The Messier Objects: Hunter Wilson

M1 HaRGB - Collaborative Image

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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October 28, 2008

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November 23, 2008

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery March 27, 2009

This is a collaborative effort with Ted Rafferty adding his Hydrogen Alpha data to my RGB data to make, what I think, is a far superior image.

The two sets of data were registered and aligned in DeepSkyStacker and combined in Photoshop CS3.

The combine method used is one described by Russell Croman. Layer masks were used to keep star colors true while allowing the Ha and RGB to combine in a way to optimize the nebula's appearance.

M2 in Aquarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M2 (NGC 7089) is about 37,500 light-years away from Earth. At 175 light-years in diameter, it is one of the larger globular clusters known. The cluster is rich, compact (Class II - the next most dense classification), and significantly elliptical. It is 13 billion years old - about the same as that of globular clusters M3 and M5 - and one of the older globulars associated with the Milky Way Galaxy.

M2 contains about 150,000 stars, including 21 known variable stars. Its brightest stars are red and yellow giants.

September 18, 2009

M3 in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights CCD Imaging Forum May Challenge Winner

Astrophotogallery.org May, 2009 Easy Category Winner

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery June 1, 2009

Messier 3 (NGC 5272) is a globular cluster in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, and resolved into stars by William Herschel around 1784. This cluster is one of the largest and brightest, and is made up of around 500,000 stars. It is located at a distance of about 33,900 light-years away from Earth.

M3 is further away than the center of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, but still shines at magnitude 6.2, as its absolute magnitude is about -8.93, corresponding to a luminosity of about 300,000 times that of our sun. M3 is thus visible to the naked eye under very good conditions. Its apparent diameter of 18.0 arc minutes corresponds to a linear extension of about 180 light years.

Globular cluster M3 is extremely rich in variable stars:
By 1978, 212 variables have been found, 186 periods determined, more than in every other globular cluster in our Milky Way galaxy.

May 18, 2009

M4 in Scorpius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org June Hard Object Winner

One of the nearest globulars at 7200 light years, M4 (NGC 6121) would be one of the most impressive globulars in the sky if it were not obscured by heavy clouds of dark interstellar matter in the vicinity of Antares. M4 is one of the most open, or loose, globulars and displays a peculiar 'barred' pattern in it's core, as can be seen in this photo. It was the first globular to be resolved to it's core (by Messier himself) as it is one of the most open, or loose, globulars - its classification in concentration being a class IX. It's diameter (half mass) is about 16 light years.

In 1987, the first millisecond pulsar was discovered in this globular cluster. This pulsar, 1821-24, is a neutron star rotating (and pulsating) once every 3.0 milliseconds, or over 300 times per second, which is even 10 times faster than the Crab pulsar in M1.

June 23, 2009

M5 in Serpens

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Spanning 165 light-years across, M5 is one of the larger globular clusters known. The gravitational sphere of influence of M5, (ie. the volume of space where stars would be gravitationally bound to the cluster and not ripped away from it by the Milky Way's gravitational pull), has a radius of some 200 light-years.

At 13 billion years old it is also one of the older globulars associated with the Milky Way Galaxy. The distance of M5 is about 24,500 light-years away from Earth and the cluster contains more than 100,000 stars up to perhaps 500,000 according to some estimates.

M5 is, under extremely good conditions, just visible to the naked eye as a faint "star" near the star 5 Serpentis. Binoculars or small telescopes will identify this cluster as non-stellar while larger telescopes will start to show individual stars, of which the brightest are of apparent magnitude 12.2.

April 26, 2008

M8 - "Lagoon Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day January 11, 2010

M8 (NGC 6523) - The "Lagoon Nebula" lies at a distance of 4,100 light years from earth, and measures 110 by 50 light years. The entire area is a giant star forming area containing a number of dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material, the most prominent of which are Barnard 88, 89, and 296. The stellar nursery has already formed a large, young (2 million years old) star cluster - open cluster NGC 6530 - that resides within the nebula.

Within the brightest part of the Lagoon Nebula, a proiminent feature can be seen called the "Hourglass Nebula" which occurs in a region where a vivid star formation process appears to take place; the bright emission is caused by heavy excitation of very hot, young stars. The illuminator of the hourglass is the hot star Herschel 36 (mag 9.5, spectral class O7).

June 26, 2009

M9 in Ophiuchus With Comet C/2007 G1 (LINEAR)

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Small Wonders: Ophiuchus June, 2009 (Tom Trusock)

M9 is one of the nearer globular clusters to the nucleus of our Galaxy, with a computed distance of 5500 light-years from the Galactic Center with a diameter of 90 light years. M9 is receding from us at the very high velocity of 224 km/sec.

To the north and west, its light is significantly dimmed by interstellar dust, as it lies at the edge of a patch of dark nebula (Barnard 64 - seen in this image as a dark blot to the right of the cluster); its light is probably weakened by at least one magnitude, but it's absolute luminosity is roughly 120,000 times that of our sun.

Comet C/2007 G1 (LINEAR) can be seen at magnitude 12 in the lower left third of the frame.

June 5, 2008

M10 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery May 23, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day May 16, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Weekly Newsletter May 16, 2008

Messier 10 (also known as NGC 6254) is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus. It was discovered by Charles Messier on May 29, 1764, cataloged as number 10 in his list, and described as a "Nebula without stars".

This 7th magnitude globular cluster appears at about 8 or 9 arc minutes diameter when observed visually in smaller instruments. Average photos show it at about 15.1 arc minutes diameter, and deep photos show it to reach out to about 20 arc minutes, or 2/3 of the diameter of the Full Moon. At its distance of 14,300 light years, this corresponds to a linear diameter of 83 light years. Its brighter core which can be seen visually is only less than half as large, about 35 light-years. It is receding from us at 69 km/sec.

Only 4 variable stars have been discovered in this cluster.

May 12, 2008

M11 in Scutum

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M11 (NGC 6705) also known as the Wild Duck Cluster for it's resemblance to a flock of ducks on the wing, is one of the most compact of the open clusters. M11 contains an estimated 2900 stars, about 500 of which are brighter than mag 14. An observer at the center of M11 would see several hundred first magnitude stars. This tight cluster is about 220 million years old and is receding from us at 22 kilometers per second.

Dark nebulae Barnard 108 and 112 are also seen in this rich field.

July 16, 2010

M12 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery May 23, 2008

Messier 12 (also known as NGC 6218) is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus. It was discovered by Charles Messier on May 30, 1764.

Located roughly 3° from the cluster M10, M12 is about 16,000 light-years distant and has a spatial diameter of ~75 light-years. The brightest stars of M12 are of 12th magnitude. It is rather loosely packed for a globular and M12 was once thought to be a tightly concentrated open cluster. Thirteen variable stars have been recorded in this cluster.

A study published in 2006 concluded that this cluster lost about one million stars of low mass, and therefore has an unusually low number of such stars. The authors surmise that they were stripped from the cluster by the gravitational influence of the Milky Way.

May 12, 2008

M13 in Hercules

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 28, 2009

Small Wonders: Hercules June, 2009 (Tom Trusock)

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day May 18, 2009

M13 (NGC 6205) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Hercules. M13 is about 145 light-years in diameter, and it is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is the variable star V11 with an apparent magnitude of 11.95. M13 is 25,100 light-years away from Earth.

It was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, and cataloged by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764.

The Arecibo message of 1974, designed to communicate the existence of human life to hypothetical extraterrestrials, was transmitted toward M13. The reason was that with a higher star density, the chances of a life harboring planet with intelligent life forms, were higher.

