Saskatoon)
Christopher Fleming (London)
Joseph Gurney (London)
Dale Jeffrey (Saskatoon)
Ken Kingdon (Kingston)
Randy Klassen (Vancouver)
Peter Manson (Ottawa)
David Pianosi (Kingston)
Ken Roung (Windsor)
Alan Sherlock (Winnipeg)
John Smith (Winnipeg)
Richard Turenne (Winnipeg)
1997
Scott Alexander (Saskatoon)
Denis Boucher (Edmonton)
Joseph P. Cambala (Windsor)
Stephen Carrigan (Halifax)
Kenneth Davy (Toronto)
Richard Huziak (Saskatoon)
Brian McCullough (Ottawa)
Gordon Sarty (Saskatoon)
Mark Viol (Toronto)
1996
Ray Berg (Kingston)
Brian Cheaney (Toronto)
Alfred L. Connelly (Edmonton)
Peter Dawes (London)
1995
Richard I. Adduci (Unattached (USA)
Raymond Auclair (Unattached)
Kevin Black (Winnipeg)
Donald Dunn (Ottawa)
Rose-Marie Eklind (Edmonton)
Roger Fell (Edmonton)
C.S. Tony Gardner (Edmonton)
Cathy L. Hall (Ottawa)
Glenn Hawley (Calgary)
Richard Keppler (Calgary)
Sherry Macleod (Edmonton)
Chris Malicki (Toronto)
David McCarter (London)
David J. Nopper (London)
Peter R. Smith (Edmonton)
Sylvia Smith (Edmonton)
Douglas L. Stuart (Thunder Bay)
Carole Talbot (Montreal)
1994
Tom Cameron (Calgary)
Ben Gendre (Edmonton)
Paul Grey (Halifax)
Bruce J. McCurdy (Edmonton)
John Reppa (Halifax)
Douglas Sheldrake (Toronto)
Howard Simkover (Ottawa)
1993
Charles W. Baetsen (Hamilton)
Paul H. Bock Jr. (USA)
Bill Broderick (Kingston)
Reginald D. Henderson (Halifax)
Peter Jedicke (London)
Jun Kirkcaldy (Vancouver)
Danial M. Lazar (Calgary)
George Livadaras (Montreal)
Blair MacDonald (Halifax)
Douglas Middleton (Montreal)
Marc Ricard (Montreal)
Dan Rombough (Kingston)
Frank Tomaras (Montreal)
1992
Gary Angers (Montreal)
Oscar Cole Arnal (Kitchener-Waterloo)
Ray Baczkiewi (Calgary)
Dave Bennett (Toronto)
Tim Bennett (Windsor)
Louie Bernstein (Montreal)
Mark Bratton (Montreal)
Robert A. Donner (Unattached, USA)
John C. Mirtle (Calgary)
Roger Nelson (Calgary)
Bill Strople (Montreal)
Darren Talbot (Toronto)
Ann Tekatch (Hamilton)
Bill Tekatch (Hamilton)
Michael J. Wasylenko (Calgary)
Carole Weis (Calgary)
Richard Weis (Calgary)
1991
Alan Des Rosiers (Windsor)
Michael Hollands (Calgary)
Phil Kuzniak (Calgary)
Stephen D. Manders (Kingston)
Brad Richens (Edmonton)
Andrew N. Westlund (Victoria)
1990
Lance Appleby (Calgary)
Paul Campbell (Edmonton)
Brian Chappel (Calgary)
David M. Christmas (Toronto)
Robert G. Drew (Edmonton)
Otmar Eigler (Toronto)
Stanley Hanna (Kingston)
Dave Lane (Halifax)
Guy Nason (Toronto)
Murray D. Paulson (Edmonton)
Larry Wood (Edmonton)
1989
Dave Clyburn (Edmonton)
Allan T. Mumby (Edmonton)
Randy Pakan (Edmonton)
Bert Rhebergen (Hamilton)
Joe Yurchesyn (Halifax)
1988
Robert Breckenridge (Edmonton)
Robert Burbank (Toronto)
Michael Flegel (London)
Thomas J. Hurley (Windsor)
Tom Matty (Edmonton)
Martin McConnell (Kingston)
John F.W. Rousom (London)
1987
Larry Bogan (Halifax)
Matt Bourdeau (Windsor)
Peter Ceravolo (Edmonton)
Patrick Kelly (Halifax)
Gorden Lorimer (Montreal)
Douglas C. Pitcairn (Halifax)
Melville C. Rankin (Edmonton)
Glenn K. Roberts (Halifax)
Daniel B. Taylor (Windsor)
Mary Lou Whitehorne (Halifax)
1986
David Chapman (Halifax)
Alan Legary (Windsor)
Mark Sorensen (Kingston)
William Thurlow, M.D. (Halifax)
1985
Rajiv Bhushan (Montreal)
Kurtis Law (Montreal)
Stephen Okovic (Montreal)
Kim Rowe (Toronto)
