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Messier Objects
The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his ' (''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. This list, which Messier created in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Méchain, is now known as the ''Messier catalogue''. The Messier catalogue is one of the most famous lists of astronomical objects, and many objects on the list are still referenced by their Messier numbers. The catalogue includes most of the astronomical deep-sky objects that can be easily observed from Earth's Northern Hemisphere; many Messier objects are popular targets for amateur astronomers. A preliminary version of the catalogue first appeared in 1774 in the ''Memoirs'' of the French Academy of Sciences for the year 1771. The first version of Messier's catalogue contained 45 objects, which wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomical Catalogue
An astronomical catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects, typically grouped together because they share a common type, Galaxy morphological classification, morphology, origin, means of detection, or method of discovery. The oldest and largest are star catalogues. Hundreds have been published, including general ones and special ones for such objects as Infrared astronomy, infrared stars, variable stars, giant stars, multiple star systems, star clusters, and so forth. General catalogues for deep-sky objects or for objects other than stars are also large. Again, there are specialized ones for nebulas, galaxies, X-ray astronomy, X-ray sources, Astronomical radio source, radio sources, quasars and other classes. The same is true for asteroids, comets and other Small Solar System body, solar system bodies. Astronomical catalogues such as those for asteroids may be compiled from multiple sources, but most modern catalogues are the result of a particular astronomical su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus (constellation), Taurus. The common name comes from a drawing that somewhat resembled a crab with arms produced by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, in 1842 or 1843 using a telescope. The nebula was discovered by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. It corresponds with SN 1054, a bright supernova observed in 1054 C.E. by Native American, Japanese, and Arabic stargazers; this supernova was also recorded by Chinese astronomy, Chinese astronomers as a Guest star (astronomy), guest star. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified that corresponds with a historically-observed supernova explosion. At an apparent magnitude of 8.4, comparable to that of Titan (moon), Saturn's moon Titan, it is not visible to the naked eye but can be made out using binoculars under favourable conditions. The nebula lies in the Perseus Arm of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messier 110
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. Early observational history Charles Messier never included the galaxy in his list, but it was depicted by him, together with M32, on his drawing of "Nébuleuse D'Andromède", later known as the Andromeda Galaxy. A label of the drawing indicates that Messier first saw the object in 1773. M110 was independently discovered by Caroline Herschel on August 27, 1783; her brother William Herschel described her discovery in 1785. From p. 262: "There is a very considerable, broad, pretty faint, small nebula near it he Andromeda galaxy, M31 my Sister arolinediscovered it August 27, 1783, with a Newtonian 2-feet sweeper. It shews the same faint colour with the great one, and is, no doubt, in the neighborhood of it. It is not 32… ; but this is about two-thirds of a degree north preceding it, in a line parallel to β etaand ν uAndromedae." Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Owen Gingerich
Owen Jay Gingerich (; March 24, 1930 – May 28, 2023) was an American astronomer who had been professor emeritus of astronomy and of the history of science at Harvard University and a senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. In addition to his research and teaching, he had written many books on the history of astronomy. Gingerich was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the International Academy of the History of Science. A committed Christian, he had been active in the American Scientific Affiliation, a society of evangelical scientists.Stephen C. Meyer.Owen Gingerich. ''Eternity''. May 1986. He served on the board of trustees of the Templeton Foundation. Early life Gingerich was born March 24, 1930, to Melvin and Verna (Roth) Gingerich, a Mennonite family in Washington, Iowa, but was raised on the prairies of Kansas where he first became interested in astronomy. His father taught his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messier 109
Messier 109 (also known as NGC 3992 or the Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy) is a barred spiral galaxy exhibiting a weak inner ring structure around the central bar approximately away in the northern constellation Ursa Major. M109 can be seen south-east of the star Phecda (γ UMa, Gamma Ursa Majoris). History Messier 109 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. Two years later Charles Messier catalogued the object, as an appended object to his publication. Between the 1920s through the 1950s, it was considered that Messier objects over 103 were not official, but later the additions, further referred target objects from Méchain, became more widely accepted. David H. Levy mentions the modern 110 object catalog while Sir Patrick Moore places the limit at 104 objects but has M105 to 109 listed as addenda. By the late 1970s all 110 objects are commonly used among astronomers and remain so. General information This galaxy is the most distant object in the Messier Catalog, followed by M9 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messier 108