The "Merceds Benz sign", a collection of known star-poor areas can be seen as an inverted "Y" in the left lower part of the core in this image.

May 11, 2009

M14 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery May 23, 2008

Messier 14 (also known as M14 or NGC 6402) is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764.

At a distance of about 30,000 light-years (twice the distance of M10 and M12), M14 contains several hundred thousand stars. At a brightness of magnitude 7.6 it can be easily observed with binoculars and medium sized telescopes begin to show some hint of the individual stars of which the brightest is of magnitude +14.

The total luminosity of M14 is in the order of 400,000 times that of the Sun corresponding to an absolute magnitude of -9.12. The shape of the cluster is decidedly elongated or ovoid. M14 spans about 100 light-years across.

M14 contains the considerably large number of over 70 variables, many of them W Virginis stars.

Globular cluster M14 was the first CCD image taken, according to TheSky advertising.

May 12, 2008

M15 in Pegasus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746, globular cluster Messier 15 (NGC 7078) is at a distance of about 33,600 light years. Its diameter is about 175 light-years. Its brightest stars are about of apparent magnitude 12.6 or absolute magnitude -2.8 or a luminosity of 1,000 times that of our Sun. The globular cluster is approaching us at 107 km/sec. An intermediate-mass black hole lies at the core, with a mass about 4,000 times that of the the Sun. M15 contains 9 known pulsars, neutron stars which are the remnants of ancient supernova explosions from the time when the cluster was young.

M15 is perhaps the densest of all (globular) star clusters in our Milky Way galaxy, and it took the Hubble Space Telescope to photographically resolve its superdense core.

September 22, 2008

M16 - Single Frame

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Just messin' around. Shot one sub to see how it looked with the ST4K.

Got the bright core well, but it needs more subs to bring out the dim stuff.

May 19, 2009

M17 - The "Swan Nebula" in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M17 (NGC 6618, Swan Nebula, Omega Nebula, or Lobster Nebula for those down under) is an emission nebula located 6000 light years distant in the constellation Sagittarius. The nebula is about 15 light years across and is situated in an interstellar cloud spanning 40 light years. The nebula is 800 solar masses - much more massive than M42 in Orion - which is about 300 solar masses. The gas of M17 is illuminated by an obscured open cluster comprised of 35 stars, and is considered one of the youngest and most massive nearby star-formation regions in the Galaxy with an estimated >1000 stars in the process of formation in it's extended outer regions. The star formation history in the extended environment of M17 has been punctuated by successive waves of massive star formation propagating through a giant molecular cloud complex.

The color of the Omega Nebula is reddish, with some graduation to pink. However, the brightest region is actually of white color, not overexposed as one might think. This phenomenon is apparently a result of a mixture of emission light from the hottest gas, together with reflections of the bright star light from the dust in this region. The nebula contains a large amount of dark obscuring material, which is obvious in its remarkable features.

June 17, 2010

M18 in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M18 (NGC 6613) is a non-descript open cluster containing about 20 members, 4900 light years distant in the constellation Sagittarius. The cluster is very young - estimated to be about 32 million years old. The FOV here is filled with dense dust lanes obscuring some of the background stars.

July 16, 2010

M19 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Messier 19 (NGC 6273) is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus. M19 is the most oblate of the known globular clusters (personaly, I feel that M14 is very similar in this regard). It is at a distance of about 28,000 light-years from the Solar System, and is quite near to the Galactic Center, at only about 5,200 light-years away.

June 23, 2009

M20 - Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org July, 2009 Medium Category Winner

Cropped closeup of M20 from the previous image.

June 23, 2009

M20 and M21 in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day July 1, 2009

M20 is a veritable treasure trove of celestial objects, consisting of emission, reflection, and absorption nebulae, young star clusters, and stellar nurseries.

The Trifid Nebula, M20 or NGC 6514, is famous for its three-lobed appearance. The red emission nebula with its young star cluster near its center is surrounded by a blue reflection nebula which is particularly conspicuous to the northern end. By recent estimates, the nebula lies about 9000 light years from earth.

The dark nebula which is the reason for the Trifid's appearance was cataloged by E.E. Barnard as Barnard 85.

Open Cluster M21 (NGC 6531) lies to the upper left of M20 in this frame. M21 is a relatively young cluster of only 4.6 million years of age. It is tightly packed but contains about 57 stars. A few blue giant stars have been identified in the cluster, but M21 is composed mainly of small dim stars.

June 23, 2009

M22 in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M22 (NGC 6656) is one of the nearer globular clusters to Earth at a distance of about 10,600 light-years away. It spans 32' on the sky which translates to a spatial diameter of 99 ± 9 light-years. It is projected in front of the galactic bulge and is therefore useful for its microlensing effect on the background stars in the bulge. Despite its relative proximity to us, this metal-poor cluster's light is limited by dust extinction, giving it an apparent magnitude of 5.5 making it the brightest globular cluster in the norther hemisphere.

M22 is very unusual in that it is one of only four globulars (the others being M15, NGC 6441 and Palomar 6) that are known to contain a planetary nebula GJJC1 (aka: PK 9-7.1; PNG 98-7.5) after after the initials of Gillett, Jacoby, Joyce and Cohen. It was discovered using the IRAS satellite by Fred Gillett et al. in 1986 as a pointlike source (IRAS 18333-2357) and subsequently identified as a PN in 1989 by Gillett et al.

June 26, 2009

M23 in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Transparency Poor, obscuring faint background stars.

Messier 23 (NGC 6494) is an open cluster in the constellation Sagittarius.

M23 is at a distance of about 2,150 light years away from Earth, its radius is around 15-20 light years. There are some 150 identified members in this cluster. The hottest stars in M23 are of spectral type B9, the brightest star is of magnitude 9.21. The age of M23 has been estimated at 220 million years.

July 14, 2010

M25 in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M25 (IC 4725) is a conspicuous cluster in the constellation Sagittarius. For some unknown reason it was never deemed worthy of an NGC number, even though it is prominent even in the smallest binocular. The cluster is 2000 light years distant with a diameter of 19 light years and 90 million years of age.

July 16, 2010

M26 in Scutum

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M26 (NGC 6694) spans about 22 light years and is at a distance of 5,000 light years from the Earth toward the constellation Scutum. The age of this cluster has been calculated to be 89 million years.

July 16, 2010

M27 - "Dumbell Nebula" in Vulpecula - Closeup View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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A closer look, accentuating the nebula rather than the starfield for those that prefer it this way.

June 20, 2009

M29 in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M29 (NGC 6913) is an unimpressive grouping of about 50 stars embedded deeply in the dust of this dense region of the milky way. W.A. Hiltner of Yerkes Observatory, in 1954, found the light of its stars rather polarized by interstellar matter, which is apparently 1,000 times denser around this cluster and may absorb so much light that the cluster would be 3 magnitudes brighter if viewed "freely" or "in the clear".

M29's five hottest stars are all blue giants of spectral class B0, but because of this "embedding" in the dust of the central Cygnus region, they to appear more red in visual images - shifting to a color index nearer 0.6 to 0.7 listed in Cartes du Ciel - or a color more like that of our Sun. In near infrared, the true colors are more evident.

M29 is included in the Cygnus OB1 association, and approaching us at 28 km/sec. Its age is estimated at 10 million years, at an uncertain distance of about 6000 light years.

November 26, 2008

M30 in Capricornus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M30 (NGC 7099) is a globular cluster in the Capricornus constellation. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. M30 is at a distance of about 26,000 light-years away from Earth and is about 90 light years across.

