Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
The last post of this gallery that will include all Messier objects, 110.
Charles Messier (June 26, 1730 – April 12, 1817) was a French astronomer most notable for publishing an astronomical catalogue consisting of deep sky objects such as nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 103 “Messier objects”. The purpose [...]
Messier 100 (also known as NGC 4321) is a spiral galaxy about 52.5 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. It is one of the brightest galaxies in the Virgo cluster. Five supernovae have been identified in M100: SN 1901B, SN 1914A, SN 1959E, SN 1979C and SN 2006X. M100 also has a satellite galaxy named NGC 4323. Credit
N.A.Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSFMore photos ›
The 9th post of this gallery that will include all Messier objects, 110.
This post contains popular space objects like Owl Nebula (M97) and the great Coma Pinwheel Galaxy (M99) among many spiral galaxies.
You can also enjoy this free music theme , Tranquility base.
If you have missed the previous objects please also visit the other The [...]
Messier 89 (M89 for short, also known as NGC 4552) is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered by Charles Messier on March 18, 1781. M89 is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. Credit
FriendlystarMore photos ›
The 8th post of this gallery (distributed in 10 posts) that will include all Messier objects, 110.
This post contains popular space objects like Bode’s Galaxy (M81), Cigar Galaxy (M82) – how it was obtained , Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (M83) and the great Radio galaxy Virgo A (M87) – read its caption.
Enjoy The Big Foto complete [...]
The nebula Messier 78 (also known as M 78 or NGC 2068) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.
M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that include NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071. This group belongs to the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex and is about 1,600 light years distant from Earth. M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th magnitude. These two stars, HD 38563A and HD 38563B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M78 visible by reflecting their light. Credit
T. A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSFMore photos ›
The 7th post of this gallery (distributed in 10 posts) that will include all Messier objects, 110.
This post contains a popular space object Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76) – remember Messier 27 The Dumbell Nebula – among many other star clusters and Messier 74, a galaxy that is used as an archetypal example of a [...]
More photos ›
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
The 6th post of this gallery (distributed in 10 posts) that will include all Messier objects, 110.
This post contains 3 popular space objects The Ring Nebula (M57), Sunflower Galaxy (M63) and the spectacular Black Eye Galaxy (M64) among many other spiral galaxies.
M63 credit links to another explanation on how this kind of images are processed [...]
Messier 56 (also known as M56 or NGC 6779) is a globular cluster in the constellation Lyra. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1779. M56 is at a distance of about 32,900 light-years from Earth and measures roughly 84 light-years across. Credit
NASA/STScI/WikiSkyMore photos ›
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
The 5th post of this gallery (distributed in 10 posts) that will include all Messier objects, 110.
This post opens with the Pleiades (M45), probably the best pic of this set, and it also contains the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) among other open and globular clusters of stars.
The Pleiades, also known as Messier 45 (M45), are among [...]
The Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, is a conspicuous object in the night sky with a prominent place in ancient mythology. The cluster contains hundreds of stars, of which only a handful are commonly visible to the unaided eye. The stars in the Pleiades are thought to have formed together around 100 million years ago, making them 1/50th the age of our sun, and they lie some 130 parsecs (425 light years) away. From our perspective they appear in the constellation of Taurus. Credit
NASA/ESA/AURA/Caltech.More photos ›
Friday, February 27th, 2009
The 4th post of this gallery (distributed in 10 posts) that will include all Messier objects, 110.
Today I will show the best pictures I have found for Messier objects from 34 to 44 (M34-M44). These objects refers to a popular nebula, a double star Winnecke4 (M40) and many open clusters like Beehive Cluster(M44). The popular [...]
Messier 34 (also known as M 34 or NGC 1039) is an open cluster in the constellation Perseus. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects in 1764.
M34 is at a distance of about 1,400 light-years away from Earth and consists of some 100 stars. It spans about 35' on the sky which translates to a true radius of 7 light years. The cluster is just visible to the naked eye in very dark conditions, well away from city lights. It is well seen in binoculars. Credit
REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSFMore photos ›
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