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It was discovered on May 3, 1764, [10] and was the first Messier object to be discovered by Charles Messier himself. Messier originally mistook the object for a nebula without stars. This mistake was corrected after the stars were resolved by William Herschel around 1784. [11] Since then, it has become one of the best-studied globular clusters.
Charles Messier. The first edition of 1774 covered 45 objects (M1 to M45).The total list published by Messier in 1781 contained 103 objects, but the list was expanded through successive additions by other astronomers, motivated by notes in Messier's and Méchain's texts indicating that at least one of them knew of the additional objects.
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum.It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 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.
NGC 5195 (also known as Messier 51b or M51b) is a dwarf galaxy that is interacting with the Whirlpool Galaxy (also known as M51a or NGC 5194). Both galaxies are located approximately 25 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici .
The Pleiades (/ ˈ p l iː. ə d iː z, ˈ p l eɪ-, ˈ p l aɪ-/), [8] [9] also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45, is an asterism of an open star cluster containing young B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus.
Messier 13 is often described by astronomers as the most magnificent globular cluster visible to northern observers. [2] About one third of the way from Vega to Arcturus, four bright stars in Hercules form the Keystone asterism, the broad torso of the hero. M13 can be seen in this asterism 2 ⁄ 3 of the way north from Zeta to Eta Herculis.
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.
Messier described it as, "A cluster of small stars a little below the parallel of γ (Andromedae). In an ordinary telescope of 3 feet one can distinguish the stars." [3] Based on the distance modulus of 8.38, it is about 470 parsecs (1,500 ly) away. [2] For stars ranging from 0.12 to 1 solar mass (M ☉), the cluster has about 400. [5]