Half of this cluster's mass is concentrated in a spherical volume of a radius equal to the distance of Sirius from us, or 17.4 light years diameter. On the other hand, its tidal radius is large: 18.34 arc minutes, corresponding to a linear radius of 139 light years.

M30 is less loved by Messier Marathoners, as it is often the last missed object of an almost-complete Messier Marathon, a tour for viewing all Messier objects in one night (which is possible near the end of March in moonless nights).

M30 is a minor Messier object and one of those that lie very low on my horizon. Not a great image, it is included for completeness.

September 18, 2009

M31 in HaRGB - The Great Andromeda Galaxy - 4 Panel Mosaic

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day January 4, 2010

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 30, 2009

Astrophotogallery.org September, 2009 Hard Category Winner

The Great Andromeda Galaxy is approximately 2.52 million light years from earth and is 125 thousand light years across from front to back as seen from earth. It is likely that the ancestors of the human species were still on all fours when the light left the back side of Andromeda, but were walking upright and using stone tools by the time it reached the front edge of the galaxy. In any event, if you see Andromeda, keep in mind that you are seeing the light from when Humanity was just starting to gain a foothold on planet Earth.

M31 in Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy and the two galaxies are on a collision course, approaching each other at the rate of 100 to 140 kilometers per second (300,000 MPH). This catastrophic wreck will begin to happen in approximately the year 1,000,000,000 AD.

Our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda and together these two dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our Galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Much about M31 remains unknown, including why the center contains two nuclei.

M31 is large enough and close enough that scientists are able to study smaller structures within the galaxy, like the structures within our own galaxy. One of these, star cluster NGC 206 has it's own designation.

Here's an interesting article by Tom Trusok concering all the different objects within the Andromeda Galaxy.

Color Data August 23 and 25, September 12, 2009
Ha Data August 31, 2009

M32 in Andromeda

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Just cropped from a low res version of M31 to add to the Messier gallery.

Color Data August 23 and 25, September 12, 2009
Ha Data August 31, 2009

M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery October 6, 2010

Anacortes Astronomy and Wild Bird Picture of the Day October 5, 2010

Winner Astrophotogallery.org Medium Category October, 2010

This is the first dedicated galaxy image with the QSI 583WSG. Just in case you are interested, here are links to the Luminance and Color components of the image. Notice that the color component is oversaturated and soft - rather poor as a stand-alone image, but is optimized to add color to the image, not detail. The luminance component adds all the sharpness and detail to the final image.

The Triangulum Galaxy Messier 33 (M33, NGC 598) is another prominent member of the Local Group of galaxies. This galaxy is small compared to its big apparent neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy M31, and to our Milky Way galaxy, but more of an average size for spiral galaxies in the universe. M33 may be a remote but gravitationally bound companion of the Andromeda galaxy M31.

Several knots in the spiral arms of M33 have been assigned their own NGC catalog numbers - the largest of which in this image is in the lower mid-left and is NGC 604. This is one of the largest H II regions known anywhere in the universe: it has a diameter of nearly 1500 light-years, and a spectrum similar to the Orion nebula M42. Over 200 young hot massive stars (of 15 to 60 solar masses) have recently formed here.

Some other catalogued objects are identified in this map.

October 1, 2010

M34 in Perseus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M34 (NGC 1039) in Perseus is at a distance of about 1,400 light-years from Earth and consists of some 100 stars. It spans about 7 light years. The cluster is about 180 million years old.

November 27, 2008

M35 in Gemini

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M35 (NGC 2168) in Gemini consists of several hundred stars at a distance of 2800 light years and an age of 100 million years.

NGC 2158 can be seen southwest of M35. This cluster is 10 times older (1.05 billion years) and 5 times more remote (16,000 light years) than M35 and because of it's appearance was once considered as a globular cluster candidate.

Open cluster IC 2157 can be seen just on the right lower edge of the frame at a distance of 6655 light years.

November 27, 2008

M36 in Auriga

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M36 (NGC 1960) is an open cluster in the constellation Auriga. It is part of a well known triplet of open clusters - the others being M37 and M38 - in this constellation that are favorite targets of amateur star-gazers.

M36 is about 4,100 light years distant and 14 light years across. It has about 60 proven members, the brightest of which are of apparent mag 9. The luminosity of the brightest member is about 360 times that of the Sun. Many of these bright stars are rapidly rotating, as shown by their broadened spectral lines, an effect which is also found for the bright type B members of the Pleiades. If it were at the same distance (10 times closer), this cluster would look as conspicuous as and very similar to the Pleiades (M45).

As it is quite young (about 25 million years), it contains no red giants, in contrast to its neighbors M37 and M38, which lie roughly at the same distance.

November 22, 2008

M37 in Auriga

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M37 is the also the richest of the 3 Messier clusters in Auriga, containing about 150 stars brighter than mag 12.5, and perhaps a total of over 500 stars. As indicated by the fact that it has a considerable number (at least a dozen) of red giants, this cluster is a more evolved group with an estimated age of about 300 million years. Its distance is between 3,600 and 4,700 light years. Its apparent diameter of 24' corresponds to a linear extension of about 20 to 25 light years, according to which distance is taken. (SEDS)

Unfortunately, the image is slightly out of focus. I was using DSLRFocus for the first time.

February 2, 2008

M38 in Auriga

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M38 (NGC 1912) - the leftmost (north in this view) and largest cluster in this field - is one of three bright Messier clusters in the constellation Auriga.

Lying at a distance of 4,200 light years, it is about 25 light years across, similar to the slightly more distant M37. It age is about 220 million years and contains a yellow giant of mag 7.9 and spectral type G0 as its brightest member - this corresponds to an absolute magnitude of -1.5, or a luminosity of 900 suns. For comparison, the Sun would appear as faint as only mag 15.3 from the distance of M38.

The smaller custer to the right of M38 is NGC 1907 which is 4500 light years from earth and contains aproximately 50 stars. this cluster is twice as old as M38 at 500 million years.

To the far right of the field is OC 118 and just a hint of bright nebula IC 417. At the bottom right of the field is cluster and nebula complex NGC 1931.

November 22, 2008

M39 in Cygnus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M39 (NGC 7092) is a loose cluster of about 30 stars that is 7 light years across and 800 light years distant in the constellation Cygnus. The cluster is about 250 million years old.

November 27, 2008

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula Complex

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day November 26, 2008

Cloudy Nights Imaging/Sketching Poll DSLR Division Winner November 2008

Anacortes Wild Bird and Telescope Picture of the Day December 13, 2008

Astrophotogallery.org Large/Hard December, 2008 Winner

The Orion Nebula - M42, NGC 1976 - is a large diffuse nebula visible to the naked eye and located in Orion's Sword. The nebula complex is 1270 light years distant, spans 24 light years and is the closest large star-forming region to earth.

The Nebula is in fact part of a much larger nebula that is known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard's Loop, the Horsehead Nebula, M43, M78 and the Flame Nebula.

Also visible in this image (as is usually the case) are nebulae M43 and NGC 1973, 1975, and 1977 (a group of reflection nebulae known as the Running Man Nebula). Open clusters NGC 1980 to the right (south) and NGC 1981 to the left (north) are also present.

November 22, 2008

M44 - Beehive Cluster in Cancer

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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The Beehive Cluster (also known as Praesepe (Latin for "manger"), M44 or NGC 2632) is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. It is one of the nearest open clusters to the Solar System at 520-610 light years, and contains a larger star population than most other nearby clusters. Under dark skies the Beehive Cluster looks like a nebulous object to the naked eye; thus it has been known since ancient times. It's diameter is about 23 light years.

