The Big Foto » messier catalogue

Messier objects gallery. M100-M110

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:32:56 +0000

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 of the catalogue was to help comet hunters, as he was, and to help other astronomical observers to distinguish between permanent and transient objects in the sky. Other astronomers, using side notes in Messier’s texts, eventually filled out the list to 110 objects.

This post contains 2 popular space objects : Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) and the beautiful Sombrero Galaxy (M104)

If you have missed the previous objects please also visit:

Messier objects gallery. M89-M99

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:30:26 +0000

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 Big Foto Messier catalog posts:

Messier objects gallery. M78-M88

admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:28:04 +0000

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 Messier catalog of photos:

Messier objects gallery. M67-M77

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:15:12 +0000

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 Grand Design Spiral Galaxy.

The Big Foto Messier catalog:

Messier objects gallery. M56-M66

admin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:13:21 +0000

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 to get their color, in this case in spanish.

The Big Foto Messier catalog:

Messier objects gallery. M45-M55

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:50:17 +0000

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 those objects which are known since the earliest times. They were known pre-historically. Mentioned by Homer about 750 B.C., by biblical Amos about 750 B.C., and by Hesiod about 700 B.C. At least 6 member stars are visible to the naked eye, while under moderate conditions this number increases to 9, and under clear dark skies jumps up to more than a dozen (Vehrenberg, in his Atlas of Deep Sky Splendors, mentions that in 1579, well before the invention of the telescope, astronomer Moestlin has correctly drawn 11 Pleiades stars, while Kepler quotes observations of up to 14).[seds.org]

The Big Foto Messier catalog:

Messier objects gallery. M34-M44

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:26:48 +0000

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 Orion Nebula(M42) and De Mairan’s Nebula(M43) - part of Orion Nebula – are brought to us by NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team. They are the best ones of this incredible set.

The best fotos of this post are at the bottom, do not miss them.

The Big Foto best Messier catalog images:

Messier objects gallery. M23-M33

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:24:30 +0000

The third 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 23 to 33 (M23-M33). This objects refers to some popular nebulas and galaxies like Triangulum Galaxy (M33) , Dumbbell Nebula (M27) and the very impressive Andromeda Galaxy (M31) which true-color image was created by combining images taken in seven filters: U (violet), B (blue), V (green), R (orange), I (red), Hydrogen-Alpha (red) and Oxygen [OIII] (green).

The best fotos of this post are at the bottom, do not miss them.

The Andromeda galaxy probably can be the theme of a single post, but here I have just included a pic .

The Big Foto complete Messier catalog:

Messier objects gallery. M12-M22

admin — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:30:51 +0000

The second 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 12 to 22 (M12-M22). This objects refers to some popular nebulas and clusters like Great Globular Cluster in Hercules , Pegasus Cluster, Eagle Nebula, Omega Nebula or the beautiful Trifid Nebula.

Some people find out that when they check the space with their telescope there is no such colors out there, only black & white. I have found these examples on how images are processed to understand this.

The Big Foto Messier catalog:

Messier objects gallery. M1-M11

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:30:17 +0000

This gallery (distributed in 10 posts) will include all Messier objects, 110, that many amateur astronomers use today as reference.

Charles Messier (1730-06-26 – 1817-04-12) 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”. Many of the objects in the Messier catalogue were discovered by his assistant, Pierre Mechain. The purpose of the catalogue was to help comet hunters, as he was, and to help other astronomical observers to distinguish between permanent and transient objects in the sky. Objects, M104 through M110, are accepted by many astronomers as “official” Messier objects despite they were added between 1921 and 1966.

The crater Messier on the Moon and the asteroid 7359 Messier were named in his honor.

Let’s enjoy the Messier objects in 2009, the year of astronomy.

Messier catalog: