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Messier object. 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 ...
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.
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 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a D 25 isophotal diameter of 29.44 kiloparsecs (96,000 light-years). [2][5] Because of its relative proximity to the Milky Way galaxy, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which ...
Messier 110, or M110, also known as NGC 205, is a dwarf elliptical galaxy that is a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy in the Local Group. [ 9 ] Early observational history
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 66. 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] This galaxy is a member of a small group of galaxies that includes M65 and NGC 3628 ...
Messier 52 or M52, also known as NGC 7654 or the Scorpion Cluster, is an open cluster of stars in the highly northern constellation of Cassiopeia. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1774. [3][a] It can be seen from Earth under a good night sky with binoculars. The brightness of the cluster is influenced by extinction, which is stronger in ...