December 28, 2008

M45 - Pleiades in Taurus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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The Pleiades (M45, Seven Sisters, Seven Stars, Matariki (New Zealand Maori), Subaru (Japan), and perhaps a score of lost and ancient names) is arguably the night sky feature that is the best known and most most deeply entrenched in human mythology and the human psyche.

This object is known to virtually all human cultures and societies and carries some significance in all of them.

Unavoidably, when such a prominent and universal icon as the Pleiades has an influence on humanity, there will be those on the fringe that choose to mystify it. There is even a society that believes that some groups of humans carry genes from a race of extraterrestrials originating in the Pleiades.

Astronomically, the cluster is 13 light years across, contains 3000 stars and is about 400 light years distant (among the closest open clusters to earth). It is engulfed in cold, non-excited dust which reflects the bright, blue light from the young hot stars that dominate.

The cluster is dominated by hot blue stars, which have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud that the stars are currently passing through. Many objects have been cataloged in this busy region.

Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, when it will have dispersed due to gravitational interactions with the spiral arms of the galaxy and giant molecular clouds.

October 8, 2010

M46 in Puppis

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Also known as NGC 2437, M46 is at a distance of about 5,400 light-years away from Earth with an estimated age of about 300 million years. The cluster contains about 500 stars of which 150 are brighter than magnitude 13. Its spatial diameter is some 30 light years. It is receding from us at 41 Km/s.

The planetary nebula NGC 2438 appears to lie within the cluster at its northern edge (the faint smudge at the top center of the image), but it is most likely a foreground object because it recedes at 77 Km/s, it is probably much younger than the cluster, and it would have been ejected from a star much older than the cluster.

Unfortunately, this image is slightly out of focus. I was using DSLRFocus for the first time.

February 2, 2008

M50 in Monoceros

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Open cluster M50 (NGC 2323) is probably about 3,200 light years distant and is about 20 light-years across, the central dense part being only about 10' or 10 light-years in diameter. There are about 200 stars in the main body.

This image is from a single 60 second frame (no darks, flats, or bias frames) taken during the total lunar eclipse of February 20, 2008. It was not meant to be a showpiece image, but was taken as something to do as the eclipse went on. It processed out so well, I put it in the gallery to get another Messier notch in my belt.

February 20, 2008

M51 "Whirlpool Galaxy" in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights Imaging/Sketching Contest Winner March 2009 and Here

Astrophotogallery.org April Easy Winner

Cloudy Nights Imaging/Sketching Contest DSLR Division March. 2009 Winner

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day March 20, 2009

Messier 51 (NGC 5194) along with it's interacting companion NGC 5195 are know as Arp 85 and reside just south of Alkaid (the star at the end of the big dipper's handle) in the constellation Canes Venatici at a distance of about 37 million light years. The exaggerated spiral appearance is thought to be a result of interaction with NGC 5195. M51 has a diameter of 38,000 light-years. Its mass is estimated to be 160 billion solar masses.

The Whirlpool Galaxy is the brightest galaxy in the M51 Group, a small group of galaxies that also includes M63, NGC 5023, and NGC 5229. This small group may actually be a subclump at the southeast end of a large, elongated group that includes the M101 Group and the NGC 5866 Group.

M51 was the first galaxy to be recognized as a spiral. This was achieved by Lord Rosse employing a 72-inch reflecting telescope which he constructed at Birr Castle, Ireland. Sometimes M51 is used to refer to the pair of galaxies, in which case the individual galaxies may be referred to as M51A (NGC 5194) and M51B (NGC 5195).

March 4, 2009

NGC 7635 "Bubble Nebula" and M52 in Cassiopeia

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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NGC 7635, also called the "Bubble Nebula is embedded in the surrounding HII region known as Sharpless 162. This area resides in the constellation Cassiopeia.

The Bubble Nebula is actually the smallest of three bubbles surrounding massive star (40x solar mass) BD+602522, and part of gigantic bubble network Sh162 created with the help of other massive stars. As fast moving gas expands off BD+602522, it pushes surrounding sparse gas into a shell. The energetic starlight then ionizes the shell, causing it to glow. BD+602522 is a type O 6.5 III (blue) giant with a surface temperature of 34,000 degrees. O spectral type stars are rare, and there are only an estimated 20,000 present in the Milky Way. It is considered a member of the Cas OB2 stellar association.

The bubble itself is actually quite large, spanning six light years across and is expanding at an incredible four million miles per hour. The bubble was formed by the bright star that is positioned above and to left of its center. The radiation released from inside that star is so intense that it literally blows its outer surface off into space. The bubble marks the leading edge of the gust from these powerful stellar winds as it plows into denser surrounding material. This object is approximately 7100 light years from Earth.
(Universe Today)

Messier 52 (NGC 7654) has a diameter or 19 light years and is about 5000 light years distant. It is one of the original discoveries of Charles Messier, who cataloged it on September 7, 1774 when the comet of that year came close to it.

Open cluster 443 is just below M52 on the left edge of the image.

November 7, 2009

M53 in Coma Berenices

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Globular Cluster M53 in Coma Berenices

Globular cluster M53 is one of the more outlying globulars, being about 60,000 light years away from the Galactic center, and almost the same distance (about 58,000 light years) from our Solar system.

5-8-2007

M55 in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M55( NGC 6809) is a globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius. M55 is about 17,300 light-years from Earth. M55 is a quite large globular cluster (about 19', roughly 2/3 of the Moon's apparent diameter) and has such a loose appearence that it gives the observer the impression of 'graininess' in small binoculars.

One can see from the relative paucity of stars in the background as compared to other globulars in this area of the sky that this globular lies outside of the main mass of the Milky Way on the sky charts.

This object is among the most southern of the Messier objects and can be difficult to observe from northern boreal latitudes.

June 26, 2009

M56 in Lyra

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 1, 2009

Messier 56 (M56, NGC 6779) is located about half-way between Beta Cygni (Albireo) and Gamma Lyrae in an extremely star-rich region. It is one of the less bright Messier globulars, especially lacking the bright core which most globulars have. Nevertheless it is not too difficult to resolve, even at its rather large distance. This led to its classification in concentration class X.

At its distance of 32,900 light-years. its diameter of 8.8 arc minutes corresponds to a linear extension of about 85 light years. Visually, only about the inner third of this great ball, of about 3' diameter is visible. While the NGC mentions "stars of 11th to 14th magnitude", more modern measurements have shown that the brightest stars in this cluster are of about 13th magnitude, and the horizontal branch level is at magnitude 16.2 (according to the Deep Sky Field Guide to Uranometria 2000.0). Helen Sawyer Hogg gives an average magnitude of 15.31 for the 25 brightest stars, an overall spectral type of F5, and a color index of -0.04.

Globular cluster M56 was found by Harlow Shapley to be elongated with ellipticity 8 (E2) at position angle 45 deg. He found only 1 variable star in it, and even until today, only about a dozen of variables were identified in M56. This stellar swarm is approaching us at the high velocity of 145 km/sec.

M56 was one of Charles Messier's original discoveries; he saw it first on January 23, 1779 and describes it as a "nebula without stars," like most globular clusters. It was first resolved into stars by William Herschel around 1784.

May 17, 2009

M57 in Lyra

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M57 (NGC 6720) in Lyra, located 2300 light years from earth is the prototype planetary nebula. Evidence indicates that it is actually a ring and not a shell or sphere viewed on an angle. The nebula has been expanding for only an estimated 1600 years.