Messier 108 (also known as NGC 3556, nicknamed the Surfboard Galaxy) is a barred spiral galaxy about 46 million light-years away from Earth in the northern constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 or 1782. From the Earth, this galaxy is seen almost edge-on. This galaxy is an isolated member of the Ursa Major Cloud of galaxies in the local supercluster. It has a morphological classification of type SBbc in the de Vaucouleurs system, which means it is a barred spiral galaxy with somewhat loosely wound arms. The maximum angular size of the galaxy in the optical band is 11 ′.1 × 4′.6, and it is inclined 75° to the line of sight. This galaxy has an estimated mass of 125 billion solar masses () and bears about 290 ± 80 globular clusters. Examination of the distribution of neutral hydrogen in this galaxy shows discrete shells of expanding gas extending for several kiloparsecs, known as H1 supershells. These may be driven by currents of dark mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen Sawyer Hogg
Helen Battles Sawyer Hogg (August 1, 1905 – January 28, 1993) was an American-Canadian astronomer who pioneered research into globular clusters and variable stars. She was the first female president of several astronomical organizations and a scientist when many universities would not award scientific degrees to women. Her dedication to sharing astronomy with the wider public lead to scientific advocacy and Science journalism, journalism including columns in the ''Toronto Star'' ("With the Stars", 1951–81) and the ''Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada'' ("Out of Old Books", 1946–65). She was considered a "great scientist and a gracious person" over a career of sixty years.Shearer, B.F., & Shearer, B.S. (1997). ''Notable Women in the Physical Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary'' Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Early life Born in Lowell, Massachusetts on August 1, 1905, Helen was the second daughter of banker Edward Everett Sawyer and former teacher Carr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messier 107
Messier 107 or M107, also known as NGC 6171 or the Crucifix Cluster, is a very loose globular cluster in a very mildly southern part of the sky close to the equator in Ophiuchus, and is the last such object in the Messier Catalogue. Observational history, namings and guide It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in April 1782, then independently by William Herschel in 1793. Herschel's son, John, in his 1864 General Catalogue, described it as a "globular cluster of stars, large, very rich, very much compressed, round, well resolved, clearly consisting of stars". It was not until 1947 that Helen Sawyer Hogg added it and three other objects found by Méchain to the modern Catalogue, the latter having contributed several of the suggested observation objects which Messier had verified and added. The cluster is to be found 2.5° south and slightly west of the star Zeta Ophiuchi. Properties M107 is close to the galactic plane and about 20,900 light-years from Earth and from the Galact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messier 105
Messier 105 or M105, also known as NGC 3379, is an elliptical galaxy 36.6 million light-years away in the equatorial constellation of Leo. It is the biggest elliptical galaxy in the Messier catalogue that is not in the Virgo cluster. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781, just a few days after he discovered the nearby galaxies Messier 95 and Messier 96. This galaxy is one of a few not object-verified by Messier so omitted in the editions of his Catalogue of his era. It was appended when Helen S. Hogg found a letter by Méchain locating and describing this object which matched those aspects under its first-published name, NGC 3379. It has a morphological classification of E1, indicating a standard elliptical galaxy with a flattening of 10%. The major axis is aligned along a position angle of 71°. Isophotes of the galaxy are near perfect ellipses, twisting no more than 5° out of alignment, with changes in ellipticity of no more than 0.06. There is no fine st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolas Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction novels, and works on psychical research and related topics. He also published the magazine '' L'Astronomie'', starting in 1882. He maintained a private observatory at Juvisy-sur-Orge, France. Biography Camille Flammarion was born in Montigny-le-Roi, Haute-Marne, France. He was the brother of Ernest Flammarion (1846–1936), the founder of the Groupe Flammarion publishing house. In 1858, he became a professional at computery at the Paris Observatory. He was a founder and the first president of the '' Société astronomique de France'', which originally had its own independent journal, ''BSAF'' (''Bulletin de la Société astronomique de France''), which was first published in 1887. In January 1895, after 13 volumes of '' L'Astronomi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleiades
The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus (constellation), Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It is also observed to house the reflection nebula NGC 1432, an HII region. Around 2330 BC it marked the vernal point. Due to the brightness of its stars, the Pleiades is viewable from most areas on Earth, even in locations with significant light pollution. The cluster is dominated by OB star, hot blue luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be leftover material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
