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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.
Messier 7 or M7, also designated NGC 6475 and sometimes known as the Ptolemy Cluster, [4] is an open cluster of stars in the constellation of Scorpius. The cluster is easily detectable with the naked eye , close to the "stinger" of Scorpius.
Messier 3 is quite isolated as it is 31.6 kly (9.7 kpc) above the Galactic plane and roughly 38.8 kly (11.9 kpc) from the center of the Milky Way. It contains 274 known variable stars, by far the most found in any globular cluster. These include 133 RR Lyrae variables, of which about a third display the Blazhko effect of long-period modulation.
Messier 16, NGC 6611, [1] Sharpless 49, RCW 165, Cr 375, Gum 83, Star Queen Nebula See also: Lists of nebulae The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16 , and as NGC 6611 , and also known as the Star Queen Nebula ) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens , discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46.
The Little Dumbbell Nebula, also known as Messier 76, NGC 650/651, the Barbell Nebula, or the Cork Nebula, [1] is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Perseus. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included in Charles Messier 's catalog of comet -like objects as number 76.
The central region is a weak source of radio emission. [7] A soft X-ray source has been detected at the nucleus, which is most likely coming from the circumnuclear region rather than directly from an active galactic nucleus. [17] There is an inner disk of molecular gas that is truncated at a radius of 2,300 ly (700 pc).
The cluster is located 24.59 ± 0.13 kly (7.54 ± 0.04 kpc) [9] from the Galactic Center and is following an orbit through the Milky Way galaxy with a low eccentricity of 0.03 and an orbital period of 204.2 Myr. At present it is 23 ly (7 pc) below the galactic plane, and it will cross the plane every 29.4 Myr. [1]
Messier 66 or M66, also known as NGC 3627, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the southern, equatorial half of Leo. It was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier [ 8 ] on 1 March 1780, who described it as "very long and very faint". [ 9 ]