- Constellation: Triangulum
- Right Ascension: 01h 34m 33.2s
- Declination: +30° 47′ 06″
- Distance: 2.7 million ly
Messier 33 or the Triangulum Galaxy located conveniently in the constellation of Triangulum is a member of our local group of galaxies. The third biggest of a group that includes the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxies. A spiral galaxy that is approximately 2.7 million light years away. Smaller than the Milky Way, it contains some 40 billion stars compared to the 400 billion plus stars of the Milky Way galaxy.
Numerous HII regions can be seen located in the galaxy as pinkish red sections, the largest is NGC 604 which is amoung the largest HII regions in our local group. It would be over 40 times the size or our Orion Nebula.
- Details
- Category: Galaxies
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 1600 MM
- Constellation: Andromeda
- Right Ascension: 02h 22m 33.4s
- Declination: +42° 20′ 57″
- Distance: 27 million ly
NGC 891 galaxy is located in Andromeda. Similar in size and shape to our galaxy, it's what ours would look like viewed edge on. Fingers of dust and gas are seen extending above and below the galaxies disk, possibly cause by past supernovas expelling gas and dust.
- Details
- Category: Galaxies
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 1600 MM
- Constellation: Andromeda
- Right Ascension: 00h 42m 44.3s
- Declination: +41° 16′ 9″
- Distance: 2.5 million ly
Messier 31 or the Andromeda Galaxy, located in the constellation of Andromeda contains more than one trillion stars. Also visible are Messier 110 above the galaxy, and Messier 32 just below the galaxy disk. Two of the 14 satellite galaxies around Messier 31. Until 1923 it was debated whether such objects were nebula located in our galaxy or separate galaxies like our own Milky Way galaxy. In 1923 Edwin Hubble identified Cepheid variable stars in Messier 31. Cepheid variables have a well defined brightness to variability period that allows astronomers to measure distance to them by knowing their actual brightness. Their distance placed them well outside of our galaxy.
Messier 31 is actually approaching us, and is expected to merge with our galaxy in 4 billion plus years in the future.
- Details
- Category: Galaxies
- Telescope: EDT 80mm Reftactor
- Camera: ZWO A071 Color
- Constellation: Canes Venatici
- Right Ascension: 13h 29m 52.7s
- Declination: +47° 11′ 43″
- Distance: 23 million ly
Messier 51 and NGC 5194 are a pair of interacting galaxies. It is the brightest member of the M51 galaxy group, which also includes M63, the Sunflower galaxy. It is about 35-40% the size of our galaxy, and is Seyfert galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. NGC 5194 is thought to have passed through M51's disk some 500 million years ago that led to an enhanced spiral pattern and increased star formation and then passing through the disk again some 50-100 million years ago to a position currently located behind the galaxy. The two galaxies will eventually merge after a few more passes.
- Details
- Category: Galaxies
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 1600 MM
- Constellation: Hercules
- Right Ascension: 16h 05m 15.0s
- Declination: +17° 44′ 55″
- Distance: 500 million ly
Abell 2151 - The richest galaxy cluster of the Hercules super galaxy cluster. It contains around 200 galaxies and is located some 500 light years away. It contains a wide variety of spirals and elliptical as well as lenticular galaxies.
- Details
- Category: Galaxies
Read more: The Hercules Galaxy Cluster (2020)
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 1600 MM
- Constellation: Virgo
- Right Ascension: 12h 21m 54.9s
- Declination: +04° 28′ 25″
- Distance: 52 million ly
Messier 61 is a barred spiral galaxy located in Virgo, and part of the Virgo galaxy cluster. M61 is roughly the same size as our galaxy and is classified as a starburst galaxy that is undergoing a high rate of star formation. On May 6, supernova 2020jfo was discovered in the galaxy making it one of seven that has happened in this galaxy that has been observed this century.
- Details
- Category: Galaxies
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 1600 MM