Anteo Talevi (Toronto)
1984
Dale Armstrong (London)
Eric Clinton (London)
Jamie Fougere (Toronto)
Jim Lucyk (London)
Walter MacDonald II (Toronto)
Paul Markov (Toronto)
Mark Sinkins (London)
Stephen Spinney (Toronto)
Thomas Steckner (London)
Michael S.F. Watson (Toronto)
1983
Gary Boyle (Montreal)
Gus Johnson (Kingston)
Enrico Kindl (Montreal)
Alister Ling (Montreal)
James Scotti (Kingston)
1982
Peter Daniel (Kitchener-Waterloo)
Leo Enright (Kingston)
Grant Gussie (Winnipeg)
Phil Mozel (Toronto)
John M. Thompson (Sarnia)
1981
Randolph C. Groundwater (Windsor)
Messier Certificate
About the Catalogue
The Messier Catalogue was developed in the 1700's by Charles Messier (1730-1817). Messier was a comet hunter working with speculum metal reflectors and small refractors that were the equivalent of a modern 80 - 100 mm reflector. As a result of the limited tools that he had to work with, he could not see the true nature of many of his "faint fuzzies" that are revealed in today's modern instruments. The certificate has been awarded since 1981. Handy recording and application forms can be found from a link at the bottom of this page.
Here is an overview of the Messier Catalogue:
| Messier Objects | Number | Notes |
| Open Clusters | 28 | Includes many beautiful open clusters like M6, M7, The Beehive, The Pleiades and The Wild Duck. |
| Globular Clusters | 29 | Includes the showpieces M13, M22, M5 and M3. |
| Bright Nebulae | 8 | Includes the great Orion Nebula as well as the Lagoon, Swan, Eagle and Trifid Nebulae. |
| Planetary Nebulae | 4 | Includes the impressive Ring Nebula as well as the Dumbbell and Owl planetary nebulae. |
| Galaxies | 40 | Includes the amazing Andromeda Galaxy as well as M51, M33, M81/M82 and many others. |
| Double Stars | 1 | This is M40, an unusual Messier object. |
| Total | 110 | |
If Messier were alive today he would no doubt be astonished at the size, distance and complexity of the various objects that he catalogued. As a comet hunter, they were often nuisances since they "got in the way" of his search for new comets.
The RASC's Messier Certificate
A Messier Certificate is awarded to RASC members who visually observe all 110 objects on the Messier list as published annually in the Observer's Handbook. Note that there are several published versions of the Messier list so it is important to follow this official reference. The Messier list can be started during any season. You must be a member in good standing of the RASC to be awarded this certificate.
Exploring the Messier Catalogue is an excellent observing project as it contains many showpiece objects. Moreover it allows you to see the universe from an 18th century perspective and to learn more about the night sky.
Observing Forms
The RASC Observing Committee has created special observing forms to help you complete the Messier certificate program. These observing forms (653 kb, 110 pg) will help to keep your observations in one organized file. They feature all of the important data about each Messier object and a generous area for making notes and drawings.
Resources
Here are some recommended resources to help you tackle the Messier Certificate program:
- The Messier Objects - by Stephen James O'Meara is a definitive guide to the Messier catalogue.