The central star is a planet-sized white dwarf star, of about 15th magnitude. It is the remainder of a sunlike star, which has blown away its outer envelopes. Now over 100,000 K hot, it will soon start to cool down, shine as a white dwarf star for several billions of years, and then eventually end as a cold Black Dwarf.

March 20. 2009

M61 in Virgo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Print Version Reader Gallery November, 2009 Edition

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day April 29, 2009

Messier 61 (NGC 4303) is a large barred spiral galaxy in the southernmost part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies located between e Virginis (Vindemiatrix) and b Leonis (Denebola). It has three arms that contain many clumps of new star clusters and HII regions.

M61 is both a starburst and a low luminosity Seyfert type 2 galaxy. These two phenomena may not just coexist in galaxies like M61, but may be co-dependant.

M61 was discovered by Barnabus Oriani on May 5, 1779 when following the comet of that year, 6 days before Charles Messier's discovery, who had seen it on the same day as Oriani but mistaken it for the comet. Messier mistook it for two nights more, until he realized that it did not move. (SEDS)

M61 is one of the larger galaxies in the Virgo cluster; its 6 arc minutes of diameter correspond to about 100,000 light years, similar to the diameter of the Milky Way galaxy. It lies about 60 million light years from earth.

Companion barred spiral NGC 4303A can be seen to the lower left of M61, and Elliptical NGC 4292 in the upper left. Hundreds of other faint, distant galaxies are present in the background - as would be expected of any field taken in Virgo.

April 16, 2009

M62 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M62 (NGC 6266) is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus which is located at a distance of about 22,500 light-years from Earth and measures some 100 light-years across. It contains a number of x-ray sources, thought to be close binary star systems, and millisecond pulsars in binary systems.

M62 is one of the most irregularly shaped globular clusters. This deformation may be a result of the fact that M62 is one of the closest of Messier's globulars to the Galactic center (only about 6100 light years), so that it is deformed by tidal forces. Its central condensation is obviously displaced from the center.

June 26, 2009

M63 - "Sunflower Galaxy" in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astrophotogallery.org May, 2008 Challenge Winner

Imaged in what I would call poor conditions with high clouds and high humidity. I don't think the sky was completely clear all night.

Messier 63 is about 25 million light-years distant in the constellation Canes Venatici. Also known as NGC 5055, M63 is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size of our own Milky Way. It is a major member of the M101 galaxy group as classified by some - but sometimes grouped separately in the M51 galaxy group.

M63 was the very first discovery of a Deep Sky Object by Charles Messier's friend, Pierre Méchain, who described it on June 14, 1779. On the same day, Charles Messier included it in his catalog.

May 24, 2008

M64 Closeup View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group May 2007 Winner

5-8-2007

M65 in Leo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M65 is a typical spiral galaxy that could be found anywhere in the universe. M65 has tightly wrapped spiral arms and a large nuclear center. The central stars are older and redder than disk stars, which are hotter and appear more blue.

The galaxy is low in dust and gas, and there is little star formation in it; there has been some relatively recently in the arms. The ratio of old stars to new stars is correspondingly quite high.

To the eye, M65's disk appears slightly warped, and its relatively recent burst of star formation is also suggestive of some external disturbance. Rots (1978) suggests that the two other galaxies in the Leo Triplet interacted with each other about 800 million years ago. Recent research by Zhiyu Duan suggests that M65 may also have interacted, though much less strongly. He also notes that M65 may have a central bar -- it is difficult to tell because the galaxy is seen from an oblique angle -- a feature which is suggestive of tidal disruption.

March 28, 2008

M66 in Leo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Messier 66 (NGC 3627, Arp 16) is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 36 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1780. M66 is about 96 thousand light-years across with striking dust lanes and bright star clusters along sweeping spiral arms.

Messier 66 exhibits a remarkable central bulge. This galaxy shows several anomalies, deviations from "perfect" spiral structure, which can be observed in many galaxies, notably a crack in one of its spiral arms at the lower end of the bright central region and a wave-away of the spiral arm visible left in this image. This is very probably a result of its gravitational interactions with its neighbors M65 and NGC 3628.

March 28, 2008

M67 in Cancer

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Messier 67 (M67, NGC 2682) is one of the oldest known open clusters, and by far the oldest of Messier's open clusters, being aged at 3.2 billion years.
Only few known open clusters were found to be older, among them probably NGC 188 at about 5 billion years, longly quoted as the oldest known cluster, and NGC 6791, which is about 7 billion years old (according to Götz), and is currently the oldest known open cluster in our Milky Way galaxy.

As M67 is of an age of the same order of magnitude as our Solar System, and its stars happen to have a similar chemical composition as the Sun.

April 5, 2008

M68 in Hydra

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M68 lies at a distance of 33,000 light years and has a spread of 106 light years.

This is one object that is actually approaching us - at a rate of 112km/sec.

Not a great image due to poor seeing and low latitude, but it's better than the original DSLR version of this object. The scope was parallel with the ground while taking this image. No way I will get a good shot of this object from the home observatory.

May 11, 2009

M71 in Sagitta

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Some say this cluster is shaped like an arrowhead. Seems appropriate for an object in the constellation Sagitta.

M71 is at a distance of about 12,000 light years away from Earth and spans some 27 light years across. The irregular variable star Z Sagittae is a member of this cluster.
M71 was long thought (until the 1970's) to be a densely packed open cluster and was classified as such by leading astronomers in the field of star cluster research due to its lacking a dense central compression , its stars having more "metals" than is usual for an ancient globular cluster, and further its lacking the RR Lyrae "cluster" variable stars that are common in most globulars. However, modern photometric photometry has detected a short "horizontal branch" in the H-R diagram of M71, which is characteristic of a globular cluster. The shortness of the branch explains the lacking of the RR Lyrae variables and is due to the globular's relatively young age of 9-10 billion years. The relative youth of this globular also explains the abundance of "metals" in its stars. Hence today, M71 is designated as a very loosely concentrated globular cluster, much like M68 in Hydra. M71 has a luminosity of around 13,200 suns.
(From Wikipedia)

May 4, 2008

M72 in Aquarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights Small Wonders: Quick Peeks - Aquarius 10/13 (Tom Trusock)

Messier 72 (M72, NGC 6981) is one of the apparently smaller and fainter globular clusters in Messier's catalog. It is situated in the very western part of constellation Aquarius, close to the the group of four stars, M73.

Globular cluster M72 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in the night of August 29-30, 1780. Consequently, Charles Messier looked for it on the following October 4 and 5, and included it in his catalog.

M72 is one of the more remote of Messier's globular clusters: At about 53,000 light years, it lies a considerable distance beyond the Galactic Center. It is of 9th or 10th apparent magnitude, but as it is so distant it is one of the more intrinsically luminous globular cluster. M72 is approaching us quite rapidly, at 255 km/sec. Its diameter is about 106 light years.

June 5, 2008

M73 in Aquarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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The object Messier 73 (NGC 6994) is an inconspicuous assortment of four stars of 10th to 12th magnitude, situated in the very western part of constellation Aquarius; its nature as a physical group is doubtful. It lies only about 1.5 deg east of globular cluster M72.

Although M73 is apparently consisted of 4 stars, 3 of them being of about 10th to 11th magnitude (Burnham and Kenneth Glyn Jones give A:10.5, B:10.5, and C:11.0), the fourth (D) being of mag 12.0, it is obviously a true Messier object. Charles Messier found it on October 4, 1780, described it as a "Cluster of three or four small stars, which resembles a nebula at first glance, containing very little nebulosity; this cluster is located on the parallel [of declination] of the preceding [M 72]; its position has been determined from the same star [Nu Aquarii]."

