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Charles Messier. Charles Messier (French: [ʃaʁl me.sje]; 26 June 1730 – 12 April 1817) was a French astronomer. He published an astronomical catalogue consisting of 110 nebulae and star clusters, which came to be known as the Messier objects, referred to with the letter M and their number between 1 and 110. Messier's purpose for the ...
The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles (Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters). Because Messier was interested only in finding comets, he created a list of those non-comet objects that frustrated his hunt for them.
The Wild Duck Cluster (also known as Messier 11, or NGC 6705) is an open cluster of stars in the constellation Scutum (the Shield). It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. [3] Charles Messier included it in his catalogue of diffuse objects in 1764. Its popular name derives from the brighter stars forming a triangle which could resemble a ...
Messier 13 was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, [ 2 ] and cataloged by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764, [ 9 ] into his list of objects not to mistake for comets; Messier's list, including Messier 13, eventually became known as the Messier catalog. [ 10 ] It is located at right ascension 16 h 41.7 m, declination +36° 28'.
Whirlpool Galaxy. The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a (M51a) or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. [6][7][8] It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. [9]
Dumbbell Nebula. known for a white dwarf. The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as the Apple Core Nebula, Messier 27, and NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula (nebulosity surrounding a white dwarf) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1360 light-years. [1] It was the first such nebula to be discovered, by Charles Messier in 1764.
It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC (New General Catalogue) 598. With the D 25 isophotal diameter of 18.74 kiloparsecs (61,100 light-years), the Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, behind the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way. The galaxy is the second-smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group after ...
Sombrero Galaxy. The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as Messier Object 104, M104[4] or NGC 4594) is a peculiar galaxy of unclear classification [5] in the constellation borders of Virgo and Corvus, being about 9.55 megaparsecs (31.1 million light-years) [2] from the Milky Way galaxy. It is a member of the Virgo II Groups, a series of galaxies and ...