Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
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 ...
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'.
Messier 83. Messier 83 or M83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy and NGC 5236, is a barred spiral galaxy [7] approximately 15 million light-years away in the constellation borders of Hydra and Centaurus. Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered M83 on 17 February 1752 at the Cape of Good Hope. [8]
Messier 102 (also known as M102) is a galaxy listed in the Messier Catalogue that cannot be unambiguously identified. Its original discoverer Pierre Méchain retracted his discovery two years after publication and said that it was a duplicate observation of Messier 101. [1] Later historical evidence favors that M102 is actually the galaxy NGC ...
1712 — Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley publish a catalog based on data from a Royal Astronomer who left all his data under seal, the official version would not be released for another decade. 1725 — Posthumous publication of John Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis Britannica; 1771 — Charles Messier publishes his first list of nebulae
Trifid Nebula. The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region in the north-west of Sagittarius in a star-forming region in the Milky Way's Scutum–Centaurus Arm. [3] It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764. [4] Its name means 'three-lobe'. The object is an unusual combination of an open ...
Messier marathon. A Messier marathon is an attempt, usually organized by amateur astronomers, to find as many Messier objects as possible during one night. The Messier catalogue was compiled by French astronomer Charles Messier during the late 18th century and consists of 110 relatively bright deep-sky objects (galaxies, nebulae, and star ...