For being a mere asterism, and not a DSO, it gets an inordinate amount of attention on the SEDS site.

June 5, 2008

M74 in Pisces - The "Phantom Galaxy"

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day January 5, 2010

Of all the objects in Messier's catalogue, number 74 has the lowest surface brightness. It is so difficult for amateur astronomers to spot through a telescope that it has been given the nickname 'The Phantom Galaxy' and is the Messier object most likely to thwart a Messier Marathon.

Discovered 1780 by Pierre Méchain, Messier 74 (M74, NGC 628) is one of the nicest examples of so-called "grand-design" spiral galaxies seen face-on, so that its spiral structure stands out conspicuously. With its comparatively low surface brightness, it is one of the more difficult objects in Messier's catalog, situated in constellation Pisces.

Its distance may be about 30 to 40 million light years, as it recedes with 793 km/sec. Its spiral arms are about 1000 light years broad. They are traced with clusters of blue young stars and pinkish colored diffuse gaseous nebulae (H II regions) in color photos, and reach out to cover a region of more than 10 minutes of arc in diameter, corresponding to roughly 95,000 light years, or about the same size as our Milky Way galaxy. The Webb Society deep sky observer's handbook gives a number of 193 known H II regions.

Two supernovae have been discovered in M74:

Supernova 2002ap was discovered in M74 on January 29, 2002 by Japanese amateur Yoji Hirose when it was at mag 13.7. This type Ib/c supernova brightened up to mag 12.3 between February 5 and 12, 2002, and was classified as a "hypernova," occurring when progenitor stars of at least 40 solar masses explode.
Supernova 2003gd was found visually in M74 by Bob Evans on June 12.82 UT, in the morning twilight at Australia as it was 13.2 mag bright, and already fading. This supernova was of type II.

M75 in Sagittarius

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Globular cluster Messier 75 (M75, NGC 6864) is one of the apparently fainter globular clusters in Messier's catalog, due to its large distance. It is situated in the eastern part of Sagittarius.

After its discovery in the night of August 27-28, 1780 by Pierre Méchain, globular cluster M75 was observed by Charles Messier on October 5 and October 18, 1780, and added to his catalog after obtaining a position. William Herschel resolved it into stars in 1784 and described it as a "miniature of M3."

At a distance of about 67,500 light years, M75 is one of the more remote of Messier's globular clusters, lying well beyond the Galactic center (from which it is 47,600 light years distant). Some sources give even larger distances, up to as much as 100,000 light years ! (E.g., Burnham has 95,000) This would make it the most remote Messier globular, and the most remote galactic Messier object at all. But W.E. Harris' database has it with 67,500 light years.

M75 is one of the more compact, concentrated globulars, classified as class I. Because of this and its distance, larger scopes are required to resolve it into stars. Its angular diameter of 6.6' corresponds to a linear extension of well almost 130 light years, and it is of high luminosity, perhaps about 180,000 times that of the Sun

June 5, 2008

M76 in Perseus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>Canon 350D Hap Griffin Baader Mod
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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day December 19, 2007

Astronomy Magazine weekly newsletter 12-21-07

Planetary Nebula Messier 76 (M76, NGC 650/651) is one of the faintest Messier Objects, and one of only four planetary nebulae in Messier's catalog, situated in the Eastern part of constellation Perseus.

M76's distance is not well known and estimates range from 1,700 to 15,000 light years and consequently its dimensions are also not well known. The nebula shines at an apparent magnitude of +10.1 with a central star of magnitude +16.6. This star, whose expanding outer layers form the present nebula, has a surface temperature of 60,000 kelvins.

The little Dumbbell Nebula got its name from its resemblance to the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) in Vulpecula. It was originally thought to consist of two separate nebulae and was thus given two catalog numbers in the NGC, 650 and 651. It is one of the faintest and hardest to see objects in Messier's list.

It also is known under the names Cork Nebula, Butterfly Nebula, and Barbell Nebula.

November 1, 2007

M77 in Cetus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cloudy Nights Small Wonders: Quick Peeks - Cetus 12/08 (Tom Trusock)

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day December 8, 2008

Sky and Telescope Editor's Choice November 3, 2008

Messier 77 (NGC 1068, Arp 37), lies about 60 million light years away (approximately the same distance but another direction as the Virgo Cluster) in the constellation Cetus. It is the nearest Seyfert type II galaxy to Earth, but also the most distant Messier object according to some sources.

This galaxy has been studied extensively regarding galaxy core supermassive black holes and is thought to contain a monster black hole of 15 million solar masses.

Most images of M77 are composed of the bright central core, but as you can see here, there is more to the galaxy than the bright core. Including the less-bright periphery, the galaxy spans perhaps 170,000 light years - larger than the Milky Way - and one of the largest in the Messier Catalog - containing an estimated 1 trillion solar masses.

October 30, 2008

M78 in Orion

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day November 20, 2010

M78 (NGC 2068) is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that include NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071 (upper portion of this shot) - in fact, it is the brightest reflection nebula in the entire sky. This group belongs to the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex and is about 1,600 light years distant from Earth.

About 45 variable stars of the T Tauri type, young stars still in the process of formation as well as some 17 Herbig-Haro objects are known in M78.

November 7 and 8, 2010

M80 in Scorpius - Widefield View

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Thin clouds intervened in all frames then stopped imaging altogether.

M80 (NGC 6093) is a globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius. It is among the more densely populated globular clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. It's distance from the Sun is 32,600 light years, and distance from galactic center is 12,400 light years. It's diameter is 84 light years.

M80 contains a relatively large amount of blue stragglers, stars that appear to be much younger than the cluster itself. It is thought these stars have lost part of their outer layers due to close encounters with other cluster members or perhaps the result of collisions between stars in the dense cluster. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope have shown districts of very high blue straggler densities, suggesting that the center of the cluster is likely to have a very high capture and collision rate.

June 22, 2009

M81 - "Hydrogen Enhanced" Collaboration

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>RGB Data:
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February 22, 2009

Hydrogen Alpha Data:
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February 20, 2009

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 7, 2009

Collaboration with Ted Rafferty, using his Ha data and my RGB data to better show the HII regions of M81. The Ha data adds quite a bit, but it's somewhat subtle in appearance as M81 is quite "nodular" anyway.

M82 "Hydrogen Enhanced" Collaboration

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>RGB Data:
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October 30, 2008

Hydrogen Alpha Data:
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February 8, 2009

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day February 13, 2009

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery February 17, 2009

Collaboration with Ted Rafferty, using his Ha data and my RGB data to show the central active Ha region of this northern powerhouse galaxy.

This image shows the intense HII regions in the mid-portion of the galaxy that the data from the modified DSLR couldn't display no matter how hard the image was stretched. These filaments stretch 10 thousand light years out from the galaxy.

M83 in Hydra

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Fair Dinkum Skies, Pingelly Australia

Data registered and dark subtracted in Maxim DL, image assembled from Ha, L, R, G, and B frames in Photoshop CS3/FITS Liberator.

Each individual channel was pre-processed in PixInsight LE prior to processing each channel separately in CS3. This allowed for individualized treatment of each channel according to it's particular needs.

FITS data was initially stretched and noise reduced in PixInsight LE, then transfered to CS3 via FITS Liberator by a linear conversion (no stretch involved). The luminance data was then processed, contrast adjusted, and sharpened in CS3. The color data was balanced, saturated, and star size reduced (particularly the red channel) to allow good color merge in CS3 and then layered onto the luminance data as a color layer.

