↓
 

Astrophotography

By David Kenney

  • Front Page
  • Galaxies
  • Nebula
  • Planets
  • Blog
  • Contact Me
Home→Galaxies

Galaxies

The brightest member of a group of roughly 80 galaxies known as the Ursa Major Galaxy Cluster, Messier 109 is a barred spiral galaxy that is home to a trillion stars. Observed in 1781 by Charles Messier, the galaxy was officially added to the Messier catalog in 1953. The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. It is 32 million light-years away and 109,000 ly in diameter. The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. Messier 109 occupies an area of 7.6 by 4.7 arc minutes of apparent sky, corresponding to a linear diameter of 180,000 light years. The galaxy can be seen in large binoculars in exceptionally good conditions. 4-inch telescopes show a hazy streak of light, while 6-inch instruments reveal the galaxy’s nucleus surrounded by nebulosity. Only the galaxy’s bright central region with the bar can be seen visually. Messier 109 is located only 40 arc minutes southeast of the magnitude 2.44 star Phecda, Gamma Ursae Majoris, the star marking the bowl of the Big Dipper toward the handle. The best time of year to observe M109 is during the spring. The Pinwheel Galaxy (also known as Messier 101, M101 or NGC 5457) is a face-on spiral galaxy 21 million light-years (6.4 megaparsecs)[5] away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781[a] and was communicated that year to Charles Messier, who verified its position for inclusion in the Messier Catalogue as one of its final entries. M63, also known as the Sunflower galaxy, is one such flocculent spiral galaxy. Although it only has two arms, many appear to be winding around its yellow core in this image captured by Hubble. The arms shine with the radiation from recently formed blue stars and can be more clearly seen in infrared observations. By imaging flocculent spiral galaxies like M63, astronomers hope to gain a better understanding of how stars form in such systems. the Antennae galaxies is the sharpest yet of this merging pair of galaxies. During the course of the collision, billions of stars will be formed. The brightest and most compact of these star birth regions are called super star clusters. This picture was created using hubble raw data. APR107 APR_107 WhirlPool_Galaxy ngc_2207 These are colliding galaxies 114 million light years away named IC 2163 and NGC 2207 ngc2207 he Whale Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy located at an approximate distance of 30 million light years in the constellation Canes Venatici. It has an apparent magnitude of 9.8 and appears almost edge-on. It has been nicknamed the Whale because of its elongated, slightly triangular shape that resembles the profile of the whale. The galaxy has the designation NGC 4631 in the New General Catalogue. Sunflower_Galaxy MergeMosaic ngc5451-pinwheel-Galaxy masterLight_BIN-1_4144x2822_EXPOSURE-60.00s_FILTER-NoFilter_RGBdone Andromeda1746470386 Bodies1746477736 IC_3421746478399 Triangulum1746549434

Recent Posts

  • Equipment
  • Polar Alignment
  • Early Frustrations
  • Choosing A Telescope
  • Why Astronomy
©2025 - Astrophotography - Weaver Xtreme Theme
↑