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Messier 73 (M73, also known as NGC 6994) is an asterism of four stars in the constellation Aquarius which was long thought to be a small open cluster. It lies several arcminutes east of globular cluster M72. According to Gaia EDR3, the stars are 1030 ± 9, 1249 ± 10, 2170 ± 22, and 2290 ± 24 light-years from the Sun, with the second being a ...
Aquarius contains three deep sky objects that are in the Messier catalog: the globular clusters Messier 2, Messier 72, and the asterism Messier 73. While M73 was originally catalogued as a sparsely populated open cluster, modern analysis indicates the 6 main stars are not close enough together to fit this definition, reclassifying M73 as an ...
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.
Based upon a 2011 census of variable stars, the cluster is 54.57 ± 1.17 kly (16.73 ± 0.36 kpc) away from the Sun. [3] It has an estimated combined mass of 168,000 [5] solar masses (M ☉) and is around 9.5 billion years old. The core region has a density of stars that is radiating 2.26 times solar luminosity (L ☉) per cubic parsec. [6]
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.
Messier 38 or M38, also known as NGC 1912 or Starfish Cluster, [4] is an open cluster of stars in the constellation of Auriga. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and independently found by Le Gentil in 1749. The open clusters M36 and M37, also discovered by Hodierna, are often grouped together with M38. [5]
The Owl Nebula (also known as Messier 97, M97 or NGC 3587) is a planetary nebula approximately 2,030 light years away in the constellation Ursa Major. [2] Estimated to be about 8,000 years old, [ 6 ] it is approximately circular in cross-section with a faint internal structure.
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.