Color adjustments and final sharpening of the luminance data were executed prior to merging the layers and the Ha was then added to the LRGB image to accentuate the Ha regions in the final HaRGB image shown here.

Bottom line - each channel was processed according to it's individual needs.

Thank you - you know who you are - for allowing me to use this marvelous equipment for a night. I just wish I could afford this kind of setup on a permanent basis.

M83 (NGC 5236) is an intermediate spiral galaxy approximately 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. Messier 83 stretches over 40 000 light-years, making it roughly 2.5 times smaller than our own Milky Way. However, in some respects, Messier 83 is quite similar to our own galaxy. Both the Milky Way and Messier 83 possess a bar across their galactic nucleus, the dense spherical conglomeration of stars seen at the centre of the galaxies.

The core of M83 itself is bright at x-ray energies, showing a high concentration of neutron stars and black holes left from an intense burst of star formation.

It is one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky, making it visible with binoculars. Six Supernovae (SN 1923A, SN 1945B, SN 1950B, SN 1957D, and SN 1983N) have been observed in M83.

March 5, 2009 and Reworked June 6, 2009

Markarian's Chain in Virgo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Yahoo Digital Astro Group May, 2008 Monthly Challenge Winner

Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner March, 2008

Markarian's Chain is a group of galaxies that lies at the heart of the Virgo cluster. Named after the Armenian astronomer who first postulated that the group is an interacting structure, rather than a chance arrangement.

In December 1961, a three-page conference report titled "Physical Chain of Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster and It's Dynamic Instability" was published in volume 66 of The Astronomical Journal. The author, B. E. Markarian, used statistical analysis to support his conclusion that a chain of eight galaxies "in the Virgo cluster is not a chance grouping but a real physical system." Markarian's Chain, as it has come to be known, consists of NGC 4374 (M84), NGC 4406 (M86), NGC 4435, NGC 4438, NGC 4458, NGC 4461, NGC 4473 and NGC 4477. This meandering chain of galaxies extends about 1.5 degrees from M84, in Virgo, to NGC 4477, in Coma Berenices.

The group is a favorite of visual and imaging astronomers alike.

April 25, 2008

Virgo Cluster Captioned

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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4-19-2007

M88 in Coma Berenices

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day April 13, 2010

Messier 88 (NGC 4501) is an Sbc spiral galaxy about 47 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices and spans over 100,000 light-years. This galaxy is one of the fifteen Messier objects that belong the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. This galaxy may be on a highly elliptical orbit that is carrying it toward the cluster center, which is occupied by the giant elliptical galaxy M87.

M88 is classified as a type 2 seyfert galaxy, which means it produces narrow spectral line emission from highly ionized gas in the galactic nuclei. The supermassive black hole at the core of this galaxy has 107.9 solar masses, or about 80 million times the mass of the Sun.

April 10, 2010

M92 in Hercules

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 25, 2008

This globular is so tightly packed, that I had to use a second set of data at shorter exposures to keep the core from oversaturating.

M92 is one of the brighter globular clusters in the northern hemisphere, but it is often overlooked by amateur astronomers because of its proximity to the even more spectacular Messier 13. It may be a bit younger than M13 as its turnoff point is shifted to the brighter and bluer end.

M92, or NGC 6341, is about 26,000 light years distant, only little more than its brighter apparent neighbor M13, and is approaching earth at a speed of 112 km/sec.

May 28. 2008

M94 in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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This image is constructed from only three 15 minute subexposures - 45 minutes total. All weather forecasts including NOAA, the Clear Sky Chart and The Weather Channel called for pristine skies, but after I got three good frames, I noticed that the fourth was quite washed out. I went outside and sure enough it had hazed over. Not one to waste data (or be able to leave it alone), I just made due with the 3 frames I had and processed accordingly. A little noisy and lacking background galaxies, but it will do until later.

M94 (NGC 4736) lies 15 million light-years distant in the constellation Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). This spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years across. It exhibits prominent dust lanes, a point-like nucleus, and a bright, bluish ring dominated by the light of young, massive stars. The massive stars in the ring are all likely less than 10 million years old, indicating the galaxy experienced a well-defined era of rapid star formation. As a result, while the small, bright nucleus is typical of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, M94 is also known as a starburst galaxy.

April 14, 2010

M95 in Leo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M95 (NGC 3351) is a barred spiral galaxy about 33 million light-years away in the constellation Leo.

M95 is one of several galaxies within the M96 Group, a group of galaxies in the constellation Leo. The group also includes the Messier objects M96 and M105.

March 20, 2009

M96 in Leo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Messier 96 (NGC 3368) lies about 41 million light years away in the constellation Leo. It is the brightest member of the Leo I or M96 Group, and is one of may groups contained in the Virgo Supercluster.

The central bright core or M96 is about 66,000 light years across and the entire galaxy, including faint extensions spans 100,000 light years.

March 16, 2010

M97 - The "Owl Nebula" in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day July 19, 2010

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day March 11, 2010

Sky and Telescope Online Gallery March 18, 2010

M97 (NGC 3587), also known as the "Owl Nebula" for it's "eyes" that are seen on visual observation and in images. It is one of the more complex planetary nebulae. Its appearance has been interpreted as that of a cylindrical torus shell (or globe without poles), viewed oblique, so that the projected matter-poor ends of the cylinder correspond to the owl's eyes. This shell is enveloped by a fainter nebula of lower ionization. The mass of the nebula has been estimated to amount 0.15 solar masses, while the 16 mag central star is believed to be of about 0.7 solar masses. The nebula's age is about 6,000 years and it's distance is uncertain and listed anywhere from 1300 to 12,000 light years.

March 6, 2010

M99 in Coma Berenices

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M99 (NGC 4254) is an unbarred spiral galaxy approximately 60 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is one of the fainter Messier objects, and a beautiful spiral galaxy seen almost face-on and is one of the brighter spiral members of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies.

The galaxy has a normal looking arm and an extended arm that is less tightly wound. A bridge of neutral hydrogen gas links NGC 4254 with VIRGOHI21. The gravity from the dark galaxy VIRGOHI21 appears to have distorted M99 and drawn out the gas bridge, as the two galaxy-sized objects have a close encounter, before they go their separate ways. It is expected that the drawn out arm will relax to match the normal arm once the encounter is over. Three supernovae have been observed in this galaxy. (Wikipedia)

March 20, 2009

M100 in Coma Berenices

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Sky and Telescope Online Gallery April 8, 2008

Astronomy Magazine Picture of the Day April 23, 2008

Messier 100 (M100, NGC 4321) is a beautiful example of a grand-design spiral galaxy, and one of the brightest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, or Coma-Virgo of Galaxies. Like a number of other members of this cluster, it is situated in the southern part of constellation Coma Berenices. It lies about 52.5 million light-years from Earth.

Five supernovae have been identified in M100: SN 1901B, SN 1914A, SN 1959E, SN 1979C and SN 2006X. M100 also has a satellite galaxy named NGC 4323.

Included in this image are also dim cluster galaxies VC 636, NGC 4322, NGC 4328, MCG 3-32 11, IC 783, IC 783a, and UGC 07425

April 5, 2008

M101 in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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I finally got a decent shot of this low surface brightness masterpiece of a galaxy.

The Pinwheel Galaxy - M101, or NGC 5457 - is a face-on spiral galaxy about 27 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major and is a relatively large galaxy compared to the Milky Way. With a diameter of 170,000 light-years it is nearly twice the size of the Milky Way. Less is known about the mass of M101. A frequently cited number is an equivalent mass of about 16 billion solar masses. That value is almost certainly too low, and probably stems from M101's low surface brightness. New insights in its HII regions and rotational velocities have put the number between 100 billion and 1 trillion suns.

M101 is know for it's large number of HII regions that contain enormous clouds of high density hydrogen gas contracting under its own gravitational force. Eventually, when the localized hydrogen contracts enough for fusion processes to begin, stars are born. Consequently, HII regions are places that often contain large numbers of extremely bright and hot young stars giving them their characteristic blue color. You can also see some Halpha regions (pinkish red) in this image as well.

M101 was discovered by Pierre Méchain on March 27, 1781, and he subsequently communicated his discovery to Charles Messier who verified its position and added it to the Messier Catalogue as one of the final entries.

May 28, 2008

NGC 5866 (M102?) in Draco

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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One of the most outstanding features of NGC 5866 is the extended dust disk, which is seen exactly edge-on. This dust disk is highly unusual for a lenticular galaxy. The dust in most lenticular galaxies is generally found only near the nucleus and generally follows the light profile of the galaxies' bulges. It is also possible that the galaxy is a spiral galaxy that was misclassified as a lenticular galaxy because of its edge-on orientation, in which case the dust disk would not be too unusual.

Messier 102 is a galaxy listed in the Messier Catalogue that cannot be identified unambiguously. The two most likely possible identifications of M102 are Messier 101 and NGC 5866.

April 15, 2008

M103 in Cassiopeia

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Open cluster Messier 103 (NGC 581), lower left, is one of the "latest additions" (together with M101 and 102) included from Pierre Méchain's report.

M103 is one of the more remote open clusters in Messier's catalog, at about 8,000 light years.

I purposefully left this image widefield to include open cluster Trumpler 1, also known as Collinder 15, in the upper right. Distance 7172 light years, age 30 million years.

September 1, 2008

M104 in Virgo

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Astroimaging Challenge Yahoo Group Winner April, 2008

I really like the "oil painting" appearance that happened to come out of the processing of this image. I think it adds to the mystery of a very enigmatic object.

The "Sombrero" is located in the constellation Virgo, at a distance of about 50 million light-years. This galaxy is notable for its dominant nuclear bulge, composed primarily of mature stars, and its nearly edge-on disk composed of stars, gas, and intricately structured dust. The complexity of this dust, and the high resolution of this image, is most apparent directly in front of the bright nucleus, but is also very evident as dark absorbing lanes throughout the disk.

M104's most striking feature is the dust lane that crosses in front of the bulge of the galaxy. This dust lane is actually a symmetric ring that encloses the bulge of the galaxy. Most of the cold atomic hydrogen gas and the dust lies within this ring. The ring might also contain most of the Sombrero Galaxy's cold molecular gas, although this is an inference based on observations with low resolution and weak detections. Additional observations are needed to confirm that the Sombrero galaxy's molecular gas is constrained to the ring. Based on infrared spectroscopy, the dust ring is the primary site of star formation within this galaxy.

In the 1990s, research demonstrated that a supermassive black hole is present within the Sombrero Galaxy. Using spectroscopy data from both the CFHT and the Hubble Space Telescope, the group showed that the speed of rotation of the stars within the center of the galaxy could not be maintained unless a mass 1 billion times the mass of the Sun is present in the center. This is among the most massive black holes measured in any nearby galaxies.

The Sombrero Galaxy lies within a complex, filament-like cloud of galaxies that extends to the south of the Virgo Cluster. However, it is unclear as to whether the Sombrero Galaxy is part of a formal galaxy group. Hierarchical methods for identifying groups, which determine group membership by considering whether individual galaxies belong to a larger aggregate of galaxies, typically produce results showing that the Sombrero Galaxy is part of a group that includes NGC 4487, NGC 4504, NGC 4802,

M106 in Canes Venatici

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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M106 (NGC 4258) is a Seyfert II galaxy in Canes Venatici. It lies at a distance of 22 to 25 million light years from earth and is receding at 537 km/sec. M106 is usually classified as peculiar "normal" spiral of type Sb (or Sbp). This is the nearest example of a Seyfert galaxy to earth.

NGC 4217 is the bright edge-on spiral in the lower right of the frame, and may be a companion of M106. NGC 4248 is the small galaxy just to the upper right of M106.

Map of some faint galaxies near M106

March 30, 2009

M107 in Ophiuchus

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Small Wonders: Ophiuchus June, 2009 (Tom Trusock)

Messier 107 (NGC 6171) is another additional object found by Pierre Méchain in April, 1782. It may be the Messier object which was the latest to be discovered. Eventually, Helen Sawyer Hogg added it to the Messier Catalog in 1947, together with M105 and M106, although it appears probable that already Méchain had intended to add it to a future edition of Charles Messier's list.

M107 apparently contains some dark obscured regions, which is unusual for globular clusters. Its distance is about 21,000 light years, and it's diameter is roughly 80 light years. M107 is approaching us at 147 km/sec, contains about 25 known variables, and as a globular cluster, is of intermediate metallicity (abundances of elements heavier than Helium).

June 5. 2008

M108 in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Cropped a little tight for quality, but it really is a nothing kind of galaxy and I had to show at least some detail.

M108 (NGC 3556) is a nearly edge on galaxy that appears to have no bulge and no pronounced core at all, it is just a detail-rich mottled disk with heavy obscuration along the major axis. About it's only claim to fame is that is makes part of a photogenic pair with planetary nebula M97 (Owl Nebula) in wide field images from small telescopes.

There's little evidence for a well-defined spiral pattern in this Sc galaxy, which is receding at 772 km/sec. It is about 45 million light years distant, and a member of the Ursa Major cloud, a loose agglomeration of galaxies.

The type II supernova 1969B occurred in M108 and reached mag 13.9 on Jan 23, 1969.

March 4, 2009

M109 in Ursa Major

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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First trial of guiding the C9.25 with the internal guidechip. As noted, this is only 3 ten minute subs (30 minutes) so it's very noisy but better than my previous effort with the unmodified DSLR, so I put it up until I get a better shot.

Messier 109 (NGC 3992) is a barred spiral approximately 46 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Major and and receding at 1142 km/sec.

M109 is the brightest galaxy in the M109 Group, a large group of galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major that may contain over 50 galaxies.

In March of 1956, supernova 1956A was observed in M109. SN 1956A was a type Ia supernova in the southeast part of the galaxy, glowing at magnitude 12.8 to 12.3 at its maximum. SN 1956A was the only supernova observed in M109 since its discovery.

April 1, 2009

M110 in Andromeda

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Orion ED80 and WO 0.8 Flattener/Reducer

Just cropped a low res shot from the M31 image to add to the Messier list.

The small elliptical galaxy M110 (NGC 205) is at about the same distance as the Andromeda galaxy M31, about 2.9 million light years, as confirmed by Walter Baade in 1944, when he resolved it into stars (Baade 1944). It is of Hubble type E5 or E6 and is designated "peculiar" because it shows some unusual dark structure (probably dust clouds). M110 is now often classified as a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, not a generic elliptical one (this would make it the first ever known dwarf spheroid, of course). However, as it is much brighter than typical dwarf spheroids, Sidney van dan Bergh has introduced the term "Spheroidal Galaxy" for this and similar galaxies, including Local Group members NGC 147 and NGC 185. M110's mass was estimated to be between 3.6 and 15 billion solar masses.

Apparently, despite its comparatively small size, this dwarf elliptical galaxy has also a remarkable system of 8 globular clusters in a halo around it. The brightest of them, G73, is of about 15th magnitude and thus within the reach of large amateur telescopes
(SEDS)

Color Data August 23, 2009
Ha Data August 31, 2009